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A nitrogenous substance, somewhat resembling albumin, which forms the chemical basis of elastic tissue. It is very insoluble in most fluids, but is gradually dissolved when digested with either pepsin or trypsin.

Somewhat old; elderly. [R.]

Somewhat old; advanced beyond middle age; bordering on old age; as, elderly people.

Plumpness of person; -- said especially of persons somewhat corpulent.

wary and the ostrich. The emu runs swiftly, but is unable to fly. [Written also emeu and emew.]

f pronunciation it is commonly changed to em- before p, b, and m, as in employ, embody, emmew. It is sometimes used to give a causal force, as in enable, enfeeble, to cause to be, or to make, able, or feeble; and sometimes merely gives an intensive force, as in enchasten. See In-.

The bony, cartilaginous, or other internal framework of an animal, as distinguished from the exoskeleton.

The connective tissue framework and sheath of a nerve which bind together the nerve bundles, each of which has its own special sheath, or perineurium.

A special business intrusted to a messenger; something to be told or done by one sent somewhere for the purpose; often, a verbal message; a commission; as, the servant was sent on an errand; to do an errand. Also, one's purpose in going anywhere. I have a secret errand to thee, O king. Judg. iii. 19. I will not eat til…

A genus of umbelliferous plants somewhat like thistles in appearance. Eryngium maritimum, or sea holly, has been highly esteemed as an aphrodisiac, the roots being formerly candied.

g a neck like a ewe; -- said of horses in which the arch of the neck is deficent, being somewhat hollowed out. Youwatt.

lenses placed with their curved surfaces toward each other, and separated by a distance somewhat less than the focal distance of the one nearest eye, the image of the object viewed being beyond both lenses; -- called also, from the name of the inventor, Ramsden's eyepiece. -- terrestrial, or Erecting eyepiece, an eyep…

Framework; structure; edifice; building. Anon out of the earth a fabric huge Rose like an exhalation. Milton.

Weak; insipid; tasteless; commonplace. [R.] "Passages that are somewhat fade." Jeffrey. His masculine taste gave him a sense of something fade and ludicrous. De Quincey.

Slightly faint; somewhat faint. -- Faint"ish*ness, n.

To pass somewha suddenly, and passively, into a new state of body or mind; to become; as, to fall asleep; to fall into a passion; to fall in love; to fall into temptation.

g. -- Fan vaulting (Arch.), an elaborate system of vaulting, in which the ribs diverge somewhat like the rays of a fan, as in Henry VII.'s chapel in Westminster Abbey. It is peculiar to English Gothic. -- Fan wheel, the wheel of a fan blower. -- Fan window. Same as Fan light (above).

Rather fast; also, somewhat dissipated. [Colloq.] Thackeray.

Somewhat fat; inclined to fatness. Coleridge, a puffy, anxious, obstructed-looking, fattish old man. Carlyle.

Honeycomb; having cavities or cells, somewhat resembling those of a honeycomb; alveolate; favose.