Search the Dictionary

e West Indian shrub Randia aculeata, used as a blue dye. -- Indigo bird (Zoöl.), a small North American finch (Cyanospiza cyanea). The male is indigo blue in color. Called also indigo bunting. -- Indigo blue. (a) The essential coloring material of commercial indigo, from which it is obtained as a dark blue earthy pow…

isolating type, although some are agglutinative, spoken in the great area extending from northern India in the west to Formosa in the east and from Central Asia in the north to the Malay Peninsula in the south.

ected with the plague. Them that were left alive being infected with this disease. Sir T. North.

r desultory incursion or invasion; raid; encroachment. The loss of Shrewsbury exposed all North Wales to the daily inroads of the enemy. Clarendon. With perpetual inroads to alarm, Though inaccessible, his fatal throne. Milton.

"To inure our prompt obedience." Milton. He . . . did inure them to speak little. Sir T. North. Inured and exercised in learning. Robynson (More's Utopia). The poor, inured to drudgery and distress. Cowper.

um), formerly used as shell money, and for ornaments, by the Indians of the west coast of North America.

Of, pertaining to, or designating, one of the principal linguistic stocks of the North American Indians. The territory of the northern Iroquoian tribes, of whom the Five Nations, or Iroquois proper, were the chief, extended from the shores of the St. Lawrence and of Lakes Huron, Ontario, and Erie south, through eastern…

connecting places at which the deviation of the magnetic needle from the meridian or true north is the same.

A large, handsome, North American woodpecker (Campephilus principalis), having a large, sharp, ivory-colored beak. Its general color is glossy black, with white secondaries, and a white dorsal stripe. The male has a large, scarlet crest. It is now rare, and found only in the Gulf States.

quatorial current of the Pacific, washing the eastern coast of Formosa and thence flowing northeastward past Japan and merging into the easterly drift of the North Pacific; -- called also Kuro-Siwo, or Black Stream, in allusion to the deep blue of its water. It is similar in may ways to the Gulf Stream.…

d from, Japheth, one of the sons of Noah; as, Japhetic nations, the nations of Europe and Northern Asia; Japhetic languages.

To put in jeopardy; to expose to loss or injury; to imperil; to hazard. Sir T. North. A people that jeoparded their lives unto the death. Judg. v. 18.

A North American river chub (Hybopsis biguttatus).

appearance; handsome; excellent; lively; agreeable; pleasant. "A jolly cool wind." Sir T. North. [Now mostly colloq.] Full jolly knight he seemed, and fair did sit. Spenser. The coachman is swelled into jolly dimensions. W. Irving.

A dunce; a blockhead. Sir T. North.

amily Psyllidæ, several of which are injurious to fruit trees. -- Jumping mouse (Zoöl.), North American mouse (Zapus Hudsonius), having a long tail and large hind legs. It is noted for its jumping powers. Called also kangaroo mouse. -- Jumping mullet (Zoöl.), gray mullet. -- Jumping shrew (Zoöl.), any African insect…

Any bird of the genus Junco, which includes several species of North American finches; -- called also snowbird, or blue snowbird.

the genus Lachnosterna and related genera; -- so called because they begin to fly, in the northern United States, about the first of June. The larvæ of the June beetles live under ground, and feed upon the roots of grasses and other plants. Called also May bug or May beetle. -- June grass (Bot.), a New England name fo…

ce which, with the Hottentots and Bushmen, inhabit South Africa. They inhabit the country north of Cape Colony, the name being now specifically applied to the tribes living between Cape Colony and Natal; but the Zulus of Natal are true Kaffirs.

A genus of North American shrubs with poisonous evergreen foliage and corymbs of showy flowers. Called also mountain laurel, ivy bush, lamb kill, calico bush, etc.