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One of a series of artificial blue or red dyes obtained from quinoline and lepidine and used in calico printing.

A skillful hand; a dabster; an expert. [Colloq.] One excels at a plan or the titlepage, another works away at the body of the book, and the therd is a dab at an index. Goldsmith.

A group of fishlike animals including the Marsipobranchiata and Leptocardia.

rt, or in a dry and apparently unproductive place. -- Desert hare (Zoöl.), a small hare (Lepus sylvaticus, var. Arizonæ) inhabiting the deserts of the Western United States. -- Desert mouse (Zoöl.), an American mouse (Hesperomys eremicus), living in the Western deserts.

A telephonic instrument for office or other similar use, having a sound-magnifying device enabling the ordinary mouthpiece to be dispensed with. Much use has been made of it for overhearing, or for recording, conversations for the purpose of obtaining evidence for use in litigation.

A group of ganoid fishes, including the living genera Ceratodus and Lepidosiren, which present the closest approximation to the Amphibia. The air bladder acts as a lung, and the nostrils open inside the mouth. See Ceratodus, and Illustration in Appendix.

A division of acalephs or jellyfishes, including most of the large disklike species. -- Dis*coph"o*rous, a.

A kind of peppergrass (Lepidium latifolium).

A division of Lepidoptera, including the butterflies; -- so called because they fly only in the daytime.

Disposed to be taught; tractable; easily managed; as, a docile child. The elephant is at once docible and docile. C. J. Smith.

See Lepidosiren.

A species of sunfish (Lepomis pallidus), common in the United States; -- called also blue sunfish, and copper-nosed bream.

A fancied perception of flashes of light, a symptom of epilepsy; hence, epilepsy itself; convulsions.

the other; -- properly used of two things, but sometimes of a larger number, for any one. Lepidus flatters both, Of both is flattered; but he neither loves, Nor either cares for him. Shak. Scarce a palm of ground could be gotten by either of the three. Bacon. There have been three talkers in Great British, either of wh…

um. Exchange is in favor of a place when it can be purchased there at or above par. -- Telephone exchange, a central office in which the wires of any two telephones or telephone stations may be connected to permit conversation.

the doublet, worn in the early part of the 17th century. -- Falling sickness (Med.), epilepsy. Shak. -- Falling star. (Astron.) See Shooting star. -- Falling stone, a stone falling through the atmosphere; a meteorite; an aërolite. -- Falling tide, the ebb tide. -- Falling weather, a rainy season. [Colloq.] Bartle…

rst ancestor; a founder of a race or family; -- in the plural, fathers, ancestors. David slept with his fathers. 1 Kings ii. 10. Abraham, who is the father of us all. Rom. iv. 16.

A sudden and violent attack of a disorder; a stroke of disease, as of epilepsy or apoplexy, which produces convulsions or unconsciousness; a convulsion; a paroxysm; hence, a period of exacerbation of a disease; in general, an attack of disease; as, a fit of sickness. And when the fit was on him, I did mark How he did s…

A lepidopterous insect belonging to Alypia and allied genera; as, the eight-spotted forester (A. octomaculata), which in the larval state is injurious to the grapevine.

An ornamental figure or illustration fronting the first page, or titlepage, of a book; formerly, the titlepage itself.