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The distance to which shot can be thrown from a gun, so as to be effective; the reach or range of a gun. Those who are come over to the royal party are supposed to be out of gunshot. Dryden.

e course between the last curve and the winning post. -- Home thrust, a well directed or effective thrust; one that wounds in a vital part; hence, in controversy, a personal attack.

Direct, forcible, and effective speaking. Milton.

Incapable of, or indisposed to, effective action; habitually slack or remiss; effecting little or nothing; as, inefficient workmen; an inefficient administrator.

Exerting or possessing influence or power; potent; efficacious; effective; strong; having authority or ascendency; as, an influential man, station, argument, etc. A very influential Gascon prefix. Earle.

The amount or degree of energy with which a force operates or a cause acts; effectiveness, as estimated by results produced.

ements, etc.; approximate; empirical. See the 2d Note under Geometric. Mechanical effect, effective power; useful work exerted, as by a machine, in a definite time. -- Mechanical engineering. See the Note under Engineering. -- Mechanical maneuvers (Mil.), the application of mechanical appliances to the mounting, dism…

The effective power or caliber of guns carried by a vessel of war.

The sum total of an army when assembled for review and inspection; the whole number of effective men in an army. And the muster was thirty thousands of men. Wyclif. Ye publish the musters of your own bands, and proclaim them to amount of thousands. Hooker.

thousand pounds on the nail." Beaconsfield. -- To hit the nail on the head, to hit most effectively; to do or say a thing in the right way.

The art of an orator; the art of public speaking in an eloquent or effective manner; the exercise of rhetorical skill in oral discourse; eloquence. "The oratory of Greece and Rome." Milton. When a world of men Could not prevail with all their oratory. Shak.

Fig.: To unnerve; to destroy or impair the energy of; to render ineffective; as, the occurrence paralyzed the community; despondency paralyzed his efforts.

To advance through all the steps or stages necessary to validity or effectiveness; to be carried through a body that has power to sanction or reject; to receive legislative sanction; to be enacted; as, the resolution passed; the bill passed both houses of Congress.

To be sequeamish or delicate; hence, to act or talk triflingly or ineffectively; to twaddle; piddle. [Dial. or Slang]

ressure engine, a steam engine, a hot-air engine, etc. (c) Fig.: The original or the most effective force in any undertaking or work; as, Clarkson was the prime mover in English antislavery agitation. -- Prime number (Arith.), a number which is exactly divisible by no number except itself or unity, as 5, 7, 11. -- Pr…

ulating and controlling motion, as: (a) The lever or index in a watch, which controls the effective length of the hairspring, and thus regulates the vibrations of the balance. (b) The governor of a steam engine. (c) A valve for controlling the admission of steam to the steam chest, in a locomotive.

on sharpies. -- Drop rudder (Naut.), a rudder extending below the keel so as to be more effective in steering. -- Rudder chain (Naut.), one of the loose chains or ropes which fasten the rudder to the quarters to prevent its loss in case it gets unshipped, and for operating it in case the tiller or the wheel is broke…

y or state of being sapid; taste; savor; savoriness. Whether one kind of sapidity is more effective than another. M. S. Lamson.

osition or condition that is relatively secondary or subordinate in activity, importance, effectiveness, or the like; to switch off; to turn aside, as from a purpose. [Colloq.]

That quality which tends to secure results; effective power in an institution or enactment; security; validity; legal or moral force; logical conclusiveness; as, the strength of social or legal obligations; the strength of law; the strength of public opinion; strength of evidence; strength of argument.…