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Relating to, or resembling, a cup; also improperly used for calycular, calyculate.

n, each pushing on the end of a lever fixed in its socket. [Sometimes spelt Capstern, but improperly.] Capstan bar, one of the long bars or levers by which the capstan is worked; a handspike.. -- To pawl the capstan, to drop the pawls so that they will catch in the notches of the pawl ring, and prevent the capstan fro…

ense or form; forced; far-fatched. -- Cat`a*chres"tic*al*ly, adv. [A] catachrestical and improper way of speaking. Jer. Taylor.

ust not be dismissed with a cursory mention. It might indeed, at that time, have been not improperly called a most important political institution . . . The coffeehouses were the chief organs through which the public opinion of the metropolis vented itself . . . Every man of the upper or middle class went daily to his…

or of lawyers restained in a cause. Writ of consultation (Law), a writ by which a cause, improperly removed by prohibition from one court to another, is returned to the court from which it came; -- so called because the judges, on consultation, find the prohibition ill-founded.

moon in her first quarter, or when defined by a concave and a convex edge; also, applied improperly to the old or decreasing moon in a like state.

f the southern United States and West Indies; -- called also saber fish, silver eel, and, improperly, swordfish.

Improperly, an heraldic bearing. Knights-errant used to distinguish themselves by devices on their shields. Addison. A banner with this strange device -Excelsior. Longfellow.

The act of giving or disposing of real estate by will; -- sometimes improperly applied to a bequest of personal estate.

; the district in which a bishop exercises his ecclesiastical authority. [Frequently, but improperly, spelt diocess.]

same syllable, only one of them being sounded; as, ai in rain, eo in people; -- called an improper diphthong.

id an uncontrollable craving (often periodic) for drink, esp. for alcoholic liquors; also improperly used to denote acute and chronic alcoholism.

jury, etc., corruptly, by promises, entreaties, money, entertainments, threats, or other improper inducements.

The assertion or statement of a thing done or existing; sometimes, even when false, improperly put, by a transfer of meaning, for the thing done, or supposed to be done; a thing supposed or asserted to be done; as, history abounds with false facts. I do not grant the fact. De Foe. This reasoning is founded upon a fact…

Improperly acquainted; wrongly intimate. Camden. Familiar spirit, a demon or evil spirit supposed to attend at call. 1 Sam. xxviii. 3, 7-9.

In the first place; before anything else; -- sometimes improperly used for first.

Decimal fraction, Partial fraction, etc. See under Continued, Decimal, Partial, etc. -- Improper fraction, a fraction in which the numerator is greater than the denominator. -- Proper fraction, a fraction in which the numerator is less than the denominator.

A will free from improper coercion or restraint. To come thus was I not constrained, but did On my free will. Shak.

Improper familiarity; violation of the rules of decorum; license.

or and metallic luster, and so soft as to leave a trace on paper. It is used for pencils (improperly called lead pencils), for crucibles, and as a lubricator, etc. Often called plumbago or black lead. Graphite battery (Elec.), a voltaic battery consisting of zinc and carbon in sulphuric acid, or other exciting liquid.…