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A double sling made of a single rope, for slinging a cask, gun, etc.

A compound, originally made from gun cotton and castor oil, but later from different materials, and used as a substitute for vulcanized India rubber and for ivory; -- called also xylotile.

A block on the muzzle of a gun, to do away with the effect of dispart, in sighting.

ock crystal; as, Brazilian pebble; -- so called by opticians. Pebble powder, slow-burning gunpowder, in large cubical grains. -- Scotch pebble, varieties of quartz, as agate, chalcedony, etc., obtained from cavities in amygdaloid.

A bullet; a ball for firearms. [Obs.] Bacon. As swift as a pellet out of a gun. Chaucer. Pellet molding (Arch.), a narrow band ornamented with smalt, flat disks.

per cap or cup, containing fulminating powder, and used with a percussion lock to explode gunpowder. -- Percussion fuze. See under Fuze. -- Percussion lock, the lock of a gun that is fired by percussion upon fulminating powder. -- Percussion match, a match which ignites by percussion. -- Percussion powder, powder s…

in anything undertaken; continued pursuit or prosecution of any business, or enterprise begun. "The king-becoming graces . . . perseverance, mercy, lowliness." Shak. Whose constant perseverance overcame Whate'er his cruel malice could invent. Milton.

sist in any business or enterprise undertaken; to pursue steadily any project or course begun; to maintain a purpose in spite of counter influences, opposition, or discouragement; not to give or abandon what is undertaken. Thrice happy, if they know Their happiness, and persevere upright. Milton.

or received in small items or amounts. -- Petty officer, a subofficer in the navy, as a gunner, etc., corresponding to a noncommissionned officer in the army.

A musket, gun, or cannon; as, a battery of six pieces; a following piece.

h suitable appliances for raising to a height (by animal or steam power, the explosion of gunpowder, etc.) a heavy mass of iron, which falls upon the pile. -- Pile dwelling. See Lake dwelling, under Lake. -- Pile plank (Hydraul. Eng.), a thick plank used as a pile in sheet piling. See Sheet piling, under Piling. --…

A pivot about which the chassis swings, in some kinds of gun carriages.

See Pitchstone. Amboyna pitch, the resin of Dammara australis. See Kauri. -- Burgundy pitch. See under Burgundy. -- Canada pitch, the resinous exudation of the hemlock tree (Abies Canadensis); hemlock gum. -- Jew's pitch, bitumen. -- Mineral pitch. See Bitumen and Asphalt. -- Pitch coal (Min.), bituminous coal. -…

in which one span, called the pivot span, turns about a central vertical axis. -- Pivot gun, a gun mounted on a pivot or revolving carriage, so as to turn in any direction. -- Pivot tooth (Dentistry), an artificial crown attached to the root of a natural tooth by a pin or peg.

The embryo which has begun its development in the act of germination.

ke from a pipe, or of dust from a puffball; a slight explosion, as of a small quantity of gunpowder. [Scot.]

in an extended sense, to risk large sums in hazardous speculations. [Cant] Plunging fire (Gun.), firing directed upon an enemy from an elevated position.

isible portion of time; a moment; an instant; hence, the verge. When time's first point begun Made he all souls. Sir J. Davies.

artillery, the point where the projectile first strikes the horizontal plane on which the gun stands, the axis of the piece being horizontal.

Having many grooves; as, a polygrooved rifle or gun (referring to the rifling).