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That which guides or directs one in anything of a doubtful or intricate nature; that which gives a hint in the solution of a mystery. The clew, without which it was perilous to enter the vast and intricate maze of countinental politics, was in his hands. Macaulay.

Pertaining to, or the direction of, the clinidiagonal.

Like the motion of the hands of a clock; -- said of that direction of a rotation about an axis, or about a point in a plane, which is ordinarily reckoned negative.

the lips, or with contraction of the cavity of the mouth. -- Close to the wind (Naut.), directed as nearly to the point from which the wind blows as it is possible to sail; closehauled; -- said of a vessel.

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

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

ee under Half. -- Cock feather (Archery), the feather of an arrow at right angles to the direction of the cock or notch. Nares.

ses, been cogged upon the town for masterpieces. J. Dennis To cog a die, to load so as to direct its fall; to cheat in playing dice. Swift.

a discourse, or of a system of philosophy; consecutiveness. Coherence of discourse, and a direct tendency of all the parts of it to the argument in hand, are most eminently to be found in him. Locke.

Coming from, being on, or directed toward, the side; as, collateral pressure. "Collateral light." Shak.

In an indirect or subordinate manner; indirectly. The will hath force upon the conscience collaterally and indirectly. Jer. Taylor.

To render parallel to a certain line or direction; to bring into the same line, as the axes of telescopes, etc.; to render parallel, as rays of light.

The act of aiming at, or directing in a line with, a fixed object. [R.] Johnson.

A photomechanical print made directly from a hardened film of gelatin or other colloid; also, the process of making such prints. According to one method, the film is sensitized with potassium dichromate and exposed to light under a reversed negative. After the dichromate has been washed out, the film is soaked in glyce…

or final description, fell into disuse, and . . . the title page had become the principal direct means of identifying the book. De Morgan. The book was uninjured from title page to colophon. Sir W. Scott.

To order with authority; to lay injunction upon; to direct; to bid; to charge. We are commanded to forgive our enemies, but you never read that we are commanded to forgive our friends. Bacon. Go to your mistress: Say, I command her come to me. Shak.

A piece of apparatus used for reversing the direction of an electrical current; an attachment to certain electrical machines, by means of which alternating currents are made to be continuous or to have the same direction.

An instrument for determining directions upon the carth's surface by means of a magnetized bar or needle turning freely upon a pivot and pinting in a northerly and southerly direction. He that firat discovered the use of the compass did more for the supplying and increase of useful commodities than those who built work…

equal in effect to two or more given forces (called the components) when acting in given directions. Herbert. -- Composition metal, an alloy resembling brass, which is sometimes used instead of copper for sheathing vessels; -- also called Muntz metal and yellow metal. -- Composition of proportion (Math.), an arrange…

s two or more screws with different pitch (a differential screw), or running in different directions (a right and left screw). -- Compound time (Mus.), that in which two or more simple measures are combined in one; as, 6-8 time is the joining of two measures of 3-8 time. -- Compound word, a word composed of two or mo…