Search the Dictionary

A heavy casting of metal, usually fixed near the gunwale. It has two short horn-shaped arms curving inward, between which ropes or hawsers may pass for towing, mooring, etc.

to a height of a foot or more. [Variously spelt chioppine, chopin, etc.] Your ladyship is nearer to heaven than when I saw you last, by the altitude of a chopine. Shak.

Any species of the genus Cicada. They are large hemipterous insects, with nearly transparent wings. The male makes a shrill sound by pecular organs in the under side of the abdomen, consisting of a pair of stretched membranes, acted upon by powerful muscles. A noted American species (C. septendecim) is called the seven…

An epoch at the close of the American lower Silurian system. The rocks are well developed near Cincinnati, Ohio. The group includes the Hudson River and Lorraine shales of New york.

About, or near, the meridian.

Surrounded by a ridle or elevation; as, the circumvallate papillæ, near the base of the tongue.

A division of Mollusca having slender, cirriform appendages near the mouth; the Scaphopoda.

tactile appendage of the mantle of many Mollusca, and of the parapodia of Annelida. Those near the head of annelids are Tentacular cirri; those of the last segment are caudal cirri.

A fortress in or near a fortified city, commanding the city and fortifications, and intended as a final point of defense. Syn. - Stronghold. See Fortress.

the duties of a citizen; obedient to government; -- said of an individual. Civil men come nearer the saints of God than others; they come within a step or two of heaven. Preston

Full extent; distance between extreme limits; especially; the distance between the nearest surfaces of two bodies, or the space between walls; as, a room ten feet square in the clear.

Incised nearly to the midrob; as, a cleft leaf.

A pert of the shoulder of a beef creature, or of the neck piece near the shoulder. See Illust. of Beef.

Having the parts near each other; dense; solid; compact; as applied to bodies; viscous; tenacious; not volatile, as applied to liquids. The golden globe being put into a press, . . . the water made itself way through the pores of that very close metal. Locke.

Under way and moving as nearly as possible toward the direction from which the wind blows; -- said of a sailing vessel.

which archers shoot; -- probably once a piece of white cloth or a nail head. A'must shoot nearer or he'll ne'er hit the clout. Shak.

he clutches of an adversary. I must have . . . little care of myself, if I ever more come near the clutches of such a giant. Bp. Stillingfleet.

one of the side at the bat posted near first or third base to direct a base runner.

Any one of the spaces in the Milky Way which are very black, owing to the nearly complete absence of stars; esp., the large space near the Southern Cross sometimes called the Black Magellanic Cloud.

The seashore, or land near it. He sees in English ships the Holland coast. Dryden. We the Arabian coast do know At distance, when the species blow. Waller. The coast is clear, the danger is over; no enemy in sight. Dryden. Fig.: There are no obstacles. "Seeing that the coast was clear, Zelmane dismissed Musidorus." Sir…