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To chew or bite gently, as one without teeth. Gums unarmed, to mumble meat in vain. Dryden.

A gummy liquor that exudes from embalmed flesh when heated; -- formerly supposed to have magical and medicinal properties. [Obs.] Shak. Sir T. Herbert.

. The vicissitude or mutations in the superior globe are no fit matter for this present argument. Bacon.

A genus of leguminous trees of tropical America, the different species of which yield balsamic products, among which are balsam of Peru, and balsam of Tolu. The species were formerly referred to Myrospermum.

A gum resin, usually of a yellowish brown or amber color, of an aromatic odor, and a bitter, slightly pungent taste. It is valued for its odor and for its medicinal properties. It exuds from the bark of a shrub of Abyssinia and Arabia, the Balsamodendron Myrrha. The myrrh of the Bible is supposed to have been partly th…

To fasten, as with a nail; to bind or hold, as to a bargain or to acquiescence in an argument or assertion; hence, to catch; to trap. When they came to talk of places in town, you saw at once how I nailed them. Goldsmith.

shored up to allow of alterations in the lower part. -- Needle furze (Bot.), a prickly leguminous plant of Western Europe; the petty whin (Genista Anglica). -- Needle gun, a firearm loaded at the breech with a cartridge carrying its own fulminate, which is exploded by driving a slender needle, or pin, into it. -- Ne…

onstration; indirect; consisting in the absence of something; privative; as, a negative argument; a negative morality; negative criticism. There in another way of denying Christ, ... which is negative, when we do not acknowledge and confess him. South.

A kind of snuff prepared by the natives of Venezuela from the roasted seeds of a leguminous tree (Piptadenia peregrina), thence called niopo tree.

tinction by rank, station, or title, whether inherited or conferred. I fell on the same argument of preferring virtue to nobility of blood and titles, in the story of Sigismunda. Dryden.

r the influence of darkness. It is well illustrated in the leaflets of clover and other leguminous plants.

To make opposition in words or argument; -- usually followed by to. Sir. T. More.

That which is, or may be, presented in opposition; an adverse reason or argument; a reason for objecting; obstacle; impediment; as, I have no objection to going; unreasonable objections. "Objections against every truth." Tyndale.

heroid; a figure described by the revolution of an ellipse about its minor axis. Cf. Oblongum.

ciously adhering to an opinion, purpose, or course; persistent; not yielding to reason, arguments, or other means; stubborn; pertinacious; -- usually implying unreasonableness. I have known great cures done by obstinate resolution of drinking no wine. Sir W. Temple. No ass so meek, no ass so obstinate. Pope. Of sense a…

green pods, abounding in nutritious mucilage, are much used for soups, stews, or pickles; gumbo. [Written also ocra and ochra.]

The fragrant gum resin of various species of Boswellia; Oriental frankincense.

A complex bitter gum, found on the leaves of the olive tree; -- called also olivite.

A white crystalline waxy substance extracted from the root of the leguminous plant Ononis spinosa.

The fold of integument, usually supported by bony plates, which protects the gills of most fishes and some amphibians; the gill cover; the gill lid.