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Rough dressing by knocking off knobs or projections; knobbing.

A slabbing machine.

n a loose, untwisted state, produced by a carding machine and ready for the roving or slubbing which preceeds spinning.

A slovenly farmer; a jobbing tailor. [Prov. Eng.]

A roll of wool slightly twisted; a rove; -- called also slubbing.

A slubbing machine.

A genus of perennial climbing plants, usually with a prickly woody stem; green brier, or cat brier. The rootstocks of certain species are the source of the medicine called sarsaparilla.

An East Indian climbing plant (Strychnos colubrina) having a bitter taste, and supposed to be a remedy for the bite of the hooded serpent.

ke; an intended slight. J. Foster. Snub nose, a short or flat nose. -- Snub post, or Snubbing post (Naut.), a post on a dock or shore, around which a rope is thrown to check the motion of a vessel.

convulsive motion; to sigh with tears, and with a convulsive drawing in of the breath. Sobbing is the same thing [as sighing], stronger. Bacon. She sighed, she sobbed, and, furious with despair. She rent her garments, and she tore her hair. Dryden.

A sharp-pointed instrument with barbs, used for stabbing fish and other animals.

orption spectrum, the spectrum of light which has passed through a medium capable of absorbing a portion of the rays. It is characterized by dark spaces, bands, or lines. -- Chemical spectrum, a spectrum of rays considered solely with reference to their chemical effects, as in photography. These, in the usual photogro…

A supposed spongelike expansion of the tip of a rootlet for absorbing water; -- called also spongelet.

Having the quality of imbibing fluids, like a sponge. Spongy lead (Chem.), sponge lead. See under Sponge. -- Spongy platinum. See under Platinum.

taff of life." Swift. -- Staff tree (Bot.), any plant of the genus Celastrus, mostly climbing shrubs of the northern hemisphere. The American species (C. scandens) is commonly called bittersweet. See 2d Bittersweet, 3 (b). -- To set, or To put, up, or down, one's staff, to take up one's residence; to lodge. [Obs.]…

A prop; a support, as for the feet in standing or cilmbing. [Scot.]

The art of writing or inscribing characters on pillars. [R.] Stackhouse.

A genus of climbing asclepiadaceous shrubs, of Madagascar, Malaya, etc. They have fleshy or coriaceous opposite leaves, and large white waxy flowers in cymes.

To sharpen by rubbing on a strap, or strop; as, to strap a razor.

The act of making shrill sounds or musical notes by rubbing together certain hard parts, as is done by the males of many insects, especially by Orthoptera, such as crickets, grasshoppers, and locusts.