Search the Dictionary

lower. -- Gnat hawk (Zoöl.), the European goatsucker; -- called also gnat owl. -- Gnat snapper (Zoöl.), a bird that catches gnats. -- Gnat strainer, a person ostentatiously punctilious about trifles. Cf. Matt. xxiii. 24.

large patch of yellow on the wings. The front of the head and throat are bright red; the nape, with part of the wings and tail, black; -- called also goldspink, goldie, fool's coat, drawbird, draw-water, thistle finch, and sweet William.

eneral; a grand view; a grand conception. They are the highest models of expression, the unapproached masters of the grand style. M. Arnold.

d noted for its aptness in learning to talk. -- Gray pike. (Zoöl.) See Sauger. -- Gray snapper (Zoöl.), a Florida fish; the sea lawyer. See Snapper. -- Gray snipe (Zoöl.), the dowitcher in winter plumage. -- Gray whale (Zoöl.), a rather large and swift California whale (Rhachianectes glaucus), formerly taken in lar…

In modern times, a member of a special regiment or corps; as, a grenadier of the guard of Napoleon I. one of the regiment of Grenadier Guards of the British army, etc.

A heavy silk with a dull finish; as, gros de Naples; gros de Tours.

d fishes of the genus Epinephelus, of the family Serranidæ, as the red grouper, or brown snapper (E. morio), and the black grouper, or warsaw (E. nigritus), both from Florida and the Gulf of Mexico.

Any one of several species of American food fishes, of the genus Hæmulon, allied to the snappers, as, the black grunt (A. Plumieri), and the redmouth grunt (H. aurolineatus), of the Southern United States; -- also applied to allied species of the genera Pomadasys, Orthopristis, and Pristopoma. Called also pigfish, squi…

A hand's breadth; four inches. [Obs.] Knap the tongs together about a handful from the bottom. Bacon.

out cloth, in which a soldier carries his rations when on a march; -- distinguished from knapsack.

To give heed to; to hear attentively. [Archaic] The King of Naples . . . hearkens my brother's suit. Shak. To hearken out, to search out. [Obs.] If you find none, you must hearken out a vein and buy. B. Johnson.

Knapweed.

entangle as in a cobweb; to mix confusedly. [R.] Hudibras. Physiology imbrangled with an inapplicable logic. Coleridge.

and scatter the seeds with considerable force. Called also touch-me-not, jewelweed, and snapweed. I. Balsamina (sometimes called lady's slipper) is the common garden balsam.

al green. See Paris green, under Green. -- Imperial guard, the royal guard instituted by Napoleon I. -- Imperial weights and measures, the standards legalized by the British Parliament.

g to the matter in hand; having no bearing on the subject; not to the point; irrelevant; inapplicable. Things that are impertinent to us. Tillotson. How impertinent that grief was which served no end! Jer. Taylor.

able; not fitted to the circumstances, design, or end; unfit; not becoming; incongruous; inappropriate; indecent; as, an improper medicine; improper thought, behavior, language, dress. Follow'd his enemy king, and did him service, Improper for a slave. Shak. And to their proper operation still, Ascribe all Good; to the…

An inseparable prefix, or particle, meaning not, non-, un- as, inactive, incapable, inapt. In- regularly becomes il- before l, ir- before r, and im- before a labial.

Not comparable; admitting of no comparison with others; unapproachably eminent; without a peer or equal; matchless; peerless; transcendent. A merchant of incomparable wealth. Shak. A new hypothesis . . . which hath the incomparable Sir Isaac Newton for a patron. Bp. Warburton. -- In*com"pa*ra*ble*ness, n. -- In*com"pa…

iprocally disagreeing; not capable of harmonizing or readily assimilating; inharmonious; inappropriate; unsuitable; not fitting; inconsistent; improper; as, an incongruous remark; incongruous behavior, action, dress, etc. "Incongruous mixtures of opinions." I. Taylor. "Made up of incongruous parts." Macaulay. Incongruo…