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A mass formed by concretion. [Obs.] Johnson.

and untoward accident; something inopportune or embarassing; a hitch. In this unhappy contretemps. De Quincey.

One who is surety with another.

A counter tally; correspondence (in sound). [Obs.] At the countretaille, in return. Chaucer.

Having the qualities of chalk;abounding with chalk; chalky; as, cretaceous rocks and formations. See Chalk. Cretaceous acid, an old name for carbonic acid. -- Cretaceous formation (Geol.), the series of strata of various kinds, including beds of chalk, green sand, etc., formed in the Cretaceous period; -- called also…

Of, pertaining to, or designating, the period of time following the Jurassic and preceding the Eocene.

In a chalky manner; as chalk.

Pertaining to Crete, or Candia. -- n.

A Cretan

See Cretan.

A poetic foot, composed of one short syllable between two long ones (-Bentley.

Falsehood; lying; cretism.

One afflicted with cretinism.

A condition of endemic or inherited idiocy, accompanied by physical degeneracy and deformity (usually with goiter), frequent in certain mountain valleys, esp. of the Alps.

Having the characteristics of a cretin. "Cretinous stupefaction." Ruskin.

A Cretan practice; iying; a falsehood.

A strong white fabric with warp of hemp and welt of flax.

Chalky; cretaceous. [Obs.] Ash.

A scoop or ring with either a blunt or a cutting edge, for removing substances from the walls of a cavity, as from the eye, ear, or womb.

A cyanide. [Obs.]