Search the Dictionary

Of a color between gray and brown. -- n.

The difference between the speed of a screw steamer under sail and that of the screw when the ship outruns the screw; or between the propulsive effects of the different floats of a paddle wheel. See Citation under Drag, v. i., 3. Drag sail (Naut.), a sail or canvas rigged on a stout frame, to be dragged by a vessel thr…

car is drawn. It is usually provided with a spring to give elasticity to the connection between the cars of a train.

A passage driven or cut between shaft and shaft; a driftway; a small subterranean gallery; an adit or tunnel.

A combat between two persons, fought with deadly weapons, by agreement. It usually arises from an injury done or an affront given by one to the other. Trial by duel (Old Law), a combat between two persons for proving a cause; trial by battel.

An elderly lady holding a station between a governess and companion, and appointed to have charge over the younger ladies in a Spanish or a Portuguese family. Brande & C.

-- formerly that of a human mother, now that of a cow or other beast. With mother's dug between its lips. Shak.

The part of the small intestines between the stomach and the jejunum. See Illust. of Digestive apparatus, under Digestive.

Imperfect obscurity; a middle degree between light and darkness; twilight; as, the dusk of the evening.

A piece of wood set between two studs, posts, etc., to stiffen and support them.

s the third tone of the model diatonic scale. E (E flat) is a tone which is intermediate between D and E.

The sense of hearing; the perception of sounds; the power of discriminating between different tones; as, a nice ear for music; -- in the singular only. Songs . . . not all ungrateful to thine ear. Tennyson.

The distance measured toward the east between two meridians drawn through the extremities of a course; distance of departure eastward made by a vessel.

flow, the alternate ebb and flood of the tide; often used figuratively. This alternation between unhealthy activity and depression, this ebb and flow of the industrial. A. T. Hadley.

The ratio of the distance between the center and the focus of an ellipse or hyperbola to its semi-transverse axis.

of the sun, moon, or other luminous body, by the intervention of some other body, either between it and the eye, or between the luminous body and that illuminated by it. A lunar eclipse is caused by the moon passing through the earth's shadow; a solar eclipse, by the moon coming between the sun and the observer. A sate…

t in May. That no compunctious visitings of nature Shake my fell purpose, nor keep peace between The effect and it. Shak.

ecome covered with a whitish crust or light crystallization, from a slow chemical change between some of the ingredients of the matter covered and an acid proceeding commonly from an external source; as, the walls of limestone caverns sometimes effloresce with nitrate of calcium in consequence of the action in conseque…

d on the back, of giving a sudden upward spring, by a quick movement of the articulation between the abdomen and thorax; -- called also click beetle, spring beetle, and snapping beetle.

osite directions; also, by attraction for many substances, by a law involving attraction between surfaces of unlike polarity, and repulsion between those of like; by exhibiting accumulated polar tension when the circuit is broken; and by producing heat, light, concussion, and often chemical changes when the circuit pas…