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oral ideas and affections . . . would be stunted and dwarfed, if cut off from a spiritual background. J. C. Shairp.

and one or more solid concretions or otocysts. -- Rose ear (in dogs), an ear which folds backward and shows part of the inside. -- To give ear to, to listen to; to heed, as advice or one advising. "Give ear unto my song." Goldsmith. -- To have one's ear, to be listened to with favor. -- Up to the ears, deeply subme…

The reflux or flowing back of the tide; the return of the tidal wave toward the sea; -- opposed to flood; as, the boats will go out on the ebb. Thou shoreless flood which in thy ebb and flow Claspest the limits of morality! Shelley.

or other purposes. The motion derived is precisely that of a crank having the same throw. Back eccentric, the eccentric that reverses or backs the valve gear and the engine. -- Fore eccentric, the eccentric that imparts a forward motion to the valve gear and the engine.

To send back (a sound); to repeat in sound; to reverberate. Those peals are echoed by the Trojan throng. Dryden. The wondrous sound Is echoed on forever. Keble.

A current of air or water running back, or in a direction contrary to the main current.

s. (b) (Shoemaking) A plane for edging soles. -- Edge play, a kind of swordplay in which backswords or cutlasses are used, and the edge, rather than the point, is employed. -- Edge rail. (Railroad) (a) A rail set on edge; -- applied to a rail of more depth than width. (b) A guard rail by the side of the main rail at…

The name of several species of herons which bear plumes on the back. They are generally white. Among the best known species are the American egret (Ardea, or Herodias, egretta); the great egret (A. alba); the little egret (A. garzetta), of Europe; and the American snowy egret (A. candidissima). A bunch of egrets killed…

Springing back; having a power or inherent property of returning to the form from which a substance is bent, drawn, pressed, or twisted; springy; having the power of rebounding; as, a bow is elastic; the air is elastic; India rubber is elastic. Capable of being drawn out by force like a piece of elastic gum, and by its…

Any beetle of the family Elateridæ, having the habit, when laid on the back, of giving a sudden upward spring, by a quick movement of the articulation between the abdomen and thorax; -- called also click beetle, spring beetle, and snapping beetle.

any paneled work, as the sides of windows, where the jamb makes an elbow with the window back. Gwilt.

Affixed; subjoined; -- said of a word or particle which leans back upon the preceding word so as to become a part of it, and to lose its own independent accent, generally varying also the accent of the preceding word.

In an enclitic manner; by throwing the accent back. Walker.

To form or be at the end of; as, the letter k ends the word back.

To incur the hazard of; to risk. [Obs.] He that turneth the humors back . . . endangereth malign ulcers. Bacon.

To put upon the back or outside of anything; -- the older spelling of endorse. [Obs.] Spenser.

A genus of nudibranch mollusks having clusters of branchial papillæ along the back. See Ceratobranchia. [Written also Æolis.]

A saddle-shaped cavity to contain the winter eggs, situated on the back of Cladocera.

A part of the sacerdotal habit among Jews, being a covering for the back and breast, held together on the shoulders by two clasps or brooches of onyx stones set in gold, and fastened by a girdle of the same stuff as the ephod. The ephod for the priests was of plain linen; that for the high priest was richly embroidered…

Bearing fruit on the back of the leaves, as ferns. Harris (1710).