Search the Dictionary

To cause (a ship taken aback in a light breeze) so to turn or make a circuit as to recover, without bracing the yards, the same tack on which she had been sailing.

Weight; import; value. Many suchlike "as's" of great charge. Shak. Back charge. See under Back, a. -- Bursting charge. (a (Mil.) The charge which bursts a shell, etc. (b (Mining) A small quantity of fine powder to secure the ignition of a charge of coarse powder in blasting. -- Charge and discharge (Equity Practice),…

e frame, or movable railway, along which the carriage of a barbette or casemate gum moves backward and forward. [See Gun carriage.]

by the priest in saying Mass, consisting, in the Roman Catholic Church, of a broad, flat, back piece, and a narrower front piece, the two connected over the shoulders only. The back has usually a large cross, the front an upright bar or pillar, designed to be emblematical of Christ's sufferings. In the Greek Church the…

A knot, boss, or mass of hair, natural or artificial, worn by a woman at the back of the head. A curl that had strayed from her chignon. H. James.

The backbone or spine of an animal; the back. "And chine with rising bristles roughly spread." Dryden.

Pertaining to, or having, a chine, or backbone; -- used in composition. Beau. & Fl.

Chippendale, attempting to adapt medieval details. The forms, as of the cabriole and chairbacks, often resemble Queen Anne. In chairs, the seat is widened at the front, and the back toward the top widened and bent backward, except in Chinese Chippendale, in which the backs are usually rectangular. -- Chip"pen*dal*ism (…

A body or order of cavaliers or knights serving on horseback; illustrious warriors, collectively; cavalry. "His Memphian chivalry." Milton. By his light Did all the chivalry of England move, To do brave acts. Shak.

, a knife for chopping or mincing meat, vegetables, etc.; -- usually with a handle at the back of the blade instead of at the end.

A cord. Chorda dorsalis (. Etym: [NL., lit., cord of the back.] (Anat.) See Notochord.

A piece of the backbone of an animal, from between the neck and the collar bone, with the adjoining parts, cut for cooking; as, a chuck steak; a chuck roast. [Colloq.]

The backing or steaming of clams on heated stones, between layers of seaweed; hence, a picnic party, gathered on such an occasion.

une is to be clawed away for it, if you should lose it." L'Estrange. To claw (one) on the back, to tickle; to express approbation. (Obs.) Chaucer. -- To claw (one) on the gall, to find falt with; to vex. [Obs.] Chaucer.

To more with the sound of a click. She clicked back the bolt which held the window sash. Thackeray.

In hair dressing, a loose, low coil at the back of the head, like the knot on the head of the bust of Clytie by G. F. Watts.

arge, closed, four-wheeled carriage, having doors in the sides, and generally a front and back seat inside, each for two persons, and an elevated outside seat in front for the driver.

A sea mew or gull; esp., the black-backed gull (Larus marinus). [Written also cobb.]

To draw the hammer of (a firearm) fully back and set it for firing.

To repeat the distillation of, pouring the liquor back upon the matter remaining in the vessel. Arbuthnot.