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and stouter than the ostrich. Its head is armed with a kind of helmet of horny substance, consisting of plates overlapping each other, and it has a group of long sharp spines on each wing which are used as defensive organs. It is a shy bird, and runs with great rapidity. Other species inhabit New Guinea, Australia, etc…

Cat nap, a very short 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 s…

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…

Consisting of, or occuring in, disconnected parts or snatches; changeable; as, a catchy wind.

Relating to or consisting in, asking questions and receiving answers, according to the ancient manner of teaching. Socrates introduced a catechetical method of arguing. Addison.

Consisting of little links or chains.

es of two columns of mercury or other fluid, or of the same column at different times. It consists of a telescopic leveling apparatus (d), which slides up or down a perpendicular metallic standard very finely graduated (bb). The telescope is raised or depressed in order to sight the objects or surfaces, and the differe…

An ament; a species of inflorescence, consisting of a slender axis with many unisexual apetalous flowers along its sides, as in the willow and poplar, and (as to the staminate flowers) in the chestnut, oak, hickory, etc. -- so called from its resemblance to a cat's tail. See Illust. of Ament.

Consisting of, or containing, cells; of or pertaining to a cell or cells. Cellular plants, Cellular cryptogams (Bot.), those flowerless plants which have no ducts or fiber in their tissue, as mosses, fungi, lichens, and algæ. -- Cellular theory, or Cell theory (Biol.), a theory, according to which the essential elemen…

Consisting of, or containing, cells.

A process which consists in surrounding a solid body with the powder of other substances, and heating the whole to a degree not sufficient to cause fusion, the physical properties of the body being changed by chemical combination with powder; thus iron becomes steel by cementation with charcoal, and green glass becomes…

Relating to, or consisting of, a hundred.

Consisting of a hundred degrees; graduated into a hundred divisions or equal parts. Spesifically: of or pertaining the centigrade thermometer; as, 10° centigrade (or 10° C.). Centigrade thermometer, a thermometer having the zero or 0 at the point indicating the freezing state of water, and the distance between that and…

The anterior portion of any one of the Arachnida and higher Crustacea, consisting of the united head and thorax.

An unctuous preparation for external application, of a consistence intermediate between that of an ointment and a plaster, so that it can be spread upon cloth without the use of heat, but does not melt when applied to the skin.

An order of sponges in which the skeleton consists of horny fibers. It includes all the commercial sponges.

Of or pertaining to the central nervous system consisting of the brain and spinal cord. Cerebro-spinal fluid (Physiol.), a serous fluid secreted by the membranes covering the brain and spinal cord. -- Cerebro-spinal meningitis, Cerebro-spinal fever (Med.), a dangerous epidemic, and endemic, febrile disease, characteri…

Consisting of outward forms and rites; ceremonial.

A greenish blue pigment prepared in various ways, consisting essentially of cobalt stannate. Unlike other cobalt blues, it does not change color by gaslight.

Pertaining to, consisting, of resembling, turf; turfy. A cespitous or turfy plant has many stems from the same root, usually forming a close, thick carpet of matting. Martyn.