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organic acid, C3H5.CO2H, of the ethylene, or acrylic acid series. It was so named because formerly supposed to exist in croton oil. Also, any acid metameric with crotonic acid proper.

The exterior portion of the earth, formerly universally supposed to inclose a molten interior.

A kind of chair formerly used for punishing scolds, and also dishonest tradesmen, by fastening them in it, usually in front of their doors, to be pelted and hooted at by the mob, but sometimes to be taken to the water and ducked; -- called also a castigatory, a tumbrel, and a trebuchet; and often, but not so correctly,…

A dog with a docked tail; formerly, the dog of a person not qualified to course, which, by the forest laws, must have its tail cut short, partly as a mark, and partly from a notion that the tail is necessary to a dog in running; hence, a dog not fit for sporting. Hope is a curtail dog in some affairs. Shak.…

A riotous kind of dance, formerly common at weddings; -- called also cushion dance. Halliwell. Cushion capital.(Arch.) A capital so sculptured as to appear like a cushion pressed down by the weight of its entablature. (b) A name given to a form of capital, much used in the Romanesque style, modeled like a bowl, the upp…

An order of fishes, formerly proposed by Agassiz, for those with thin, smooth scales, destitute of marginal spines, as the herring and salmon. The group is now regarded as artificial.

om oil of cumin, oil of caraway, carvacrol, camphor, etc.; -- called also paracymene, and formerly camphogen.

A large pistol formerly used. [Obs.] The Spaniards discharged their dags, and hurt some. Foxe. A sort of pistol, called dag, was used about the same time as hand guns and harquebuts. Grose.

ure, ornamented with waving lines; especially, that which is inlaid with damaskeening; -- formerly much valued for sword blades, from its great flexibility and tenacity.

A well-known plant of the genus Taraxacum (T. officinale, formerly called T. Dens-leonis and Leontodos Taraxacum) bearing large, yellow, compound flowers, and deeply notched leaves.

An annual tax formerly laid on the English nation to buy off the ravages of Danish invaders, or to maintain forces to oppose them. It afterward became a permanent tax, raised by an assessment, at first of one shilling, afterward of two shillings, upon every hide of land throughout the realm. Wharton's Law Dict. Tomlins…

Formerly, a part of the Roman chancery; now, a separate office from which are sent graces or favors, cognizable in foro externo, such as appointments to benefices. The name is derived from the word datum, given or dated (with the indications of the time and place of granting the gift or favor).

A spar formerly used on board of ships, as a crane to hoist the flukes of the anchor to the top of the bow, without injuring the sides of the ship; -- called also the fish davit. (b) pl.

ncorporation of advocates in Edinburgh. -- Dean of guild, a magistrate of Scotch burghs, formerly, and still, in some burghs, chosen by the Guildry, whose duty is to superintend the erection of new buildings and see that they conform to the law. -- Dean of a monastery, Monastic dean, a monastic superior over ten monk…

of certain skins with oxidized fish oil, which extracts their soluble albuminoids. It was formerly solely a by-product of chamois leather manufacture, but is now made for its own sake, being valuable as a dressing for hides.

A tribe of Indians formerly inhabiting the valley of the Delaware River, but now mostly located in the Indian Territory.

ominating officers, or for forming or altering a constitution. [U.S.] Court of delegates, formerly, the great court of appeal from the archbishops' courts and also from the court of admiralty. It is now abolished, and the privy council is the immediate court of appeal in such cases. [Eng.]

A name formerly given to certain Silurian brachiopod shells of the genus Spirifer. Delthyris limestone (Geol.), one of the divisions of the Upper Silurian rocks in New York.

nything, as a cause of existence, or as a necessary condition; -- followed by on or upon, formerly by of. The truth of God's word dependeth not of the truth of the congregation. Tyndale. The conclusion . . . that our happiness depends little on political institutions, and much on the temper and regulation of our own mi…

rance] Chamber of Deputies, one of the two branches of the French legilative assembly; -- formerly called Corps Législatif. Its members, called deputies, are elected by the people voting in districts.