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Originally, a high judicial officer of the German emperors; afterward, the holder of a fief, to whom was granted the right to exercise certain imperial powers within his own domains. [Germany]

A coverlet for a bed, -- originally stitched or woven in squares or figures. On which a tissue counterpane was cast. Drayton.

rticular privileges; -- so called a palatio (from the palace), because the owner had originally royal powers, or the same powers, in the administration of justice, as the king had in his palace; but these powers are now abridged. The counties palatine, in England, are Lancaster, Chester, and Durham. -- County rates, r…

r monastery. [Obs.] Bale. Covent Garden, a large square in London, so called because originally it was the garden of a monastery.

fly by women, for underskirts, to expand the gown worn over it; -- so called because originally made of hair.

Having the grain or fibers run diagonally, or more or less transversely an irregularly, so as to interfere with splitting or planing. If the stuff proves crossgrained, . . . then you must turn your stuff to plane it the contrary way. Moxon.

small tree of the East Indies. It is a most powerful drastic cathartic, and is used externally as a pustulant.

-- Crown sheet, the flat plate which forms the top of the furnace or fire box of an internally fired steam boiler. -- Crown shell. (Zoöl.) See Acorn-shell. -- Crown side. See Crown office. -- Crown tax (Eccl. Hist.), a golden crown, or its value, which was required annually from the Jews by the king of Syria, in th…

of flask for distillation, used with, or forming part of, an alembic; a matrass; -- originally in the shape of a gourd, with a wide mouth. See Alembic.

A present or bonus; -- originally applied to that paid on ships which entered the port of Canton. S. Wells Williams.

species of Strychnos (S. toxifera, etc.). It sometimes has little effect when taken internally, but is quickly fatal when introduced into the blood, and used by the Indians as an arrow poison. [Written also urari, woorali, woorari, etc.]

One who has the cure souls; originally, any clergyman, but now usually limited to one who assist a rector or vicar Hook. All this the good old man performed alone, He spared no pains, for curate he had none. Dryden.

The ringing of an evening bell, originally a signal to the inhabitants to cover fires, extinguish lights, and retire to rest, -- instituted by William the Conqueror; also, the bell itself. He begins at curfew, and walks till the first cock. Shak. The village curfew, as it tolled profound. Campbell.

The circle or compass of the arts and sciences (originally, of the seven so-called liberal arts and sciences); circle of human knowledge. Hence, a work containing, in alphabetical order, information in all departments of knowledge, or on a particular department or branch; as, a cyclopedia of the physical sciences, or o…

containing sulphur, occuring as a constituent of certain rare urinary calculi, and occasionally found as a sediment in urine.

A timber placed diagonally in a ship's frame. Knight.

worn at Mass by deacons, and by bishops at pontifical Mass; -- imitated from a dress originally worn in Dalmatia.

ve one hundred years." Bacon. -- Damask steel, or Damascus steel, steel of the kind originally made at Damascus, famous for its hardness, and its beautiful texture, ornamented with waving lines; especially, that which is inlaid with damaskeening; -- formerly much valued for sword blades, from its great flexibility and…

Of well being; of formal sufficiency for the time; conditionally; provisionally. Abbott.

Personified: The destroyer of life, -- conventionally represented as a skeleton with a scythe. Death! great proprietor of all. Young. And I looked, and behold a pale horse; and his name that at on him was Death. Rev. vi. 8.