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chain or strap attached to the upper part of the branches of a bit, and capable of being drawn tightly against the lower jaw of the horse. He that before ran in the pastures wild Felt the stiff curb control his angry jaws. Drayton. By these men, religion,that should be The curb, is made the spur of tyranny. Denham.…

lso a curiosity, to set a tree upon the north side of a wall, and, at a little hieght, to draw it through the wall, etc. Bacon.

A two-wheeled chaise drawn by two horses abreast.

A hanging screen intended to darken or conceal, and admitting of being drawn back or up, and reclosed at pleasure; esp., drapery of cloth or lace hanging round a bed or at a window; in theaters, and like places, a movable screen for concealing the stage.

of bending of a mathematical curve, or the tendency at any point to depart from a tangent drawn to the curve at that point. Aberrancy of curvature (Geom.), the deviation of a curve from a curcular form. -Absolute curvature. See under Absolute. -- Angle of curvature (Geom.), one that expresses the amount of curvature o…

An instrument for drawing curved lines.

ather than by skill or patience. -- To cut lots, to determine lots by cuttings cards; to draw lots. -- To cut off. (a) To sever; to separate. I would to God, . . . The king had cut off my brother's. Shak.

A contrivance for producing manifold copies of writing or drawing. The writing or drawing is done with a style carrying a small wheel at the end which makes minute punctures in the paper, thus converting it into a stencil. Copies are transferred with an inked roller.

The line drawn through a figure in the thorough bass, as a direction to raise the interval a semitone.

often nesting in church towers and ruins; a jackdaw. The loud daw, his throat displaying, draw The whole assembly of his fellow daws. Waller.

ncy. "(As we say) at a dead lift." Robynson (More's Utopia). -- Dead line (Mil.), a line drawn within or around a military prison, to cross which involves for a prisoner the penalty of being instantly shot. -- Dead load (Civil Engin.), a constant, motionless load, as the weight of a structure, in distinction from a m…

Pay drawn for soldiers, or others, really dead, whose names are kept on the rolls. O you commanders, That, like me, have no dead-pays. Massinger.

A customhouse certificate entitling an exporter of imported goods to a drawback of duties paid on their importation. Burrill.

Entitled to drawback or debenture; as, debentured goods.

To withdraw. [Obs.] Fuller.

y; shapely; well-formed. [Archaic] A sable stole of cyprus lawn Over thy decent shoulders drawn. Milton. By foreign hands thy decent limbs composed. Pope.

To prevent from centralizing; to cause to withdraw from the center or place of concentration; to divide and distribute (what has been united or concentrated); -- esp. said of authority, or the administration of public affairs.

The act of deviating or turning aside; oblique motion; obliquity; withdrawal. The declination of atoms in their descent. Bentley. Every declination and violation of the rules. South.

To tend or draw towards a close, decay, or extinction; to tend to a less perfect state; to become diminished or impaired; to fail; to sink; to diminish; to lessen; as, the day declines; virtue declines; religion declines; business declines. That empire must decline Whose chief support and sinews are of coin. Waller. An…

To withdraw from concentration; to decentralize. [R.]