MODELING n.
ng, etc., the expression or indication of solid form. [Written also modelling.] Modeling plane, a small plane for planing rounded objects. -- Modeling wax, beeswax melted with a little Venice turpentine, or other resinous material, and tinted with coloring matter, usually red, -- used in modeling.
MOLDING; MOULDING n.
A plane, or curved, narrow surface, either sunk or projecting, used for decoration by means of the lights and shades upon its surface. Moldings vary greatly in pattern, and are generally used in groups, the different members of each group projecting or retreating, one beyond another. See Cable, n., 3, and Crenelated mo…
MOON n. 2 definitions
he celestial orb which revolves round the earth; the satellite of the earth; a secondary planet, whose light, borrowed from the sun, is reflected to the earth, and serves to dispel the darkness of night. The diameter of the moon is 2,160 miles, its mean distance from the earth is 240,000 miles, and its mass is one eigh…
MORNING a.
ring in the morning; -- a common sign of pregnancy. -- Morning star. (a) Any one of the planets (Venus, Jupiter, Mars, or Saturn) when it precedes the sun in rising, esp. Venus. Cf. Evening star, Evening. (b) Satan. See Lucifer. Since he miscalled the morning star, Nor man nor fiend hath fallen so far. Byron.…
MURAL a.
ular or steep; as, a mural precipice. Mural circle (Astron.), a graduated circle, in the plane of the meridian, attached permanently to a perpendicular wall; -- used for measuring arcs of the meridian. See Circle, n., 3. -- Mural crown (Rom. Antiq.), a golden crown, or circle of gold indented so as to resemble a battl…
NEBULAR a.
. Nebular hypothesis, an hypothesis to explain the process of formation of the stars and planets, presented in various forms by Kant, Herschel, Laplace, and others. As formed by Laplace, it supposed the matter of the solar system to have existed originally in the form of a vast, diffused, revolving nebula, which, gradu…
NEPTUNE n.
The remotest known planet of our system, discovered -- as a result of the computations of Leverrier, of Paris -- by Galle, of Berlin, September 23, 1846. Its mean distance from the sun is about 2,775,000,000 miles, and its period of revolution is about 164,78 years. Neptune powder, an explosive containing nitroglycerin…
NEUTRAL a.
d with Ant: acid, and Ant: alkaline. Neutral axis, Neutral surface (Mech.), that line or plane, in a beam under transverse pressure, at which the fibers are neither stretched nor compressed, or where the longitudinal stress is zero. See Axis. -- Neutral equilibrium (Mech.), the kind of equilibrium of a body so placed…
NEWTONIAN a.
stron.), a reflecting telescope, in which rays from the large speculum are received by a plane mirror placed diagonally in the axis, and near the open end of the tube, and thrown at right angles toward one side of the tube, where the image is formed and viewed through the eyeplace. -- Newtonian theory of light. See No…