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Webster’s Dictionary (1828)



257 words match “AUSTRAL”

SHOVELER n.
d neck are dark green. Called also broadbill, spoonbill, shovelbill, and maiden duck. The Australian shoveler, or shovel-nosed duck (S. rhynchotis), is a similar species.
SILKY a.
soft hairs pressed close to the surface, as a leaf; sericeous. Silky oak (Bot.), a lofty Australian tree (Grevillea robusta) with silky tomentose lobed or incised leaves. It furnishes a valuable timber.
SONORAN a.
Pertaining to or designating the arid division of the Austral zone, including the warmer parts of the western United States and central Mexico. It is divided into the Upper Sonoran, which lies next to the Transition zone, and the Lower Sonoran, next to the Tropical.
SOUR a.
Grape. -- Sour gum (Bot.) See Turelo. -- Sour plum (Bot.), the edible acid fruit of an Australian tree (Owenia venosa); also, the tree itself, which furnished a hard reddish wood used by wheelwrights.
SOUTHERN a.
e a cross. -- Southern Fish (Astron.), a constelation of the southern hemisphere (Piscis Australis) containing the bright star Fomalhaut. -- Southern States (U.S. Hist. & Geog.), the States of the American Union lying south of Pennsylvania and the Ohio River, with Arkansas, Louisiana, and Texas. Before the Civil War,…
SPARROW n.
us) or any of the allied species. (b) A small American falcon (Falco sparverius). (c) The Australian collared sparrow hawk (Accipiter torquatus).
SPEARWOOD n.
An Australian tree (Acacia Doratoxylon), and its tough wood, used by the natives for spears.
SPINEBILL n.
Any species of Australian birds of the genus Acanthorhynchus. They are related to the honey eaters.
SPINIFEX n.
Any of several Australian grasses of the genus Tricuspis, which often form dense, almost impassable growth, their leaves being stiff and sharp-pointed.
SPOTTED a.
e fevers, esp. to typhus fever and cerebro-spinal meningitis. -- Spotted tree (Bot.), an Australian tree (Flindersia maculosa); -- so called because its bark falls off in spots.
SQUATTER n.
cifically, one who settles unlawfully upon land without a title. In the United States and Australia the term is sometimes applied also to a person who settles lawfully upon government land under permission and restrictions, before acquiring title. In such a tract, squatters and trespassers were tolerated to an extent n…
SQUEAKER n.
The Australian gray crow shrile (Strepera anaphonesis); -- so called from its note.
SQUIRREL n.
agility. See Teetee. (b) A marmoset. -- Squirrel petaurus (Zoöl.), a flying phalanger of Australia. See Phalanger, Petaurist, and Flying phalanger under Flying. -- Squirrel shrew (Zoöl.), any one of several species of East Indian and Asiatic insectivores of the genus Tupaia. They are allied to the shrews, but have a…
STAG n.
ervicornis, and M. palmata, of Florida and the West Indies. -- Stag-horn fern (Bot.), an Australian and West African fern (Platycerium alcicorne) having the large fronds branched like a stag's horns; also, any species of the same genus. -- Stag-horn sumac (Bot.), a common American shrub (Rhus typhina) having densely…
STING n.
The point of an epigram or other sarcastic saying. Sting moth (Zoöl.), an Australian moth (Doratifera vulnerans) whose larva is armed, at each end of the body, with four tubercles bearing powerful stinging organs. -- Sting ray. (Zoöl.) See under 6th Ray. -- Sting winkle (Zoöl.), a spinose marine univalve shell of the…
STOCK n.
e, a tool used by blockmakers. -- Stock station, a place or district for rearing stock. [Australia] W. Howitt. -- Stock tackle (Naut.), a tackle used when the anchor is hoisted and secured, to keep its stock clear of the ship's sides. Totten. -- Stock taking, an examination and inventory made of goods or stock in a…
STOCKMAN n.
A herdsman; a ranchman; one owning, or having charge of, herds of live stock. [Australia & U.S.] W. Howitt.
STRINGY a.
ing, as a glutinous substance; ropy; viscid; gluely. Stringy bark (Bot.), a name given in Australia to several trees of the genus Eucalyptus (as E. amygdalina, obliqua, capitellata, macrorhyncha, piperita, pilularis, and tetradonta), which have a fibrous bark used by the aborigines for making cordage and cloth.…
STUMP-TAILED a.
Having a short, thick tail. Stump-tailed lizard (Zoöl.), a singular Australian scincoid lizard (Trachydosaurus rugosus) having a short, thick tail resembling its head in form; -- called also sleeping lizard.
SUBPRIOR n.
The vicegerent of a prior; a claustral officer who assists the prior.
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