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one gear in an internal- combustion engine. It is generally a shaft moving more or less independently of the other parts of a machine, as, in some marine engines, a shaft, driven by a small auxiliary engine, for independently operating the valves of the main engine to insure uniform motion.

rted when beginning to walk. -- To be in leading strings, to be in a state of infancy or dependence, or under the guidance of others. -- Leading wheel, a wheel situated before the driving wheels of a locomotive engine.

gs (Naut.), to have speed. -- To stand on one's own legs, to support one's self; to be independent.

To grant; -- used esp. in exclamations or prayers followed by a dependent clause. [Obs.] God leve all be well. Chaucer.

Free by birth; hence, befitting a freeman or gentleman; refined; noble; independent; free; not servile or mean; as, a liberal ancestry; a liberal spirit; liberal arts or studies. " Liberal education." Macaulay. " A liberal tongue." Shak.

ficial supervision. Liberty party, the party, in the American Revolution, which favored independence of England; in more recent usage, a party which favored the emancipation of the slaves. -- Liberty pole, a tall flagstaff planted in the ground, often surmounted by a liberty cap. [U. S.] -- Moral liberty, that liberty…

ording to the manner in which it takes place; as: (a) Libration in longitude, that which, depending on the place of the moon in its elliptic orbit, causes small portions near the eastern and western borders alternately to appear and disappear each month.

A friar authorized to receive confessions and grant absolution in all places, independently of the local clergy. [Obs.] Chaucer.

Sovereign; independent; having authority or right to allegiance; as, a liege lord. Chaucer. She looked as grand as doomsday and as grave; And he, he reverenced his liege lady there. Tennyson.

That which imparts or excites spirit or vigor; that upon which enjoyment or success depends; as, he was the life of the company, or of the enterprise.

rst degree, when the expression which is equated to zero is regarded as a function of the dependent variable and its differential coefficients. -- Linear equation (Math.), an equation of the first degree between two variables; -- so called because every such equation may be considered as representing a right line. --…

a greasy material, on stone, and of producing printed impressions therefrom. The process depends, in the main, upon the antipathy between grease and water, which prevents a printing ink containing oil from adhering to wetted parts of the stone not covered by the design. See Lithographic limestone, under Lithographic.…

to have, as an animal or a plant, the capacity of assimilating matter as food, and to be dependent on such assimilation for a continuance of existence; as, animals and plants that live to a great age are long in reaching maturity. Thus saith the Lord God unto these bones; Behold, I will . . . lay sinews upon you, and…

Subsistence or living, as dependent on some means of support; support of life; maintenance. The opportunities of gaining an honest livelihood. Addison. It is their profession and livelihood to get their living by practices for which they deserve to forfeit their lives. South.

ge is thrown upon a plate of ground glass connected with the instrument, or on a screen independent of it.

Having relation to changes in currents that depend on the moon's phases. Bache.

isolar precession (Astron.), that portion of the annual precession of the equinoxes which depends on the joint action of the sun and moon. -- Lunisolar year, a period of time, at the end of which, in the Julian calendar, the new and full moons and the eclipses recur on the same days of the week and month and year as i…

Pertaining to tidal movements dependent on the moon. Bache. Lunitidal interval. See Retard, n.

The appearance of the surface of a mineral as affected by, or dependent upon, peculiarities of its reflecting qualities.

Main support; principal dependence. The great mainstay of the Church. Buckle.