Search the Dictionary

That which drives or carries; as: (a) A piece which communicates to an object in a lathe the motion of the face plate; a lathe dog. (b) A spool holder or bobbin holder in a braiding machine.

arry arms (Mil. Drill), a command of the Manual of Arms directing the soldier to hold his piece in the right hand, the barrel resting against the hollow of the shoulder in a nearly perpendicular position. In this position the soldier is said to stand, and the musket to be held, at carry. -- To carry all before one, to…

To cut into small pieces or slices, as meat at table; to divide for distribution or apportionment; to apportion. "To carve a capon." Shak.

A piece of decorative work cut in stone, wood, or other material. "Carving in wood." Sir W. Temple.

A piece of defensive or ornamental armor (with or without a vizor) for the head and neck; a helmet. His casque overshadowed with brilliant plumes. Prescott.

A piece, made to represent a castle, used in the game of chess; a rook. Castle in the air, a visionary project; a baseless scheme; an air castle; -- sometimes called a castle in Spain (F. Château en Espagne).

ort sleep. [Colloq.] -- Cat o' nine tails, an instrument of punishment consisting of nine pieces of knotted line or cord fastened to a handle; -- formerly used to flog offenders on the bare back. -- Cat's cradle, game played, esp. by children, with a string looped on the fingers so, as to resemble small cradle. The st…

A kind of raft or float, consisting of two or more logs or pieces of wood lashed together, and moved by paddles or sail; -- used as a surf boat and for other purposes on the coasts of the East and West Indies and South America. Modified forms are much used in the lumber regions of North America, and at life-saving stat…

The final event in a romance or a dramatic piece; a denouement, as a death in a tragedy, or a marriage in a comedy.

A projecting piece of timber or iron near the bow of vessel, to which the anchor is hoisted and secured.

A revolving piece of fireworks resembling in form the window of the same name. [Written also Catharine wheel.]

Having the form a piece of turf, i. e., many stems from one rootstock or from many entangled rootstocks or roots. [Written also cæspitose.]

That part of the bore of a piece of ordnance which holds the charge, esp. when of different diameter from the rest of the bore; -- formerly, in guns, made smaller than the bore, but now larger, esp. in breech-loading guns.

or framelike decoration around the sides and top of a door, window, or fireplace. The top piece is called the traverse and the side pieces the ascendants.

The surface formed by cutting away the arris, or angle, formed by two faces of a piece of timber, stone, etc.

To bite into small pieces; to crunch. Steele.

A piece of champlevé enamel; also, the process or art of making such enamel work; champlevé work.

The piece by which an object is attached to something, as the frog of a scabbard or the metal loop at the back of a buckle by which it is fastened to a strap.

A bent piece of sheet iron, or a pin with thin plates on its ends, for holding a core in place in the mold.

To place within or upon any firearm, piece of apparatus or machinery, the quantity it is intended and fitted to hold or bear; to load; to fill; as, to charge a gun; to charge an electrical machine, etc. Their battering cannon charged to the mouths. Shak.