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he true level, and is a curve or surface in which all points are equally distant from the center of the earth, or rather would be so if the earth were an exact sphere.

Having little, or comparatively little, weight; not tending to be the center of gravity with force; not heavy. These weights did not exert their natural gravity . . . insomuch that I could not guess which was light or heavy whilst I held them in my hand. Addison.

rent authors, often as a kind of elongated S (like the one drawn by Hogarth). -- Line of centers. (Mach.) (a) A line joining two centers, or fulcra, as of wheels or levers. (b) A line which determines a dead center. See Dead center, under Dead. -- Line of dip (Geol.), a line in the plane of a stratum, or part of a st…

rth. -- Heliocentric longitude, the longitude of a heavenly body, as seen from the sun's center. -- Longitude stars, certain stars whose position is known, and the data in regard to which are used in observations for finding the longitude, as by lunar distances.

ation of a unit area of spherical surface, due to a light of unit intensity placed at the center of the sphere.

A kind of watch crystal which is more than ordinarily flattened in the center; also, a species of convexoconcave lens for spectacles.

ne) by adding a small high-pressure cylinder with a piston acting on the beam between the center and the flywheel end, using high-pressure steam and working as a compound engine, -- a plan introduced by M'Naught, a Scottish engineer, in 1845.

s Magnetite. -- Magnetic needle, a slender bar of steel, magnetized and suspended at its center on a sharp-pointed pivot, or by a delicate fiber, so that it may take freely the direction of the magnetic meridian. It constitutes the essential part of a compass, such as the mariner's and the surveyor's. -- Magnetic pol…

hief strain. Cf. Counter brace. (b) (Naut.) The brace attached to the main yard. -- Main center (Steam Engine), a shaft upon which a working beam or side lever swings. -- Main chance. See under Chance. -- Main couple (Arch.), the principal truss in a roof. -- Main deck (Naut.), the deck next below the spar deck; th…

A soft tissue, occupying the center of the stem or branch of a plant; pith. Medulla oblongata. Etym: [L., oblong medulla] (Anat.), the posterior part of the brain connected with the spinal cord. It includes all the hindbrain except the cerebellum and pons, and from it a large part of the cranial nerves arise. It contro…

A support for the center of a tunnel.

A figure supposed to represent the iron which holds a millstone by being set into its center.

ablished in the new key; a shifting of the tonality of a piece, so that the harmonies all center upon a new keynote or tonic; the art of transition out of the original key into one nearly related, and so on, it may be, by successive changes, into a key quite remote. There are also sudden and unprepared modulations.…

in physiology to those nerves or nerve fibers which only convey impressions from a nerve center to muscles, thereby causing motion.

Having many, or several, centers; as, a multicentral cell. Multicental development (Biol.), growth, or development, from several centers. According as the insubordination to a single center is more or less pronounced, the resultant organism will be more or less irregular in form and may even discontinuous.…

Having numerous spiral coils round a center or nucleus; -- said of the opercula of certain shells.

The block in the center of a wheel, from which the spokes radiate, and through which the axle passes; -- called also hub or hob.

A disease of trees, in which the branches gradually dry up from the bark to the center.

As seen from Neptune, or having Neptune as a center; as, Neptunicentric longitude or force.

s of fibers, with the accompanying tissues, which transmit nervous impulses between nerve centers and various parts of the animal body.