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ss; texture; as, marble, sugar, sandstone, etc., of fine grain. Hard box, and linden of a softer grain. Dryden.

A process in dressing leather, by which the skin is softened and the grain raised.

l crystals, also foliated or granular massive, of black color and metallic luster, and so soft as to leave a trace on paper. It is used for pencils (improperly called lead pencils), for crucibles, and as a lubricator, etc. Often called plumbago or black lead. Graphite battery (Elec.), a voltaic battery consisting of zi…

and salt, or of ashes, or of hair whitened by age; sometimes, a dark mixed color; as, the soft gray eye of a dove. These gray and dun colors may be also produced by mixing whites and blacks. Sir I. Newton.

Animal fat, as tallow or lard, especially when in a soft state; oily or unctuous matter of any kind.

h leaves or branches of trees or other plants; wreaths; -- usually in the plural. In that soft season when descending showers Call forth the greens, and wake the rising flowers. Pope.

A kind of soft tumor, usually of syphilitic origin.

in the Malayan archipelago, especially by the Isonandra, or Dichopsis, Gutta. It becomes soft, and unpressible at the tamperature of boiling water, and, on cooling, retains its new shape. It dissolves in oils and ethers, but not in water. In many of its properties it resembles caoutchouc, and it is extensively used fo…

hroat; esp., a sound formed by the aid of the back of the tongue, much retracted, and the soft palate; also, a letter representing such a sound.

A claylike mineral, occurring in soft, smooth, amorphous masses, of a whitish color.

yielding to pressure; firm; solid; compact; -- applied to material bodies, and opposed to soft; as, hard wood; hard flesh; a hard apple.

A species of fern (Davallia Canariensis) with a soft, gray, hairy rootstock; -- whence the name.

rm of a hare's foot. Harefoot clover (Bot.), a species of clover (Trifolium arvense) with soft and silky heads.

extreme hardness supported by material gradually decreasing in hardness to the unaltered soft steel at the back.

by forcing an expiratory current of air through the narrow passage between the depressed soft palate and the root of the tongue, thus aiding in the removal of foreign substances.

To hear by listening. [Archaic] [She] hearkened now and then Some little whispering and soft groaning sound. Spenser.

lor from the outer layers. It is technically known as duramen, and distinguished from the softer sapwood or alburnum.

To excite or make hot by action or emotion; to make feverish. Pray, walk softly; do not heat your blood. Shak.

Having a dull or blunt and soft point. Gray.

A contrivance for multiple copying, by means of a surface of gelatin softened with glycerin. [Written also hectograph.]