Search the Dictionary

Plain; flat; level. [Obs.] Gower.

A flat surface; especially, a broad, level, elevated area of land; a table-land.

Any flat or horizontal surface; especially, one that is raised above some particular level, as a framework of timber or boards horizontally joined so as to form a roof, or a raised floor, or portion of a floor; a landing; a dais; a stage, for speakers, performers, or workmen; a standing place.

A beach; a strand; in the plains and deserts of Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona, a broad, level spot, on which subsequently becomes dry by evaporation. Bartlett.

Bob, 4. -- Plumb joint, in sheet-metal work, a lap joint, fastened by solder. -- Plumb level. See under Level. -- Plumb line. (a) The cord by which a plumb bob is suspended; a plummet. (b) A line directed to the center of gravity of the earth. -- Plumb rule, a narrow board with a plumb line, used by builders and c…

ies filled with air; as, pneumatic cells; pneumatic bones. Pneumatic action, or Pneumatic lever (Mus.), a contrivance for overcoming the resistance of the keys and other movable parts in an organ, by causing compressed air from the wind chest to move them. -- Pneumatic dispatch, a system of tubes, leading to various p…

A post horse. "Posters at full gallop." C. Lever.

A level stretch in a canal between locks.

Applied force; force producing motion or pressure; as, the power applied at one and of a lever to lift a weight at the other end.

An extensive tract of level or rolling land, destitute of trees, covered with coarse grass, and usually characterized by a deep, fertile soil. They abound throughout the Mississippi valley, between the Alleghanies and the Rocky mountains. From the forests and the prairies, From the great lakes of the northland. Longfel…

A lever; a pry; also, the hold of a lever. [Written also prise.] Prize court, a court having jurisdiction of all captures made in war on the high seas. Bouvier. -- Prize fight, an exhibition contest, esp. one of pugilists, for a stake or wager. -- Prize fighter, one who fights publicly for a reward; -- applied esp. t…

The application of a lever to move any weighty body, as a cask, anchor, cannon, car, etc. See Prize, n., 5.

Sloping, with reference to a line or surface; declivous; inclined; not level. Since the floods demand, For their descent, a prone and sinking land. Blackmore.

et him rymes make. Chaucer. Things unattempted yet in prose or rhyme. Milton. I wish our clever young poets would remember my homely definitions of prose and poetry, that is; prose -- words in their best order; poetry -- the best order. Coleridge.

To lay fiat; to throw down; to level; to fell; as, to prostrate the body; to prostrate trees or plants. Evelyn.

A lever; also, leverage. [Local, U. S. & Eng.] Pry pole, the pole which forms the prop of a hoisting gin, and stands facing the windlass.

To take or make, as a proof or impression; -- hand presses being worked by pulling a lever.

echanical hold, or advantage, applied to the raising or removing of heavy bodies, as by a lever, a tackle, capstan, and the like; also, the apparatus, tackle, or device by which the advantage is gained. A politician, to do great things, looks for a power -- what our workmen call a purchase. Burke.

vernier, and either plain or telescopic sights, and usually having a plumb line or spirit level for fixing the vertical or horizontal direction. Gunner's quadrant, an instrument consisting of a graduated limb, with a plumb line or spirit level, and an arm by which it is applied to a cannon or mortar in adjusting it to…

changes in government or social institutions, especially such changes as are intended to level class inequalities; -- opposed to conservative. In politics they [the Independents] were, to use phrase of their own time. "Root-and-Branch men," or, to use the kindred phrase of our own, Radicals. Macaulay.…