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A bursting open, as of a steam boiler, in a less sudden manner than by explosion. See Explosion. Modulus of rupture. (Engin.) See under Modulus.

A sudden, violent check of a horse by drawing or twitching the reins on a sudden and with one pull.

To leap or rush out; to burst forth; to issue suddenly; as a body of troops from a fortified place to attack besiegers; to make a sally. They break the truce, and sally out by night. Dryden. The foe retires, -- she heads the sallying host. Byron.

An abrupt and marked variation in the condition or appearance of a species; a sudden modification which may give rise to new races. We greatly suspect that nature does make considerable jumps in the way of variation now and then, and that these saltations give rise to some of the gaps which appear to exist in the serie…

ch holds that the transmutation of species is not always gradual, but that there may come sudden and marked variations. See Saltation. -- Saltatory spasm (Med.), an affection in which pressure of the foot on a floor causes the patient to spring into the air, so as to make repeated involuntary motions of hopping and ju…

To frighten; to strike with sudden fear; to alarm. The noise of thy crossbow Will scare the herd, and so my shoot is lost. Shak. To scare away, to drive away by frightening. -- To scare up, to find by search, as if by beating for game. [Slang]

Subject to sudden alarm. [Colloq.U.S.] Whittier.

To utter suddenly a sharp, shrill sound; to screech; to creak, as a door or wheel.

To cry out with a shrill voice; to utter a sudden, sharp outcry, or shrill, loud cry, as in fright or extreme pain; to shriek; to screech. I heard the owl scream and the crickets cry. Shak. And scream thyself as none e'er screamed before. Pope.

A slight, sudden shower. [Prov. Eng.] Wright.

In a decent or suitable manner; becomingly. Suddenly a men before him stood, Not rustic as before, but seemlier clad, As one in city or court or place bred. Milton.

To fall or rush upon suddenly and lay hold of; to gripe or grasp suddenly; to reach and grasp. For by no means the high bank he could seize. Spenser. Seek you to seize and gripe into your hands The royalties and rights of banished Hereford Shak.

The act of taking or grasping suddenly.

The act of seizing, or the state of being seized; sudden and violent grasp or gripe; a taking into possession; as, the seizure of a thief, a property, a throne, etc.

of pressure it is exceedingly sensitive to sounds, being caused to roar, flare, or become suddenly shortened or extinguished, by slight sounds of the proper pitch. -- Sensitive joint vetch (Bot.), an annual leguminous herb (Æschynomene hispida), with sensitive foliage. -- Sensitive paper, paper prepared for photograp…

A fissure or crack in timber, caused by its being dried too suddenly. Gwilt.

One of the small pieces, or splinters, into which a brittle thing is broken by sudden violence; -- generally used in the plural. "All to shivers dashed." Milton.

t of a blow, collision, or violent impulse; a blow, impact, or collision; a concussion; a sudden violent impulse or onset. These strong, unshaken mounds resist the shocks Of tides and seas tempestuous. Blackmore. He stood the shock of a whole host of foes. Addison.

To send out or forth, especially with a rapid or sudden motion; to cast with the hand; to hurl; to discharge; to emit. An honest weaver as ever shot shuttle. Beau & Fl. A pit into which the dead carts had nightly shot corpses by scores. Macaulay.

Slang, U.S.] -- Shooting star. (a) (Astron.) A starlike, luminous meteor, that, appearing suddenly, darts quickly across some portion of the sky, and then as suddenly disappears, leaving sometimes, for a few seconds, a luminous train, - - called also falling star. Shooting stars are small cosmical bodies which encounte…