Search the Dictionary

pianoforte action, used in grand pianos, in which special devices are employed to obtain perfect action of the hammer in striking and leaving the string. -- Grand Army of the Republic, an organized voluntary association of men who served in the Union army or navy during the civil war in the United States. The order h…

A variety of sandstone, usually imperfectly consolidated, consisting largely of glauconite, a silicate of iron and potash of a green color, mixed with sand and a trace of phosphate of lime.

(Opt.), a form of reflecting telescope, named from Prof. James Gregory, of Edinburgh, who perfected it in 1663. A small concave mirror in the axis of this telescope, having its focus coincident with that of the large reflector, transmits the light received from the latter back through a hole in its center to the eyepie…

Dioecious, but having some hermaphrodite or perfect flowers on an individual plant which bears mostly pistillate flowers.

efinite portion resembling a half; approximately a half, whether more or less; partial; imperfect; as, a half dream; half knowledge. Assumed from thence a half consent. Tennyson. Half ape (Zoöl.), a lemur. -- Half back. (Football) See under 2d Back. -- Half bent, the first notch, for the sear point to enter, in the t…

Imperfectly acquainted with the rules of good-breeding; not well trained. Atterbury.

Imperfectly hatched; as, half-hatched eggs. Gay.

Imperfectly or partly heard to the end. And leave half-heard the melancholy tale. Pope.

Imperfectly learned.

Seeing imperfectly; having weak discernment. Bacon.

Half-bred; imperfect. [R.] "A half-strained villain." Dryden.

In the middle; at half the distance; imperfectly; partially; as, he halfway yielded. Temples proud to meet their gods halfway. Young.

To put the last, or finishing, hand to, to make the last corrections in; to complete; to perfect. -- To set the hand to, to engage in; to undertake. That the Lord thy God may bless thee in all that thou settest thine hand to. Deut. xxiii. 20. -- To stand one in hand, to concern or affect one. -- To strike hands, to…

To agree in vocal or musical effect; to form a concord; as, the tones harmonize perfectly.

Any place of supreme happiness or great comfort; perfect felicity; bliss; a sublime or exalted condition; as, a heaven of delight. "A heaven of beauty." Shak. "The brightest heaven of invention." Shak. O bed! bed! delicious bed! That heaven upon earth to the weary head! Hood.

Appropriate to heaven in character or happiness; perfect; pure; supremely blessed; as, a heavenly race; the heavenly, throng. The love of heaven makes one heavenly. Sir P. Sidney.

, who aimed at culture, grace, and amenity, as the chief elements in human well-being and perfection.

Made perfectly close or air-tight by fusion, so that no gas or spirit can enter or escape; as, an hermetic seal. See Note under Hermetically. Hermetic art, alchemy. -- Hermetic books. (a) Books of the Egyptians, which treat of astrology. (b) Books which treat of universal principles, of the nature and orders of celest…

Deviating from the normal, perfect, or mature form; having different forms at different stages of existence, or in different individuals of the same species; -- applied especially to insects in which there is a wide difference of form between the larva and the adult, and to plants having more than one form of flower.…

h is history composed from personal experience, observation, and memory. Histories are as perfect as the historian is wise, and is gifted with an eye and a soul. Carlyle. For aught that I could ever read, Could ever hear by tale or history. Shak. What histories of toil could I declare! Pope. History piece, a representa…