Search the Dictionary

A peculiar forcepslike organ which occurs in large numbers upon starfishes and echini. Those of starfishes have two movable jaws, or blades, and are usually nearly, or quite, sessile; those of echini usually have three jaws and a pedicel. See Illustration in Appendix.

Hence, figuratively, an artist's ability or peculiar manner; also, in general, the act or occupation of the artist, descriptive writer, etc.

A peculiar insectivore (Ptilocercus Lowii) of Borneo; -- so called from its very long, quill-shaped tail, which is scaly at the base and plumose at the tip.

A fivefold athletic performance peculiar to the great national games of the Greeks, including leaping, foot racing, wrestling, throwing the discus, and throwing the spear.

The faculty of perceiving; the faculty, or peculiar part, of man's constitution by which he has knowledge through the medium or instrumentality of the bodily organs; the act of apperhending material objects or qualities through the senses; -- distinguished from conception. Sir W. Hamilton. Matter hath no life nor perce…

Applied to the peculiar wormlike wave motion of the intestines and other similar structures, produced by the successive contraction of the muscular fibers of their walls, forcing their contents onwards; as, peristaltic movement. -- Per`i*stal"tic*al*ly, adv.

A notable or distinguished person; a conspicious or peculiar character; as, an illustrious personage; a comely personage of stature tall. Spenser.

particular person; relating to, or affecting, an individual, or each of many individuals; peculiar or proper to private concerns; not public or general; as, personal comfort; personal desire. The words are conditional, -- If thou doest well, -- and so personal to Cain. Locke.

A kind of mica having generally a peculiar bronze-red or copperlike color and a pearly luster. It is a silicate of aluminia, with magnesia, potash, and some fluorine. It is characteristic of crystalline limestone or dolomite and serpentine. See Mica.

A yellow crystalline substance having a peculiar unpleasant odor, resembling the quinones, and obtained from beechwood tar and coal tar, as also by the oxidation of xylidine; -- called also xyloquinone.

he mouth. It is usually classed with the gephyreans. Its larva (Actinotrocha) undergoes a peculiar metamorphosis.

A short, pithy expression; especially, one which is often employed; a peculiar or idiomatic turn of speech; as, to err is human.

Of or pertaining to phraseology; consisting of a peculiar form of words. "This verbal or phraseological answer." Bp. Pearson.

Manner of expression; peculiarity of diction; style. Most completely national in his . . . phraseology. I. Taylor.

A bitter white crystalline substance found in the cocculus indicus. It is a peculiar poisonous neurotic and intoxicant, and consists of a mixture of several neutral substances.

representing with the clearness or ideal beauty appropriate to a picture; expressing that peculiar kind of beauty which is agreeable in a picture, natural or artificial; graphic; vivid; as, a picturesque scene or attitude; picturesque language. What is picturesque as placed in relation to the beautiful and the sublime…

andi (Pilocarpus pennatifolius) as a white amorphous or crystalline substance which has a peculiar effect on the vasomotor system.

The Surinam toad (Pipa Americana), noted for its peculiar breeding habits.

y of emphasis, so as not only to signify the individual thing denoted by it, but also its peculiar attribute or quality; as, "His wife's a wife indeed." Bailey.

ts attention, or indicates qualities or character; a salient feature; a characteristic; a peculiarity; hence, a particular; an item; a detail; as, the good or bad points of a man, a horse, a book, a story, etc. He told him, point for point, in short and plain. Chaucer. In point of religion and in point of honor. Bacon.…