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A projectile constructed so as to take the grooves of a rifle by means of a soft copper band firmly attached near its base or, formerly, by means of an envelope of soft metal. In small arms the modern projectile, having a soft core and harder jacket, is subjected to compression throughout the entire cylindrical part.…

operty of contracting, or of shrinking into shorter or smaller dimensions; as, the contractile tissues. The heart's contractile force. H. Brooke. Each cilium seems to be composed of contractile substance. Hixley. Contractile vacuole (Zoöl.), a pulsating cavity in the interior of a protozoan, supposed to be excretory in…

An open internal courtyard inclosed by the walls of a large dwelling house or other large and stately building.

A small tooth, like that of a saw.

Tending or serving to draw apart.

A hollow tile used in making drains; -- called also draining tile.

sily led; tractable; complying; yielding to motives, persuasion, or instruction; as, a ductile people. Addison. Forms their ductile minds To human virtues. Philips.

Capable of being erected; susceptible of being erected of dilated. Erectile tissue (Anat.), a tissue which is capable of being greatly dilated and made rigid by the distension of the numerous blood vessels which it contains.

A name given by Lestiboudois to dicotyledons; -- so called because the plumule is naked.

Capable of being thrust out or protruded. J. Fleming.

uitful; able to produce abundantly; prolific; fecund; productive; rich; inventive; as, fertile land or fields; a fertile mind or imagination. Though he in a fertile climate dwell. Shak.

In a fertile or fruitful manner.

Fertility. Sir P. Sidney.

eing molded, into form by art; relating to pottery or to molding in any soft material. Fictile earth is more fragile than crude earth. Bacon. The earliest specimens of Italian fictile art. C. Wordsworth. Fictile ware, ware made of any material which is molded or shaped while soft; hence, pottery of any sort. -- Fic"ti…

ers or streams; existing in or about rivers; produced by river action; fluvial; as, fluviatile starta, plants. Lyell.

Talkative; loquacious; tattling. [Obs.] Talkers and futile persons. Bacon.

In a futile manner.

Denoting a race or country; as, a gentile noun or adjective.

See Falcon-gentil.

Gentleness; courtesy; kindness; nobility. [Obs.] Chaucer.