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A division of birds including the swifts and humming birds. So called from the length of the distal part of the wing.

Any one of a group of maioid crabs remarkable for the length of their legs; -- called also spider crab.

Extent of dimensions; size; -- applied to things that have length, breath, and thickness. Conceive those particles of bodies to be so disposed amongst themselves, that the intervals of empty spaces between them may be equal in magnitude to them all. Sir I. Newton.

A celebrated epic poem of the Hindoos. It is of great length, and is chiefly devoted to the history of a civil war between two dynasties of ancient India.

or as reckoned on the supposition that all the days of the year are of a mean or uniform length, in contradistinction from apparent time, or that actually indicated by the sun, and from sidereal time, or that measured by the stars.

Beds or strata; as, coal measures; lead measures. Lineal, or Long, measure, measure of length; the measure of lines or distances. -- Liquid measure, the measure of liquids. -- Square measure, the measure of superficial area of surfaces in square units, as inches, feet, miles, etc. -- To have hard measure, to have ha…

That branch of applied geometry which gives rules for finding the length of lines, the areas of surfaces, or the volumes of solids, from certain simple data of lines and angles.

fabrics) with a solution of caustic alkali. Such treatment causes the fiber to shrink in length and become stronger and more receptive of dyes. If the yarn or cloth is kept under tension during the process, it assumes a silky luster. -- Mer`cer*i*za"tion (#), n.

Having the ratio of the length to the breadth of the cranium a medium one; neither brachycephalic nor dolichocephalic.

Having the ratio of the length to the breadth of the cranium a medium one; mesaticephalic.

An instrument for measuring the position, length, and direction, of the apparent path of a shooting star.

A measure of length, equal to 39.37 English inches, the standard of linear measure in the metric system of weights and measures. It was intended to be, and is very nearly, the ten millionth part of the distance from the equator to the north pole, as ascertained by actual measurement of an arc of a meridian. See Metric…

A measure of length; the thousandth part of one millimeter; the millionth part of a meter.

Aggregate length or distance in miles; esp., the sum of lengths of tracks or wires of a railroad company, telegraph company, etc. [Written also milage.] Constructive mileage, a mileage allowed for journeys supposed to be made, but not actually made. Bartlett.

The thousandish part of a micron or the millionth part of a millimeter; -- a unit of length used in measuring light waves, etc.

given unit, as a square inch or foot, to double, or to compress it to half, its original length, were that degree of elongation or compression possible, or within the limits of elasticity; -- called also Young's modulus. -- Modulus of rupture, the measure of the force necessary to break a given substance across, as a…

d which stand upon a graduated rule for the purpose of readily changing and measuring the length of the part of the string between them.

s into which the year is divided; the twelfth part of a year, corresponding nearly to the length of a synodic revolution of the moon, -- whence the name. In popular use, a period of four weeks is often called a month.

Samuel B. Morse. The Alphabetic code which is in use in North America is given below. In length, or duration, one dash is theoretically equal to three dots; the space between the elements of a letter is equal to one dot; the interval in spaced letters, as O . ., is equal to three dots. There are no spaces in any lette…

ated, and the limbs in the form of paddles. The first known species, nearly fifty feet in length, was discovered in Cretaceous beds near Maestricht, in the Netherlands. [Written also Mososaurus.]