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The act of solving, or the state of being solved; the disentanglement of any intricate problem or difficult question; explanation; clearing up; -- used especially in mathematics, either of the process of solving an equation or problem, or the result of the process.

mplement for digging or cutting the ground, consisting usually of an oblong and nearly rectangular blade of iron, with a handle like that of a shovel. "With spade and pickax armed." Milton.

A rectangular piece fitting grooves like key seats in a hub and a shaft, so that while the one may slide endwise on the other, both must revolve together; a feather; also, sometimes, a groove to receive such a rectangular piece.

ile of hay, grain, straw, or the like, usually of a nearly conical form, but sometimes rectangular or oblong, contracted at the top to a point or ridge, and sometimes covered with thatch. But corn was housed, and beans were in the stack. Cowper.

A small anvil usually furnished with a tang to enter a hole in a bench top, -- used by tinsmiths, blacksmiths, etc., for light work, punching upon, etc.

o which the barrel, lock, etc., of a musket or like firearm are secured; also, a long, rectangular piece of wood, which is an important part of several forms of gun carriage.

To hold or bind with, or as with, a strap; to entangle. [Obs.] Chapman.

ing to its direction, or mode of action, as thrust or pressure, pull or tension, shear or tangential stress. Rankine. Stress is the mutual action between portions of matter. Clerk Maxwell.

- usually terminated by a sucker and used for locomotion. Called also sucker foot. See Spatangoid.

A tangled mass of floating vegetal matter obstructing navigation. [Central Africa]

directions; -- said of surfaces which in all directions around any point bend away from a tangent plane toward the same side, as the surface of a sphere; -- opposed to anticlastic. Sir W. Thomson.

Capable of being touched; tangible. [R.] "They [women] being created to be both tractable and tactable." Massinger.

The quality or state of being tactile; perceptibility by touch; tangibleness.

The act of touching; touch; contact; tangency. "External taction." Chesterfield.

An entangled lock, as of hair or wool. Nares.

Having the posterior tarsal scales, or scutella, rectangular and arranged in regular rows; -- said of certain birds.

.), to manage an anchored vessel when the tide turns, so that in swinging she shall not entangle the cable.

ystem of rudders by which the pilot can exert a turning moment about each of the three rectangular axes of an aëroplane or airship.

To be tangent to. See Tangent, a.

Capable of being touched; tangible. -- Touch"a*ble*ness, n.