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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…

A scarecrow, generally made of feathers tied to a string, hung up to prevent deer from breaking into a place. Halliwell.

Something which confines the legs or arms so as to prevent their free motion; specifically, a ring or band inclosing the ankle or wrist, and fastened to a similar shackle on the other leg or arm, or to something else, by a chain or a strap; a gyve; a fetter. His shackles empty left; himself escaped clean. Spenser.…

the side of a building or other structure; a prop placed beneath anything, as a beam, to prevent it from sinking or sagging. [Written also shoar.]

cept the view of; as, one point shuts in another. -- To shut off. (a) To exclude. (b) To prevent the passage of, as steam through a pipe, or water through a flume, by closing a cock, valve, or gate. -- To shut out, to preclude from entering; to deny admission to; to exclude; as, to shut out rain by a tight roof. --…

[Written also shiness.] Frequency in heavenly contemplation is particularly important to prevent a shyness bewtween God and thy soul. Baxter.

An additional piece fastened to the keel of a boat to prevent lateral motion. See Skeg.

A shoe or clog, as of iron, attached to a chain, and placed under the wheel of a wagon to prevent its turning when descending a steep hill; a drag; a skidpan; also, by extension, a hook attached to a chain, and used for the same purpose.

A spongy, semivitrifled substance which miners or smelters mix with the ores of metals to prevent their fusion. [Written also slakin.]

of this state [Virginia] could see the policy of a gradual abolition of slavery. It might prevent much future mischief. Washington.

of by suffocation; to deprive of the air necessary for life; to cover up closely so as to prevent breathing; to suffocate; as, to smother a child.

Bright gem instinct with music, vocal spark. Wordsworth. Spark arrester, a contrivance to prevent the escape of sparks while it allows the passage of gas, -- chiefly used in the smokestack of a wood-burning locomotive. Called also spark consumer. [U.S.]

Exerting a peculiar influence over any part of the body; preventing or curing disease by a peculiar adaption, and not on general principles; as, quinine is a specific medicine in cases of malaria. In fact, all medicines will be found specific in the perfection of the science. Coleridge. Specific character (Nat. Hist.),…