Search the Dictionary

A fabulous Scandinavian sea monster, often represented as resembling an island, but sometimes as resembling an immense octopus. To believe all that has been said of the sea serpent or kraken, would be credulity; to reject the possibility of their existence, would be presumption. Goldsmith. Like a kraken huge and black.…

), found in Northern Europe and America. They are used as tea in British America, and in Scandinavia as a substitute for hops.

An umbelliferous plant (Scandix Pecten-Veneris), its clusters of long slender fruits remotely resembling a comb.

A device or mechanism for producing light by electricity. See Incandescent lamp, under Incandescent. Æolipile lamp, a hollow ball of copper containing alcohol which is converted into vapor by a lamp beneath, so as to make a powerful blowpipe flame when the vapor is ignited. Weale. -- Arc lamp (Elec.), a form of lamp i…

A lamp or candlestick. [R.] By him who 'mid the golden lampads went. Trench.

or case of horn, perforated tin, glass, oiled paper, or other material, having a lamp or candle within; sometimes fixed, as the glazed inclosure of a street light, or of a lighthouse light.

ind of brass hammered into thin sheets, formerly much used for making church utensils, as candlesticks, crosses, etc.; -- called also latten brass. He had a cross of latoun full of stones. Chaucer.

A portion; a list, esp. a list of candidates for an office. [Scot.]

beral; liberal disposition or practice; freedom from narrowness or prejudice; generosity; candor; charity. That liberality is but cast away Which makes us borrow what we can not pay. Denham.

The college of physicians, in July, 1687, published an edict, requiring all the fellows, candidates, and licentiates, to give gratuitous advice to the neighboring poor. Johnson.

That which furnishes, or is a source of, light, as the sun, a star, a candle, a lighthouse, etc. Then he called for a light, and sprang in. Acts xvi. 29. And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night. Gen. i. 16.

the black seeds of which form a dense like a blackberry. -- Bourbon lily (Bot.), Lilium candidum. See Illust. -- Butterfly lily. (Bot.) Same as Mariposa lily, in the Vocabulary. -- Lily daffodil (Bot.), a plant of the genus Narcissus, and its flower. -- Lily encrinite (Paleon.), a fossil encrinite, esp. Encrinus l…

A series or succession of ancestors or descand ants of a given person; a family or race; as, the ascending or descending line; the line of descent; the male line; a line of kings. Of his lineage am I, and his offspring By very line, as of the stock real. Chaucer.

To be a mere spectator. I'll be a candleholder, and look on. Shak. -- To look out, to be on the watch; to be careful; as, the seaman looks out for breakers. -- To look through. (a) To see through. (b) To search; to examine with the eyes. -- To look to or unto. (a) To watch; to take care of. "Look well to thy herds."…

To study by candlelight or a lamp; to study by night.

The act of lucubrating, or studying by candlelight; nocturnal study; meditation. After long lucubration I have hit upon such an expedient. Goldsmith.

Composed by candlelight, or by night; of or pertaining to night studies; laborious or painstaking. Pope.

Illuminated; full of light; bright; as, many candles made the room luminous. Up the staircase moved a luminous space in the darkness. Longfellow.

A candlestick, chandelier, girandole, or the like, generally of an ornamental character. Pope.

s with which it is contrasted; especially, the number by which the votes for a successful candidate exceed those for all other candidates; as, he is elected by a majority of five hundred votes. See Plurality. To go over to, or To join, the majority, to die.