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Webster’s Dictionary (1828)



282 words match “TROPIC”

TORRID a.
Milton. Torrid zone (Geog.), that space or board belt of the earth, included between the tropics, over which the sun is vertical at some period of every year, and the heat is always great.
TORTRIX n.
A genus of tropical short-tailed snakes, which are not venomous. One species (Tortrix scytalæ) is handsomely banded with black, and is sometimes worn alive by the natives of Brazil for a necklace.
TOUCAN n.
Any one of numerous species of fruit-eating birds of tropical America belonging to Ramphastos, Pteroglossus, and allied genera of the family Ramphastidæ. They have a very large, but light and thin, beak, often nearly as long as the body itself. Most of the species are brilliantly colored with red, yellow, white, and bl…
TRANSLATIVE a.
tropical; figurative; as, a translative sense. [R.] Puttenham.
TREE n.
slender neck and a long hind toe. They are arboreal in their habits, and are found in the tropical parts of America, Africa, Asia, and Australia. -- Tree fern (Bot.), an arborescent fern having a straight trunk, sometimes twenty or twenty-five feet high, or even higher, and bearing a cluster of fronds at the top. Most…
TROGON n.
Any one of numerous species of beautiful tropical birds belonging to the family Trogonidæ. They are noted for the brilliant colors and the resplendent luster of their plumage.
TROPOLOGIC; TROPOLOGICAL a.
Characterized by tropes; varied by tropes; tropical. Burton. -- Trop`o*log"ic*al*ly, adv.
TRUMPETWOOD n.
A tropical American tree (Cecropia peltata) of the Breadfruit family, having hollow stems, which are used for wind instruments; -- called also snakewood, and trumpet tree.
TUBIPORA n.
es. These corals are usually red or purple and form large masses. They are natives of the tropical parts of the Indian and Pacific Oceans.
ULTRA- a.
th words expressing relations of place; as, ultramarine, ultramontane, ultramundane, ultratropical, etc. In other relations it has the sense of excessively, exceedingly, beyond what is common, natural, right, or proper; as, ultraconservative; ultrademocratic, ultradespotic, ultraliberal, ultraradical, etc.…
VAMPIRE n.
Any one of several species of harmless tropical American bats of the genus Vampyrus, especially V. spectrum. These bats feed upon insects and fruit, but were formerly erroneously supposed to suck the blood of man and animals. Called also false vampire. Vampire bat (Zoöl.), a vampire, 3.
VANILLA n.
A genus of climbing orchidaceous plants natives of tropical America.
VIOLET-EAR n.
Any tropical humming bird of the genus Petasophora, having violet or purplish ear tufts.
WATER GRASS n.
march perennial grass (Paspalum dilatatum) of the southern United States and the American tropics.
WATER HYACINTH n.
Either of several tropical aquatic plants of the genus Eichhornia, related to the pickerel weed.
WATER LETTUCE n.
A plant (Pistia stratiotes) which floats on tropical waters, and forms a rosette of spongy, wedge-shaped leaves. J. Smith (Dict. Econ. Plants).
WATERMELON n.
s; its pulp is usually pink in color, and full of a sweet watery juice. It is a native of tropical Africa, but is now cultivated in many countries. See Illust. of Melon.
WEEPING TREE n.
ted by the larvæ of any species of the genus Ptylus, allied to the cuckoo spits, which in tropical countries secrete large quantities of a watery fluid.
XYLOPHAGIDES n.
A tribe or family of dipterous flies whose larvæ live in decayed wood. Some of the tropical species are very large.
YEAR n.
xed star, returns to the same. This is 365 days, 6 hours, 9 minutes, and 9.3 seconds. -- Tropical year. See under Tropical. -- Year and a day (O. Eng. Law), a time to be allowed for an act or an event, in order that an entire year might be secured beyond all question. Abbott. -- Year of grace, any year of the Christ…
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