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Sharp; sour; acid. [Obs.] "Like eager droppings into milk." Shak.

The dropping out or suppression from a word of a consonant, with or without a vowel.

ll quantities of sweetened liquid, water, etc., to any mixture, or to test tubes, etc.; a dropping bottle.

uppression of a vowel or syllable, for the sake of meter or euphony; esp., in poetry, the dropping of a final vowel standing before an initial vowel in the following word, when the two words are drawn together.

To animate; to encourage; to cheer. It raiseth the dropping spirit, erecting it to a loving complaisance. Barrow.

The act of falling; a dropping or descending be the force of gravity; descent; as, a fall from a horse, or from the yard of ship.

thwardly into the Bay of Benin on the coast of Guinea.-- Guinea dropper one who cheats by dropping counterfeit guineas. [Obs.] Gay. -- Guinea fowl, Guinea hen (Zoöl.), an African gallinaceous bird, of the genus Numida, allied to the pheasants. The common domesticated species (N. meleagris), has a colored fleshy horn o…

pe c, its return being prevented by a valve at the entrance to the air chamber, while the dropping of the valve a by its own weight allows another rush through the main pipe, and so on alternately. -- Hydraulic valve. (Mach.) (a) A valve for regulating the distribution of water in the cylinders of hydraulic elevators,…

To water; to wet; to moisten with running or dropping water; to bedew.

To move (a vessel) by carrying out a kedge in a boat, dropping it overboard, and hauling the vessel up to it.

it kills. It has the habit of carrying tortoises and marrow bones to a great height, and dropping them on stones to obtain the contents, and is therefore called bonebreaker and ossifrage. It is supposed to be the ossifrage of the Bible. Called also bearded vulture and bearded eagle. [Written also lammergeyer.]…

t a projecting parapet, or in the floor of a gallery or the roof of a portal, shooting or dropping missiles upen assailants attacking the base of the walls. Also, the construction of such defenses, in general, when of this character. See Illusts. of Battlement and Castle.

tic or saprophytic plants including the Indian pipe and pine sap. The name alludes to the dropping end of the stem.

A dropping or bending forward of the upper oart or top of anything. Like a drunken sailor on a mast, Ready with every nod to tumble down. Shak.

To be lifted, or to admit of being lifted, from the imposing stone without dropping any of the type; -- said of a form.

A kind of glass drop with a long tail, made by dropping melted glass into water. It is remarkable for bursting into fragments when the surface is scratched or the tail broken; -- so called from Prince Rupert, nephew of Charles I., by whom they were first brought to England. Called also Rupert's ball, and glass tear.…

y cage (Mach.), a cage for an elevator or mine lift, having appliances to prevent it from dropping if the lifting rope should break. -- Safety lamp. (Mining) See under Lamp. -- Safety match, a match which can be ignited only on a surface specially prepared for the purpose. -- Safety pin, a pin made in the form of a…

the shot of an enemy in a ship's side. -- Shot tower, a lofty tower for making shot, by dropping from its summit melted lead in slender streams. The lead forms spherical drops which cool in the descent, and are received in water or other liquid. -- Shot window, a window projecting from the wall. Ritson, quoted by Ha…

A machine the operation of which is started by dropping a coin into a slot, for delivering small articles of merchandise, showing one's weight, exhibiting pictures, throwing dice, etc.

A deposit more or less resembling an inverted stalactite, formed by calcareous water dropping on the floors of caverns; hence, a similar deposit of other material.