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The powder of aloes with canella, formerly officinal, employed as a cathartic.

A child employed in spinning mill to tie together broken threads.

or job; work paid for at a rate based on the amount of work done, rather than on the time employed. The reaping was piecework, at so much per acre. R. Jefferies.

Etym: [perhaps a corruption of business English], an extraordinary and grotesque dialect, employed in the commercial cities of China, as the medium of communication between foreign merchants and the Chinese. Its base is English, with a mixture of Portuguese and Hindoostanee. Johnson's Cyc. -- Pigeon grass (Bot.), a ki…

One employed to steer a vessel; a helmsman; a steersman. Dryden.

A small vessel propelled by sails or oars, formerly employed as a tender, or for coast defence; -- called originally, spynace or spyne.

A soldier detailed or employed to form roads, dig trenches, and make bridges, as an army advances.

The whole machinery and apparatus employed in carrying on a trade or mechanical business; also, sometimes including real estate, and whatever represents investment of capital in the means of carrying on a business, but not including material worked upon or finished products; as, the plant of a foundry, a mill, or a rai…

eduction and precipitation from its solutions. It absorbs oxygen to a high degree, and is employed as an oxidizer. -- Platinum lamp (Elec.), a kind of incandescent lamp of which the luminous medium is platinum. See under Incandescent. -- Platinum metals (Chem.), the group of metallic elements which in their chemical…

Action; use; employment; exercise; practice; as, fair play; sword play; a play of wit. "The next who comes in play." Dryden.

To employ diligently; to use steadily. Go ply thy needle; meddle not. Shak.

A low wall, serving as a foundation, a substructure, or a terrace wall. It is especially employed by archæologists in two senses:

Pertaining to, or employed in, polygraphy; as, a polygraphic instrument.

Licentious painting or literature; especially, the painting anciently employed to decorate the walls of rooms devoted to bacchanalian orgies.

A messenger who goes from station; an express; especially, one who is employed by the government to carry letters and parcels regularly from one place to another; a letter carrier; a postman. In certain places there be always fresh posts, to carry that further which is brought unto them by the other. Abp. Abbot. I fear…

r mine, a mine exploded by gunpowder. See Mine. -- Powder monkey (Naut.), a boy formerly employed on war vessels to carry powder; a powder boy. -- Powder post. See Dry rot, under Dry. -- Powder puff. See Puff, n.

The exercise of a faculty; the employment of strength; the exercise of any kind of control; influence; dominion; sway; command; government. Power is no blessing in itself but when it is employed to protect the innocent. Swift.

To make use of; to employ. [Obs.] In malice to this good knight's wife, I practiced Ubaldo and Ricardo to corrupt her. Massinger.

Precatory words (Law), words of recommendation, request, entreaty, wish, or expectation, employed in wills, as distinguished from express directions; -- in some cases creating a trust. Jarman.

Previous caution or care; caution previously employed to prevent mischief or secure good; as, his life was saved by precaution. They [ancient philosophers] treasured up their supposed discoveries with miserable precaution. J. H. Newman.