Search the Dictionary

Originally, one appointed to the command of a burg (fortress or castle); but the title afterward became hereditary, with a domain attached.

It is made of tempered steel, one end being ground off obliquely so as to produce a sharp point, and the other end inserted in a handle; a graver; also, the similarly shaped tool used by workers in marble.

ace; to hide. Sir, this vermin of court reporters, when they are forced into day upon one point, are sure to burrow in another. Burke. Burrowing owl (Zoöl.), a small owl of the western part of North America (Speotyto cunicularia), which lives in holes, often in company with the prairie dog.

A hammer with a head formed of a bundle of square bars, with pyramidal points, arranged in rows, or a solid head with a face cut into a number of rows of such points; -- used for dressing stone.

An incidental or casual speech, not directly relating to the point. "To quote by-speeches." Hooker.

To make sharp or pointed. [Obs.]

The close or fall of a strain; the point of rest, commonly reached by the immediate succession of the tonic to the dominant chord.

ing for military or naval service; esp. a pupil in a military or naval school, as at West Point, Annapolis, or Woolwich.

United States, for ecclesiastical purposes, according to European nationalities, and to appoint bishops and priests of like race and speaking the same language as the majority of the members of a diocese or congregation. This plan was successfully opposed by the American party in the Church.

ttle, for manure, or for other purposes. -- To have one's cake dough, to fail or be disappointed in what one has undertaken or expected. Shak.

ay involve calculation. Barycentric calculus, a method of treating geometry by defining a point as the center of gravity of certain other points to which coëfficients or weights are ascribed. -- Calculus of functions, that branch of mathematics which treats of the forms of functions that shall satisfy given conditions…

A sharp-pointed piece or iron or steel projecting downward on the shoe of a nore or an ox, to prevent the animal from slipping; -- called also calker, calkin.

eet; to convoke; -- often with together; as, the President called Congress together; to appoint and summon; as, to call a meeting of the Board of Aldermen. Now call we our high court of Parliament. Shak.

An instrument with four iron points, so disposed that, any three of them being on the ground, the other projects upward. They are scattered on the ground where an enemy's cavalry are to pass, to impede their progress by endangering the horses' feet.

The fourth of the twelve signs of the zodiac. The first point is the northern limit of the sun's course in summer; hence, the sign of the summer solstice. See Tropic.

Of or pertaining to the pointed tooth on each side the incisors. Canine appetite, a morbidly voracious appetite; bulimia. -- Canine letter, the letter r. See R. -- Canine madness, hydrophobia. -- Canine toth, a toth situated between the incisor and bicuspid teeth, so called because well developen in dogs; usually, t…

To complete; to crown; to bring to the highest point or consummation; as, to cap the climax of absurdity.

From head to foot; at all points. "He was armed cap-a-pie." Prescott.

A piece or point of land, extending beyind the adjacent coast into the sea or a lake; a promonotory; a headland. Cape buffalo (Zoöl.) a large and powerful buffalo of South Africa (Bubalus Caffer). It is said to be the most dangerous wild beast of Africa. See Buffalo, 2. -- Cape jasmine, Cape jassamine. See Jasmine. -…

A swelling, like a wen, on the point of the elbow (or the heel of the hock) of a horse, caused probably by bruises in lying dowm.