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A genus of birds, with a short, conical, pointed bill. It formerly included all the sparrows and finches, but is now restricted to certain European finches, like the chaffinch and brambling.

Pertaining to the family Fringillidæ; characteristic of finches; sparrowlike.

A movable furrowed piece of steel struck by the flint, to throw sparks into the pan, in an early form of flintlock. Knight.

e expenditure or application of force, materials, time, etc.; characterized by frugality; sparing; economical; saving; as, a frugal housekeeper; frugal of time. I oft admire How Nature, wise and frugal, could commit Such disproportions. Milton.

A sparing use; sparingness; as, frugality of praise.

pectro-electric tube in which the decomposition of a liquid by the passage of an electric spark is observed. Knight.

y the striking of the projectile. -- Electric fuze, a fuze which is ignited by heat or a spark produced by an electric current. -- Friction fuze, a fuze which is ignited by the heat evolved by friction. -- Percussion fuze, a fuze in which the ignition is produced by a blow on some fulminating compound. -- Time fuze…

The spar upon which the upper edge of a fore-and-aft sail is extended.

oq.] -- Gallows bitts (Naut.), one of two or more frames amidships on deck for supporting spare spars; -- called also gallows, gallows top, gallows frame, etc. -- Gallows frame. (a) The frame supporting the beam of an engine.

That part of the spar deck of a vessel on each side of the booms, from the quarter-deck to the forecastle; -- more properly termed the waist. Totten. Gangway ladder, a ladder rigged on the side of a vessel at the gangway. -- To bring to the gangway, to punish (a seaman) by flogging him at the gangway.…

A grommet or ring of rope lashed to a spar for convenience in handling.

The spart; -- called also garvie herring, and garvock. [Prov. Eng. & Scot.]

A species of divination, by means of glasses or other round, transparent vessels, in the center of which figures are supposed to appear by magic art.

A very thin, slight, transparent stuff, generally of silk; also, any fabric resembling silk gauze; as, wire gauze; cotton gauze. Gauze dresser, one employed in stiffening gauze.

Magistrates in Sparta, who with the ephori and kings, constituted the supreme civil authority.

To sneer at; to mock; to gibe. Being moved, he will not spare to gird the gods. Shak.

To yield; to furnish; to produce; to emit; as, flint and steel give sparks.

Any viscous, transparent substance, resembling the white of an egg.

Like glair, or partaking of its qualities; covered with glair; viscous and transparent; slimy. Wiseman.

A viscous, transparent substance. See Glair.