Search the Dictionary

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.),…

A sluiceway or passage for superfluous water in a reservoir, to prevent too great pressure on the dam.

A guard in the front part of vehicle, to prevent splashing by a mud or water from the horse's heels; -- in the United States commonly called dashboard.

A contrivance for fastening the wheel of a vehicle, to prevent it from turning in going down a hill. To put a spoke in one's wheel, to thwart or obstruct one in the execution of some design.

anding flush with the wall on each of its sides, at the external angles of plastering, to prevent their being damaged. -- The staff of life, bread. "Bread is the staff of life." Swift. -- Staff tree (Bot.), any plant of the genus Celastrus, mostly climbing shrubs of the northern hemisphere. The American species (C. s…

ight in a lop, eye, or mortise, at the side or end of a cart, a flat car, or the like, to prevent goods from falling off.

tiffen them. Stay bolt (Mech.), a bolt or short rod, connecting opposite plates, so as to prevent them from being bulged out when acted upon by a pressure which tends to force them apart, as in the leg of a steam boiler. -- Stay busk, a stiff piece of wood, steel, or whalebone, for the front support of a woman's stays…

An ill smell; an offensive odor; a stink. Cowper. Stench trap, a contrivance to prevent stench or foul air from rising from the openings of sewers, drains, etc.

To destroy all spores or germs in (an organic fluid or mixture), as by heat, so as to prevent the development of bacterial or other organisms.