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The act of paring or splitting leather or skins.

A kind of burnisher for leather.

gthwise; to cut into long pieces or strips; as, to slit iron bars into nail rods; to slit leather into straps.

The bottom of a shoe or boot, or the piece of leather which constitutes the bottom. The "caliga" was a military shoe, with a very thick sole, tied above the instep. Arbuthnot.

y. -- Spanish grass. (Bot.) See Esparto. -- Spanish juice (Bot.), licorice. -- Spanish leather. See Cordwain. -- Spanish mackerel. (Zoöl.) (a) A species of mackerel (Scomber colias) found both in Europe and America. In America called chub mackerel, big-eyed mackerel, and bull mackerel. (b) In the United States, a h…

rd, but smaller, with one string of brass or steel wire to each note, sounded by means of leather or quill plectrums or jacks. It was formerly much used. Dumb spinet. (Mus.) See Manichordon.

Specif (Leather Manuf.), one of the sections of a skin made by dividing it into two or more thicknesses.

Prussia leather; pruce. [Obs.] Spruce, a sort of leather corruptly so called for Prussia leather. E. Phillips. Douglas spruce (Bot.), a valuable timber tree (Pseudotsuga Douglasii) of Northwestern America. -- Essence of spruce, a thick, dark-colored, bitterish, and acidulous liquid made by evaporating a decoction of t…

of any animal or instrument, such as is made by carriage wheels when dry, by the soles of leather shoes, or by a pipe or reed.

for drying a vessel's deck; now, a kind of scraper having a blade or edge of rubber or of leather, -- used for removing superfluous, water or other liquids, as from a vessel's deck after washing, from window panes, photographer's plates, etc. [Written also squillgee, squillagee, squeegee.]

An instrument for cutting out, or shaping, materials, as paper, leather, etc., by a downward pressure.

A thin plate of metal, leather, or other material, used in painting, marking, etc. The pattern is cut out of the plate, which is then laid flat on the surface to be marked, and the color brushed over it. Called also stencil plate.

A kind of ring, or bent piece of metal, wood, leather, or the like, horizontal in one part for receiving the foot of a rider, and attached by a strap to the saddle, -- used to assist a person in mounting a horse, and to enable him to sit steadily in riding, as well as to relieve him by supporting a part of the weight o…

A long, narrow, pliable strip of leather, cloth, or the like; specifically, a strip of thick leather used in flogging. A lively cobbler that . . . had scarce passed a day without giving her [his wife] the discipline of the strap. Addison.

A small cord, a line, a twine, or a slender strip of leather, or other substance, used for binding together, fastening, or tying things; a cord, larger than a thread and smaller than a rope; as, a shoe string; a bonnet string; a silken string. Shak. Round Ormond's knee thou tiest the mystic string. Prior.…

A mixture of oil and tallow used in softening and dressing leather. Stuffing box, a device for rendering a joint impervious where there is a hole through which a movable cylindrical body, as the paston rod of a steam engine, or the plunger of a pump, slides back and forth, or in which a shaft turns. It usually consists…

A short, thick roll of leather or paper, cut to a point, or any similar implement, used to rub down the lines of a crayon or pencil drawing, in shading it, or for shading drawings by producing tints and gradations from crayon, etc., in powder.

A small piece of leather, usually round, having a string attached to the center, which, when saturated with water and pressed upon a stone or other body having a smooth surface, adheres, by reason of the atmospheric pressure, with such force as to enable a considerable weight to be thus lifted by the string; -- used by…

Swedish glove leather, --usually made from lambskins tanned with willow bark. Also used adjectively; as, suède gloves.

To make soft and pliant; to render flexible; as, to supple leather. The flesh therewith she suppled and did steep. Spenser.