GREGORIAN a.
ian chant (Mus.), plain song, or canto fermo, a kind of unisonous music, according to the eight celebrated church modes, as arranged and prescribed by Pope Gregory I. (called "the Great") in the 6th century. -- Gregorian modes, the musical scales ordained by Pope Gregory the Great, and named after the ancient Greek sc…
GROSS a.
Whole; entire; total; without deduction; as, the gross sum, or gross amount, the gross weight; -- opposed to net. Gross adventure (Law) the loan of money upon bottomry, i. e., on a mortgage of a ship. -- Gross average (Law), that kind of average which falls upon the gross or entire amount of ship, cargo, and freight;…
H n.
the eighth letter of the English alphabet, is classed among the consonants, and is formed with the mouth organs in the same position as that of the succeeding vowel. It is used with certain consonants to form digraphs representing sounds which are not found in the alphabet, as sh, th, th, as in shall, thing, thine (for…
HANDICAP n. 2 definitions
ng, granted in a race to the competitor possessing inferior advantages; or an additional weight or other hindrance imposed upon the one possessing superior advantages, in order to equalize, as much as possible, the chances of success; as, the handicap was five seconds, or ten pounds, and the like.
HANSE n.
1260, and was maintained for nearly four hundred years. At one time the league comprised eighty-five cities. Its remnants, Lübeck, Hamburg, and Bremen, are free cities, and are still frequently called Hanse towns.
HANUKKA; HANUKKAH n.
nes (1 Maccabees i. 58, iv. 59). The feast, which is mentioned in John x. 22, is held for eight days (beginning with the 25th day of Kislev, corresponding to December), and is celebrated everywhere, chiefly as a festival of lights, by the Jews.
HEAD n. 2 definitions
f a stream or river; as, the head of the Nile; hence, the altitude of the source, or the height of the surface, as of water, above a given place, as above an orifice at which it issues, and the pressure resulting from the height or from motion; sometimes also, the quantity in reserve; as, a mill or reservoir has a good…