Search the Dictionary

Of or pertaining to a natural order of plants (Scitamimeæ), mostly tropical herbs, including the ginger, Indian shot, banana, and the plants producing turmeric and arrowroot.

The picarian birds, as distinguished from the singing birds.

t of the endogenous genus Pandanus, of which there are about fifty species, natives of tropical lands from Africa to Polynesia; -- named from the spiral arrangement of the pineapple-like leaves. -- Screw plate, a device for cutting threads on small screws, consisting of a thin steel plate having a series of perforatio…

An order of fresh-water fishes inhabiting tropical Africa. They have rudimentary electrical organs on each side of the tail.

A shrubby plant (Coccoloba uvifera) growing on the sandy shores of tropical America, somewhat resembling the grapevine.

tarius), native of South Africa, but now naturalized in the West Indies and some other tropical countries. It has a powerful hooked beak, a crest of long feathers, and a long tail. It feeds upon reptiles of various kinds, and is much prized on account of its habit of killing and devouring snakes of all kinds. Called al…

A typical figure, consisting of seven equal segments of a circle, used to denote the gifts of the Holy Chost, the seven sacraments as recognized by the Roman Catholic Church, etc. [R.]

lia) growing in the West Indies; also, its edible fruit. -- Seven-year vine (Bot.), a tropical climbing plant (Ipomoea tuberosa) related to the morning-glory.

Mean; paltry; despicable; as, shabby treatment. "Very shabby fellows." Clarendon.

To represent faintly or imperfectly; to adumbrate; hence, to represent typically. Augustus is shadowed in the person of Dryden.

Faintly representative; hence, typical. From sshadowy types to truth, from flesh to spirit. Milton.

A genus of tropical sapotaceous trees noted for their very hard wood; ironwood.

To represent by a sign; to make known in a typical or emblematic manner, in distinction from speech; to signify. I signed to Browne to make his retreat. Sir W. Scott.

ing the seeds of the silk-cotton tree. -- Silk-cotton tree (Bot.), a name for several tropical trees of the genera Bombax and Eriodendron, and belonging to the order Bombaceæ. The trees grow to an immense size, and have their seeds enveloped in a cottony substance, which is used for stuffing cushions, but can not be s…

r lip. Many fossil species are known, and a few living ones are found in deep water in tropical seas.

-aft rig, consisting of a boom-and-gaff mainsail, jibs, staysail, and gaff topsail. The typical sloop has a fixed bowsprit, topmast, and standing rigging, while those of a cutter are capable of being readily shifted. The sloop usually carries a centerboard, and depends for stability upon breadth of beam rather than dep…

A tropical American shrub (Plumieria rubra) which has very fragrant red blossoms.

s Lutjanus, abundant on the southern coasts of the United States and on both coasts of tropical America.

e food fish (Centropomus undecimalis) found both on the Atlantic and Pacific coasts of tropical America; -- called also ravallia, and robalo.

pus racemosus of the Northern United States, and the Chiococca racemosa of Florida and tropical America. Creeping snowberry. (Bot.) See under Creeping.