Search the Dictionary

locust, or mantis (Zoöl.), a mantis, especially Mantis religiosa. See Mantis. -- Praying machine, or Praying wheel, a wheel on which prayers are pasted by Buddhist priests, who then put the wheel in rapid revolution. Each turn in supposed to have the efficacy of an oral repetition of all the prayers on the wheel. Some…

An apparatus or machine by which any substance or body is pressed, squeezed, stamped, or shaped, or by which an impression of a body is taken; sometimes, the place or building containing a press or presses.

One who, or that which, presses. Presser bar, or Presser wheel (Knitting machine), a bar or wheel which closes the barbs of the needles to enable the loops of the yarn to pass over them. -- Presser foot, the part of a sewing machine which rests on the cloth and presses it down upon the table of the machine.…

chemical action, and applied to produce alternation of magnetic force. (b) An engine, or machine, the object of which is to receive and modify force and motion as supplied by some natural source, and apply them to drive other machines; as a water wheel, a water- pressure engine, a steam engine, a hot-air engine, etc.…

bills, etc. -- Printing wheel, a wheel with letters or figures on its periphery, used in machines for paging or numbering, or in ticket-printing machines, typewriters, etc.; a type wheel.

tive body in his special privileges as such. -- Water privilege, the advantage of having machinery driven by a stream, or a place affording such advantage. [ U. S.] -- Writ of privilege (Law), a writ to deliver a privileged person from custody when arrested in a civil suit. Blackstone.

To shape the outline of an object by passing a cutter around it. Profiling machine, a jigging machine.

r grooved rim, for transmitting power from, or imparting power to, the different parts of machinery, or for changing the direction of motion, by means of a belt, cord, rope, or chain.

. The other mode is to pulp the coffee immediately as it comes from the tree. By a simple machine a man will pulp a bushel in a minute. B. Edwards.

An hydraulic machine, variously constructed, for raising or transferring fluids, consisting essentially of a moving piece or piston working in a hollow cylinder or other cavity, with valves properly placed for admitting or retaining the fluid as it is drawn or driven through them by the action of the piston.…

One who pumps; the instrument or machine used in pumping. Boyle.

for making holes for lacings in the ends of driving belts. -- Punch press. See Punching machine, under Punch, v. i. -- Punch pliers, pliers having a tubular, sharp-edged steel punch attached to one of the jaws, for perforating leather, paper, and the like.

A machine for fanning a room, usually a movable fanlike frame covered with canvas, and suspended from the ceiling. It is kept in motion by pulling a cord. [Hindostan] [Written also punkah.] Malcom.

Acting by the agency of heat and magnetism; as, a pyromagnetic machine for producing electric currents.

A channel or guide along which a shuttle is driven back and forth, as in a loom, sewing machine, etc. Race cloth, a cloth worn by horses in racing, having pockets to hold the weights prescribed. -- Race course. (a) The path, generally circular or elliptical, over which a race is run. (b) Same as Race way, below. -- R…

A toothed machine drawn by a horse, -- used for collecting hay or grain; a horserake.

A machine for raking grain or hay by horse or other power.

g the tool by back and forth movements of the brace handle. -- Ratchet drill, a portable machine for working a drill by hand, consisting of a hand lever carrying at one end a drill holder which is revolved by means of a ratchet wheel and pawl, by swinging the lever back and forth. -- Ratchet wheel (Mach.), a circular…

Any machine or vehicle that does not run smoothly. [Colloq.] A. Trollope.

To cut with a sickle, scythe, or reaping machine, as grain; to gather, as a harvest, by cutting. When ye reap the harvest of your land, thou shalt not wholly reap the corners of thy field. Lev.