Search the Dictionary

A kind of oil gas extensively used for lighting railroad cars, which carry it in compressed form.

p; pungent; as, a piquant anecdote. "As piquant to the tongue as salt." Addison. "Piquant railleries." Gov. of Tongue.

smites, wounds, or troubles; a blow; a calamity; any afflictive evil or torment; a great trail or vexation. Shak. And men blasphemed God for the plague of hail. Wyclif. The different plague of each calamity. Shak.

A large American flounder (Paralichthys dentatus; called also brail, puckermouth, and summer flounder. The name is sometimes applied to other allied species. [Written also plaise.] Plaice mouth, a mouth like that of a plaice; a small or wry mouth. [R.] B. Jonson.

uding material worked upon or finished products; as, the plant of a foundry, a mill, or a railroad.

ed in a section of the hold or over the floor of the magazine. See Orlop. Platform car, a railway car without permanent raised sides or covering; a f -- Platform scale, a weighing machine, with a flat platform on which objects are weighed.

tmospheric pressure. -- Pneumatic pump, an air-exhausting or forcing pump. -- Pneumatic railway. See Atmospheric railway, under Atmospheric. -- Pneumatic syringe, a stout tube closed at one end, and provided with a piston, for showing that the heat produced by compressing a gas will ignite substances. -- Pneumatic…

A switch made up of a rail from each track, both rails being tapered far back and connected to throw alongside the through rail of either track.

A man who has charge of railroad points or switches. [Eng.]

r the refreshment and accommodation of travelers on some recognized route; as, a stage or railway post.

Lying on the ground, but without putting forth roots; trailing; prostrate; as, a procumbent stem.

ove forward in space; to continue onward in course; to proceed; to advance; to go on; as, railroads are progressing. "As his recovery progressed." Thackeray. Let me wipe off this honorable dew, That silverly doth progress on thy checks. Shak. They progress in that style in proportion as their pieces are treated with co…

Trailing on the ground; procumbent.

ments, etc. -- Public works, all fixed works built by civil engineers for public use, as railways, docks, canals, etc.; but strictly, military and civil engineering works constructed at the public cost.

A corporation, such as a railroad company, lighting company, water company, etc., organized or chartered to follow a public calling or to render services more or less essential to the general public convenience or safety.

A well-known trailing plant (Cucurbita pepo) and its fruit, -- used for cooking and for feeding stock; a pompion. Pumpkin seed. (a) The flattish oval seed of the pumpkin. (b) (Zoöl.) The common pondfish.

completion; to accomplish; as, he put through a measure of legislation; he put through a railroad enterprise. [U.S.] -- To put to. (a) To add; to unite; as, to put one sum to another. (b) To refer to; to expose; as, to put the safety of the state to hazard. "That dares not put it to the touch." Montrose.…

A part of the entrails of the beast taken, given to the hounds.

lance. [Obs.] B. Jonson. -- Quarter nettings (Naut.), hammock nettings along the quarter rails. -- Quarter note (Mus.), a note equal in duration to half a minim or a fourth of semibreve; a crochet. -- Quarter pieces (Naut.), several pieces of timber at the after- part of the quarter gallery, near the taffrail. Totte…

One of the circular iron or steel rails on which the chassis of a heavy gun is turned.