Search the Dictionary

serving to measure the rate of the vessel's motion. Each knot on the line bears the same proportion to a mile that thirty seconds do to an hour. The number of knots which run off from the reel in half a minute, therefore, shows the number of miles the vessel sails in an hour. Hence:

lame of a smoking lamp. It consists of finely divided carbon, with sometimes a very small proportion of various impurities. It is used as an ingredient of printers' ink, and various black pigments and cements.

product of the pressure and volume is a constant quantity, i. e., the volume is inversely proportioned to the pressure; -- known also as Mariotte's law, and the law of Boyle and Mariotte. -- Brehon laws. See under Brehon. -- Canon law, the body of ecclesiastical law adopted in the Christian Church, certain portions o…

narrow; -- said of type the letters of which have thin lines, or are unusually narrow in proportion to their height. W. Savage.

The inner bark of plants, lying next to the wood. It usually contains a large proportion of woody, fibrous cells, and is, therefore, the part from which the fiber of the plant is obtained, as that of hemp, etc. Liber cells, elongated woody cells found in the liber.

n being; a leg, arm, or wing of an animal. A second Hector for his grim aspect, And large proportion of his strong-knit limbs. Shak.

The proper relative position or adjustment of parts, not as to design or proportion, but with reference to smooth working; as, the engine is in line or out of line or out of line.

ch that radii drawn from its pole or eye at equal angles with each other are in continual proportion. See Spiral.

simal, or made on the scale of 60; as, logistic, or sexagesimal, arithmetic. Logistic, or Proportional, logarithms, certain logarithmic numbers used to shorten the calculation of the fourth term of a proportion of which one of the terms is a given constant quantity, commonly one hour, while the other terms are expresse…

Unbalanced; poorly proportioned; full of idiosyncrasies. J. S. Mill.

housand diameters. The least error in a small quantity . . . will in a great one . . . be proportionately magnified. Grew.

Imperfect, disproportionate, or abnormal formation; ill form; disproportion of parts.

mixed earthy substance, consisting of carbonate of lime, clay, and sand, in very varivble proportions, and accordingly designated as calcareous, clayey, or sandy. See Greensand.

To make equal, proportionate, or suitable; to adapt, fit, or suit (one thing to another). Let poets match their subject to their strength. Roscommon.

(Crystallog.) Same as Bisectrix. -- Mean noon, noon as determined by mean time. -- Mean proportional (between two numbers) (Math.), the square root of their product. -- Mean sun, a fictitious sun supposed to move uniformly in the equator so as to be on the meridian each day at mean noon. -- Mean time, time as measu…

to be exceeded; limit; allotted share, as of action, influence, ability, or the like; due proportion. Lord, make me to know mine end, and the measure of my days. Ps. xxxix. 4.

pairs, according to the law of probability, are therefore on an average in the following proportions:

rcury; -- said of those compounds of mercury into which this element enters in its lowest proportion. Mercuric chloride, corrosive sublimate. See Corrosive.

ning mercury; -- said of those compounds of mercury in which it is present in its highest proportion. Mercurous chloride. (Chem.) See Calomel.

An instrument of the ancients for finding two mean proportionals between two given lines, required in solving the problem of the duplication of the cube. Brande & C.