COLOCYNTH n.
The light spongy pulp of the fruit of the bitter cucumber (Citrullus, or Cucumis, colocynthis), an Asiatic plant allied to the watermelon; coloquintida. It comes in white balls, is intensely bitter, and a powerful cathartic. Called also bitter apple, bitter cucumber, bitter gourd.
COMBINE v.
In the game of casino, to play a card which will take two or more cards whose aggregate number of pips equals those of the card played. Combining weight (Chem.), that proportional weight, usually referred to hydrogen as a standard, and for each element fixed and exact, by which an element unites with another to form a…
COMMENSURABLE a.
Having a common measure; capable of being exactly measured by the same number, quantity, or measure. -- Com*men"su*ra*ble*ness, n. Commensurable numbers or quantities (Math.), those that can be exactly expressed by some common unit; thus a foot and yard are commensurable, since both can be expressed in terms of an inc…
COMMUTATION TICKET n.
ion of some special circumstance, as increase of travel; specif., a ticket for a certain number of, or for daily, trips between neighboring places at a reduced rate, such as are commonly used by those doing business in a city and living in a suburb. Commutation tickets are excepted from the prohibition against special…