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eak; feeble; limp; slight; vain; without strength or solidity; of loose and unsubstantial structure; without reason or plausibility; as, a flimsy argument, excuse, objection. Proud of a vast extent of flimsy lines. Pope. All the flimsy furniture of a country miss's brain. Sheridan.

A detached mass of loosely fibrous structure like a shredded tuft of wool.

The structure formed of beams, girders, etc., with proper covering, which divides a building horizontally into stories. Floor in sense 1 is, then, the upper surface of floor in sense 2.

Pertaining to a fluid, or to its flowing motion. Fluidal structure (Geol.), the structure characteristic of certain volcanic rocks in which the arrangement of the minute crystals shows the lines of flow of thew molten material before solidification; -- also called fluxion structure.

variable; inconstant. The merely human,the temporary and fluxional. Coleridge. Fluxional structure (Geol.), fluidal structure.

Characterized by being separable into thin plates or folia; as, graphite has a foliated structure.

by some crystalline rocks, of dividing into plates or slabs, which is due to the cleavage structure of one of the constituents, as mica or hornblende. It may sometimes include slaty structure or cleavage, though the latter is usually independent of any mineral constituent, and transverse to the bedding, it having been…

force or energy. -- Catabiotic force Etym: [Gr. (Biol.), the influence exerted by living structures on adjoining cells, by which the latter are developed in harmony with the primary structures. -- Centrifugal force, Centripetal force, Coercive force, etc. See under Centrifugal, Centripetal, etc. -- Composition of fo…

The shape and structure of anything, as distinguished from the material of which it is composed; particular disposition or arrangement of matter, giving it individuality or distinctive character; configuration; figure; external appearance. The form of his visage was changed. Dan. iii. 19. And woven close close, both ma…

The manner in which a thing is formed; structure; construction; conformation; form; as, the peculiar formation of the heart.

Having structure; capable of growth and development; organized; as, the formed or organized ferments. See Ferment, n. Formed material (Biol.), a term employed by Beale to denote the lifeless matter of a cell, that which is physiologically dead, in distinction from the truly germinal or living matter.…

anything stands, and by which it is supported; the lowest and supporting layer of a superstructure; groundwork; basis. Behold, I lay in Zion, for a foundation, a stone . . . a precious corner stone, a sure foundation. Is. xxviii. 16. The foundation of a free common wealth. Motley.

An artificially produced jet or stream of water; also, the structure or works in which such a jet or stream rises or flows; a basin built and constantly supplied with pure water for drinking and other useful purposes, or for ornament.

To construct by fitting and uniting the several parts of the skeleton of any structure; specifically, in woodwork, to put together by cutting parts of one member to fit parts of another. See Dovetail, Halve, v. t., Miter, Tenon, Tooth, Tusk, Scarf, and Splice.

a disease of which the symptoms cannot be referred to any appreciable lesion or change of structure; the derangement of an organ arising from a cause, often unknown, external to itself opposed to organic disease, in which the organ itself is affected.

he interment of the dead; as, funeral rites, honors, or ceremonies. Shak. Funeral pile, a structure of combustible material, upon which a dead body is placed to be reduced to ashes, as part of a funeral rite; a pyre. -- Fu"ner*al*ly, adv. [Obs.] Sir T. Browne.

A structure of gabions sunk in lines, as a core for a sand bar in harbor improvements.

Like the Gallinae (or Galliformes) in structure.

The science which treats of the structure and functions of the stomach; a treatise of the stomach.

Having the structure, or performing the functions, both of digestive and circulatory organs; as, the gastrovascular cavity of coelenterates.