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sting of a large frame, upon which the body was gradually stretched until, sometimes, the joints were dislocated; -- formerly used judicially for extorting confessions from criminals or suspected persons. During the troubles of the fifteenth century, a rack was introduced into the Tower, and was occasionally used under…

udatus) having a long, slender pod, which is sometimes eaten. -- Wild radish (Bot.), the jointed charlock.

each side for clearing the rail obstructions. (b) A guard rail. See under Guard. -- Rail joint (Railroad), a splice connecting the adjacent ends of rails, in distinction from a chair, which is merely a seat. The two devices are sometimes united. Among several hundred varieties, the fish joint is standard. See Fish joi…

Loose; disjointed; falling to pieces; out of repair. There came . . . my lord the cardinal, in his ramshackle coach. Thackeray.

ermany. It was so called because supposed to be caused by eating corn with which seeds of jointed charlock (Raphanus raphanistrum) had been mixed, but the condition is now known to be a form of ergotism.

the genera Crotalus and Caudisona, or Sistrurus. They have a series of horny interlocking joints at the end of the tail which make a sharp ratting sound when shaken. The common rattlesnake of the Northern United States (Crotalus horridus), and the diamond rattlesnake of the south (C. adamanteus), are the best known. Se…

name given to many tall and coarse grasses or grasslike plants, and their slender, often jointed, stems, such as the various kinds of bamboo, and especially the common reed of Europe and North America (Phragmites communis).

o open; as, to relax a rope or cord; to relax the muscles or sinews. Horror . . . all his joints relaxed. Milton. Nor served it to relax their serried files. Milton.

nant into a consonant chord by the rising or falling of the note which makes the discord. Joint resolution. See under Joint, a. -- Resolution of a force or motion (Mech.), the separation of a single force or motion into two or more which have different directions, and, taken together, are an equivalent for the single…

tant force or motion (Mech.), a force which is the result of two or more forces acting conjointly, or a motion which is the result of two or more motions combined. See Composition of forces, under Composition.

One of the annular ligaments which hold the tendons close to the bones at the larger joints, as at the wrist and ankle.

ease characterized by painful, often multiple, local inflammations, usually affecting the joints and muscles, but also extending sometimes to the deeper organs, as the heart. Inflammatory rheumatism (Med.), acute rheumatism attended with fever, and attacking usually the larger joints, which become swollen, hot, and ver…

Feeble in the joints; imperfect; weak; shaky.

or bolt headed or clinched at both ends. With busy hammers closing rivets up. Shak. Rivet joint, or Riveted joint, a joint between two or more pieces secured by rivets.

vely. Tomlinsin. Butt riveting, riveting in which the ends or edges of plates form a butt joint, and are fastened together by being riveted to a narrow strip which covers the joint. -- Chain riveting, riveting in which the rivets, in two or more rows along the seam, are set one behind the other. -- Crossed riveting,…

, axis of a plant, increasing in length by growth at its extremity only, not divided into joints, leafless and without buds, and having for its offices to fix the plant in the earth, to supply it with moisture and soluble matters, and sometimes to serve as a reservoir of nutriment for future growth. A true root, howeve…

, or the like, which is usually marked so as to show inches and fractions of an inch, and jointed so that it may be folded compactly. A judicious artist will use his eye, but he will trust only to his rule. South.

A slender trailing branch which takes root at the joints or end and there forms new plants, as in the strawberry and the common cinquefoil.

A composition used in making a rust joint. See Rust joint, below.

called cutworms. See Cutworm. -- Rustic work. (a) (Arch.) Cut stone facing which has the joints worked with grooves or channels, the face of each block projecting beyond the joint, so that the joints are very conspicuous. (b) (Arch. & Woodwork) Summer houses, or furniture for summer houses, etc., made of rough limbs o…