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A convex curve or arch cut in the edge of a sail to prevent chafing, or to secure a better fit. As sound as a roach Etym: [roach perhaps being a corruption of a F. roche a rock], perfectly sound.

To prevent from winning (as a horse), by pulling or curbing. [Racing Slang, Eng.]

On the rough edge of battle. Milton. A quicker and rougher remedy. Clarendon. Kind words prevent a good deal of that perverseness which rough and imperious usage often produces. Locke.

hain (Naut.), one of the loose chains or ropes which fasten the rudder to the quarters to prevent its loss in case it gets unshipped, and for operating it in case the tiller or the wheel is broken. -- Rudder coat (Naut.), a covering of tarred canvas used to prevent water from entering the rudderhole. -- Rudder fish.…

A collar on a shaft ot other piece to prevent endwise motion. See Illust. of Collar.

belt. -- Safety cage (Mach.), a cage for an elevator or mine lift, having appliances to prevent it from dropping if the lifting rope should break. -- Safety lamp. (Mining) See under Lamp. -- Safety match, a match which can be ignited only on a surface specially prepared for the purpose. -- Safety pin, a pin made i…

An auxiliary watch chain, secured to the clothes, usually out of sight, to prevent stealing of the watch.

rried on locomotives, from which sand runs on the rails in front of the driving wheel, to prevent slipping. -- Sand-box tree (Bot.), a tropical American tree (Hura crepitans). Its fruit is a depressed many-celled woody capsule which, when completely dry, bursts with a loud report and scatters the seeds. See Illust. of…

To rescue from something undesirable or hurtful; to prevent from doing something; to spare. I'll save you That labor, sir. All's now done. Shak.

Anything which saves fragments, or prevents waste or loss. Specifically:

le sidewise, that they may make a kerf somewhat wider than the thickness of the blade, to prevent friction; -- called also saw-wrest.

parched; to be dried up. Scatter a little mungy straw or fern amongst your seedlings, to prevent the roots from scorching. Mortimer.

To shoulder up; to prop or block with a wedge, chock, etc., as a wheel, to prevent its rolling or slipping.

A piece of wood or stiff hide placed over shrouds and other rigging to prevent chafe by the running gear. Ham. Nav. Encyc.

Thin canvas glued on the inside of panels to prevent shrinking, checking, etc.

An arrangement for preventing the entrance or return of gas or air into a pipe, by which the open end of the pipe dips beneath the surface of water or other liquid, or a deep bend or sag in the pipe is filled with the liquid; a draintrap. Great seal. See under Great. -- Privy seal. See under Privy, a. -- Seal lock, a…

birth. Of mortal seed they were not held. Waller. Seed bag (Artesian well), a packing to prevent percolation of water down the bore hole. It consists of a bag encircling the tubing and filled with flax seed, which swells when wet and fills the space between the tubing and the sides of the hole. -- Seed bud (Bot.), th…

The edge of cloth which is woven in such a manner as to prevent raveling.

alves (Anat.), the valves at the beginning of the aorta and of the pulmonary artery which prevent the blood from flowing back into the ventricle.

that the opening made by the saw may be a little wider than the thickness of the back, to prevent the saw from sticking. -- To set aside. (a) To leave out of account; to pass by; to omit; to neglect; to reject; to annul. Setting aside all other considerations, I will endeavor to know the truth, and yield to that. Till…