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The smooth serous membrane which closely covers the lungs and the adjacent surfaces of the thorax; the pleural membrane.

the joints of (a wall), by introducing additional cement or mortar, and bringing it to a smooth surface.

swampy places. Both this plant and the poison ivy (Rhus Toxicodendron) have clusters of smooth greenish white berries, while the red-fruited species of this genus are harmless. The tree (Rhus vernicifera) which yields the celebrated Japan lacquer is almost identical with the poison sumac, and is also very poisonous. T…

To make smooth and glossy, usually by friction; to burnish; to overspread with luster; as, to polish glass, marble, metals, etc.

Made smooth and glossy, as by friction; hence, highly finished; refined; polite; as, polished plate; polished manners; polished verse.

a. & n. from Polish. Polishing iron, an iron burnisher; esp., a small smoothing iron used in laundries. -- Polishing slate. (a) A gray or yellow slate, found in Bohemia and Auvergne, and used for polishing glass, marble, and metals. (b) A kind of hone or whetstone; hone slate. -- Polishing snake, a tool used in clean…

Smooth; polished. [Obs.] Rays of light falling on a polite surface. Sir I. Newton.

In a polished manner; so as to be smooth or glossy. [Obs.] Milton.

High finish; smoothness; burnished elegance. [R.] Evelyn.

a bad sense, artful; unscrupulous; cunning; -- said of persons. Politic with my friend, smooth with mine enemy. Shak.

To cut or shave smooth or even; to cut in a straight line without indentation; as, a polled deed. See Dee. Burrill. To poll a jury, to call upon each member of the jury to answer individually as to his concurrence in a verdict which has been rendered.

), any crab of the genus Porcellana and allied genera (family Porcellanidæ). They have a smooth, polished carapace. -- Porcelain jasper. (Min.) See Porcelanite. -- Porcelain printing, the transferring of an impression of an engraving to porcelain. -- Porcelain shell (Zoöl.), a cowry.

Having a smooth, compact shell without pores; -- said of certain Foraminifera.

ging, or in the use of the bow, a gradual carrying or lifting of the voice or sound very smoothly from one note to another; a gliding from tone to tone.

queeze in or with suitable instruments or apparatus, in order to compact, make dense, or smooth; as, to press cotton bales, paper, etc.; to smooth by ironing; as, to press clothes.

Glass with one side smooth and the other side formed into sharp-edged ridges so as to reflect the light that passes through, used at windows to throw the light into the interior.

the superfluous parts, branches, or shoots of; to clear of useless material; to shape or smooth by trimming; to trim: as, to prune trees; to prune an essay. Thackeray. Taking into consideration how they [laws] are to be pruned and reformed. Bacon. Our delightful task To prune these growing plants, and tend these flower…

A smooth woolen stuff, generally black, used for making shoes; a kind of lasting; -- formerly used also for clergymen's gowns.

A hydrous oxide of manganese, occurring in smooth, botryoidal forms, and massive, and having an iron-black or steel-gray color.

To make smooth with pumice. [R.]