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A peculiar rounded granule of some mineral, usually enstatite or chrysolite, found imdedded more or less aboundantly in the mass of many meteoric stones, which are hence called chondrites.

To sever or separate by one more blows of a sharp instrument; to divide; -- usually with off or down. Chop off your hand, and it to the king. Shak.

meat, etc. -- Chopping knife, a knife for chopping or mincing meat, vegetables, etc.; -- usually with a handle at the back of the blade instead of at the end.

The upper or lower part of a truss, usually horizontal, resisting compression or tension. Waddell. Accidental, Common, and Vocal chords. See under Accidental, Common, and Vocal. -- Chord of an arch. See Illust. of Arch. -- Chord of curvature, a chord drawn from any point of a curve, in the circle of curvature for tha…

A painful erection of the penis, usually with downward curvature, occurring in gonorrhea.

A word coined by Lewis Carroll (Charles L. Dodgson), and usually explained as a combination of chuckle and snort. [Humorous]

A kind of light pastry, usually in the form of a small round cake, and with a filling, as of jelly or cream.

The alphabet; -- formerly so called, either from the cross usually set before it, or from a superstitious custom, sometimes practiced, of writing it in the form of a cross, by way of a charm. From infant conning of the Christcross-row. Wordsworth.

A portable timekeeper, with a heavy compensation balance, and usually beating half seconds; -- intended to keep time with great accuracy for use an astronomical observations, in determining longitude, etc.

One of the officers (usually two) in an Episcopal church, whose duties vary in different dioceses, but always include the provision of what is necessary for the communion service.

A canopy usually standing free and supported on four columns, covering the high altar, or, very rarely, a secondary altar.

A circular letter, or paper, usually printed, copies of which are addressed or given to various persons; as, a business circular.

Consisting in, or pertaining to, circumstances or particular incidents. The usual character of human testimony is substantial truth under circumstantial variety. Paley.

A disease of the liver in which it usually becomes smaller in size and more dense and fibrous in consistence; hence sometimes applied to similar changes in other organs, caused by increase in the fibrous framework and decrease in the proper substance of the organ.

Blockhead; dunce; -- so called because the handle of a cittern usually ended with a carved head. Marsion

Act of hearing, or the ability to hear, sounds not normally audible; -- usually claimed as a special faculty of spiritualistic mediums, or the like.

A kind of vise, usually of wood. Blood clam. See under Blood.

Conducted with secrecy; withdrawn from public notice, usually for an evil purpose; kept secret; hidden; private; underhand; as, a clandestine marriage. Locke.

sharp, brief, ringing sound, made by a collision of metallic or other sonorous bodies; -- usually expressing a duller or less resounding sound than clang, and a deeper and stronger sound than clink. But not in chains to pine, His spirit withered with tyeur clank. Byron.

er, paragraph, or sentence; an article, stipulation, or proviso, in a legal document. The usual attestation clause to a will. Bouvier.