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The substitution of business principles and methods for political methods in the conduct of the civil service. esp. the merit system instead of the spoils system in making appointments to office.

Destitute of claws.

cies of plants which possess flowers of two or more kinds, the closed ones being so constituted as to insure self-fertilization. Darwin.

ye of the law, clerici, or clerks. This privilege was abridged and modified by various statutes, and finally abolished in the reign of George IV. (1827). -- Regular clergy, Secular clergy See Regular, n., and Secular, a.

A period in human life in which some great change is supposed to take place in the constitution. The critical periods are thought by some to be the years produced by multiplying 7 into the odd numbers 3, 5, 7, and 9; to which others add the 81st year.

of naked pteropods. One species (Clione papilonacea), abundant in the Arctic Ocean, constitutes a part of the food of the Greenland whale. It is sometimes incorrectly called Clio.

raint, or impediment, of any kind. All the ancient, honest, juridical principles and institutions of England are so many clogs to check and retard the headlong course of violence and opression. Burke.

o gross an insult to be offered to their cloth Macaulay. The cloth, the clergy, are constituted for administering and for giving the best possible effect to . . . every axiom. I. Taylor. Body cloth. See under Body. -- Cloth of gold, a fabric woven wholly or partially of threads of gold. -- Cloth measure, the measure…

A special tutor who assists in preparing a student for examination; a trainer; esp. one who trains a boat's crew for a race. [Colloq.] Wareham was studying for India with a Wancester coach. G. Eliot.

eb lawn. Beau. & Fl. Cobweb micrometer, a micrometer in which threads of cobwed are substituted for wires.

natural state when active magnetism has ceased. It plainly depends on the molecular constitution of the metal. Nichol. The power of resisting magnetization or demagnization is sometimes called coercive force. S. Thompson.

ght indeed, at that time, have been not improperly called a most important political institution . . . The coffeehouses were the chief organs through which the public opinion of the metropolis vented itself . . . Every man of the upper or middle class went daily to his coffeehouse to learn the news and discuss it. Ever…

rd nuts of which are turned to make fancy articles, and also yield an oil used as a substitute for coconut oil.

To present and institute in a benefice, when the person presenting is both the patron and the ordinary; -- followed by to.

A member of a college, particularly of a literary institution so called; a student in a college.

ion (Chem.), a gas as oxygen, the combination of which with a combustible, as coal, constitutes combustion.

which nations recognize within their own territory, or in their courts, the peculiar institutions of another nation or the rights and privileges acquired by its citizens in their own land. By some authorities private international law rests on this comity, but the better opinion is that it is part of the common law of…

or warrant officer. -- Commission of the peace, a commission under the great seal, constituting one or more persons justices of the peace. [Eng.] -- To put a vessel into commission (Naut.), to equip and man a goverment vessel, and send it out on service after it has been laid up; esp., the formal act of tacking comman…

Given to habits of lewdness; prostitute. A dame who herself was common. L'Estrange. Common bar (Law) Same as Blank bar, under Blank. -- Common barrator (Law), one who makes a business of instigating litigation. -- Common Bench, a name sometimes given to the English Court of Common Pleas. -- Common brawler (Law), one…

A prostitute. [Obs.] Shak.