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The branch of medical science which teaches the method of acquiring a good habit of body. [Obs.]

Twigs and branches of evergreen plants used for decoration. "The funeral evengreens entwine." Keble.

r a case to be determined, as an exercise in the application of the rules of any study or branch of science; as, in trigonometry and grammar, the principles and rules are illustrated by examples.

The external branch of the appendages of Crustacea.

e; one who has skill, experience, or extensive knowledge in his calling or in any special branch of learning.

Tending or serving to extract or draw out. Certain branches of industry are conveniently designated extractive: e.g., agriculture, pastoral and mining pursuits, cutting of lumber, etc. Cairnes.

A bundle of sticks, twigs, or small branches of trees, used for fuel, for raising batteries, filling ditches, or other purposes in fortification; a fascine. Shak.

The root, or one of the branches of the root, of a tooth. See Tooth.

Clustered, parallel, and upright, as the branches of the Lombardy poplar; pointed.

A kind of embroidery stitch producing a branching zigzag line.

A branch railroad, stage line, or the like; a side line which increases the business of the main line.

Henceforth, my early care . . . Shall tend thee, and the fertile burden ease Of thy full branches. Milton.

A reformed branch of the Bernardines, founded in 1577 at Feuillans, near Toulouse, in France.

A small fiber; the branch of a fiber; a very slender thread; a fibrilla. Cheyne.

ling a finger in form. -- Finger sponge (Zoöl.), a sponge having finger-shaped lobes, or branches. -- Finger stall, a cover or shield for a finger. -- Finger steel, a steel instrument for whetting a currier's knife. To burn one's fingers. See under Burn. -- To have a finger in, to be concerned in. [Colloq.] -- To h…

A branch of the Mongolian race, inhabiting Northern and Eastern Europe, including the Magyars, Bulgarians, Permians, Lapps, and Finlanders. [Written also Fins.]

A young, flexible shoot of a plant; esp., the long trailing branch of a vine, or a slender branch in certain mosses.

A tropical leguminous bush (Poinciana, or Cæsalpinia, pulcherrima) with prickly branches, and showy yellow or red flowers; -- so named from its having been sometimes used for hedges in the West Indies. Baird.

A cluster of leaves, flowers, and branches; especially, the representation of leaves, flowers, and branches, in architecture, intended to ornament and enrich capitals, friezes, pediments, etc. Foliage plant (Bot.), any plant cultivated for the beauty of its leaves, as many kinds of Begonia and Coleus.…

A curve of the third order, consisting of two infinite branches, which have a common asymptote. The curve has a double point, and a leaf-shaped loop; whence the name. Its equation is x3 + y3 = axy.