Search the Dictionary

Any insect of the genus Forticula and related genera, belonging to the order Euplexoptera.

patriarch (whose position is not one of supremacy, but of precedence), the patriarch of Alexandria, the patriarch of Jerusalem, the patriarch of Antioch, and the Holy Synod of Russia. The Eastern Church accepts the first seven ecumenical councils (and is hence styled only schismatic, not heretical, by the Roman Cathol…

f sensibility, of voluntary motion, and largely of mental power. The body is erect and inflexible; the pulsation and breathing are not affected. Mayne.

Flexible wood worked into the top of hedge stakes, to bind them together. [Obs.] Tusser.

A mineral resin, of a blackish brown color, occurring in soft, flexible masses; -- called also mineral caoutchouc, and elastic bitumen.

are the elements of written language; hence, also, a simple portion of that which is complex, as a shaft, lever, wheel, or any simple part in a machine; one of the essential ingredients of any mixture; a constituent part; as, quartz, feldspar, and mica are the elements of granite. The simplicity which is so large an e…

f thought, speech, or action by something which impedes or confuses mental action; to perplex; to discompose; to disconcert; as, laughter may embarrass an orator.

A state of being embarrassed; perplexity; impediment to freedom of action; entanglement; hindrance; confusion or discomposure of mind, as from not knowing what to do or to say; disconcertedness. The embarrassment which inexperienced minds have often to express themselves upon paper. W. Irving. The embarrassments tom co…

To disguise with cosmetics, as a woman's complexion.

to leave in writing; as, to enroll men for service; to enroll a decree or a law; also, reflexively, to enlist. An unwritten law of common right, so engraven in the hearts of our ancestors, and by them so constantly enjoyed and claimed, as that it needed not enrolling. Milton. All the citizen capable of bearing arms enr…

to render extrication a bewildering difficulty; hence, metaphorically, to insnare; to perplex; to bewilder; to puzzle; as, to entangle the feet in a net, or in briers. "Entangling alliances." Washington. The difficulties that perplex men's thoughts and entangle their understandings. Locke. Allowing her to entangle hers…

being entangled; intricate and confused involution; that which entangles; intricacy; perplexity.

ns, as for a treaty. [Obs.] Of which I shall have further occasion to entreat. Hakewill. Alexander . . . was first that entreated of true peace with them. 1 Mac. x. 47.

To trick, to perplex. [Obs.] Rom. of R.

s of some hero, are narrated in an elevated style. The epic poem treats of one great, complex action, in a grand style and with fullness of detail. T. Arnold.

ne of the similar segments in plants, such as the segments of a segmented leaf. Syd. Soc. Lex.

A brief writing formed as if to be inscribed on a monument, as that concerning Alexander: "Sufficit huic tumulus, cui non sufficeret orbis."

ar date or epoch; a succession of years dating from some important event; as, the era of Alexander; the era of Christ, or the Christian era (see under Christian). The first century of our era. M. Arnold.

A defense for the shoulder, composed of flexible overlapping plates of metal, used in the 15th century; -- the origin of the modern epaulette. Fairholt.

The constituent elementary notions which constitute a complex notion, and must be enumerated to define it; sometimes called the nominal essence.