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Macaulay. To be in conclave, to be engaged in a secret meeting; -- said of several, or a considerable number of, persons.

genus Ranunculus, of many species; some are common weeds, others are flowering plants of considerable beauty.

all oval fruit separates from the footstalk when ripe and expels its seeds and juice with considerable force through the opening thus made. See Elaterium. -- Star cucumber,a climbing weed (Sicyos angulatus) with prickly fruit.

got at last the character of a good customer; by this means he gets credit for something considerable, and then never pays for it. Goldsmith.

rry dancers, beams of the northern lights when they rise and fall alternately without any considerable change of length. See Aurora borealis, under Aurora.

To destroy a considerable part of; as, to decimate an army in battle; to decimate a people by disease.

er over; to hand down; -- generally with upon, sometimes with to or into. They devolved a considerable share of their power upon their favorite. Burke. They devolved their whole authority into the hands of the council of sixty. Addison.

A form of articulation which admits of considerable motion; a complete joint; abarticulation. See Articulation.

such a change of motion or force as would, with ordinary compound arrangements, require a considerable train of parts. It is used for overcoming great resistance or producing very slow or very rapid motion. -- Differential pulley. (Mach.) (a) A portable hoisting apparatus, the same in principle as the differential win…

A small house or box, raised to a considerable height above the ground, and having compartments, in which domestic pigeons breed; a dove house. Like an eagle in a dovecote, I Fluttered your Volscians in Corioli. Shak.

Not difficult; requiring little labor or effort; slight; inconsiderable; as, an easy task; an easy victory. It were an easy leap. Shak.

Designating, made of, or relating to, flour including a considerable part of the bran.

, rigging, etc.; -- said esp. of ships and of troops. Dryden. Gave orders for equipping a considerable fleet. Ludlow.

y decree of fate; mortaility. The year sixty-three is conceived to carry with it the most considerable fatality. Ser T. Browne. By a strange fatality men suffer their dissenting. Eikon Basilike.

A piece of land of considerable size; esp., a piece inclosed for tillage or pasture. Fields which promise corn and wine. Byron.

A batted ball that flies to a considerable distance, usually high in the air; also, the flight of a ball so struck; as, it was caught on the fly. Black fly, Cheese fly, Dragon fly, etc. See under Black, Cheese, etc. -- Fly agaric (Bot.), a mushroom (Agaricus muscarius), having a narcotic juice which, in sufficient qua…

A small operation not involving considerable part of one's capital, or not in the line of one's ordinary business; a venture. [Cant] Bartlett.

A fish which is able to leap from the water, and fly a considerable distance by means of its large and long pectoral fins. These fishes belong to several species of the genus Exocoetus, and are found in the warmer parts of all the oceans.

A pump adapted for delivering water at a considerable height above the pump, or under a considerable pressure; in distinction from one which lifts the water only to the top of the pump or delivers it through a spout. See Illust. of Plunger pump, under Plunger.

a tight fit, as of one part into a hole in another part, which makes it necessary to use considerable force in putting the two parts together. -- Forcing house, a greenhouse for the forcing of plants, fruit trees, etc. -- Forcing machine, a powerful press for putting together or separating two parts that are fitted…