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has two, or the circle, which has an infinite number. The two axes of the ellipse are the major axis and the minor axis, and the two axes of the hyperbola are the transverse axis and the conjugate axis. -- Axis of a lens, the straight line passing through its center and perpendicular to its surfaces. -- Axis of a tel…

Of or pertaining to the isles of Majorca, Minorca, Ivica, etc., in the Mediterranean Sea, off the coast of Valencia. Balearic crane. (Zoöl.) See Crane.

Mere; alone; unaccompanied by anything else; as, a bare majority. "The bare necessaries of life." Addison. Nor are men prevailed upon by bare of naked truth. South. Under bare poles (Naut.), having no sail set.

the northern hemisphere, called respectively the Great Bear and the Lesser Bear, or Ursa Major and Ursa Minor.

A major in the Turkish army.

A large grackle or blackbird (Quiscalus major), found in the Southern United States.

duty is to inspect troops in companies before they are mustered into service. -- Brigade major, an officer who may be attached to a brigade to assist the brigadier in his duties.

An officer in rank next above a colonel, and below a major general. He commands a brigade, and is sometimes called, by a shortening of his title, simple a brigadier.

The main mass or body; the largest or principal portion; the majority; as, the bulk of a debt. The bulk of the people must labor, Burke told them, "to obtain what by labor can be obtained." J. Morley.

olleges where liquors, fruit, and refreshments are kept for sale to the students. And the major Oxford kept the buttery bar. E. Hall.

es, and to appoint bishops and priests of like race and speaking the same language as the majority of the members of a diocese or congregation. This plan was successfully opposed by the American party in the Church.

genus of carnivorous mammals, of the family Canidæ, including the dogs and wolves. Canis major Etym: [L., larger dog], a constellation to the southeast of Orion, containing Sirius or the Dog Star. -- Canis minor Etym: [L., smaller dog], a constellation to the east of Orion, containing Procyon, a star of the first mag…

The group of seven stars, commonly called the Dipper, in the constellation Ursa Major, or Great Bear. See Ursa major, under Ursa.

A small interval (the difference beyween a major and minor half step), seldom used except by tuners. Comma bacillus (Physiol.), a variety of bacillus shaped like a comma, found in the intestines of patients suffering from cholera. It is considered by some as having a special relation to the disease; -- called also chol…

The majority or bulk of mankind. [Obs.] Hooker.

erted in two related propositions called premises. See Syllogism. He granted him both the major and minor, but denied him the conclusion. Addison.

The nominal of the second tone in the model major scale (that in C), or of the fourth tone in the relative minor scale of C (that in A minor), or of the key tone in the relative minor of F.

ounds with seven intervals, of which two are semitones and five are whole tones; a modern major or minor scale, as distinguished from the chromatic scale.

d from their arrangement in the form of a dipper; -- called also Charles's Wain. See Ursa Major, under Ursa.

ctions; as it is either day or night. -- Disjunctive syllogism (Logic), one in which the major proposition is disjunctive; as, the earth moves in a circle or an ellipse; but in does not move in a circle, therefore it moves in an ellipse.