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Webster’s Dictionary (1828)



462 words match “GERM”

VEREIN n.
A union, association, or society; -- used in names of German organizations.
VICARIATE n.
ce or power; vicarship; the office or oversight of a vicar. The vicariate of that part of Germany which is governed by the Saxon laws devolved on the elector of Saxony. Robertson.
VIVIPAROUS a.
of which are produced alive, either by bulbs instead of seeds, or by the seeds themselves germinating on the plant, instead of falling, as they usually do; -- opposed to oviparous. Viviparous fish. (Zoöl.) See Embiotocoid. -- Viviparous shell (Zoöl.), any one of numerous species of operculated fresh-water gastropods b…
VOLUNTEER NAVY n.
flag of the regular navy and subject to naval discipline. Prussia in 1870, in the Franco-German war, organized such a navy, which was commanded by merchant seamen with temporary commissions, with the claim (in which England acquiesced) that it did not come within the meaning of the term privateer.
WAGNERIAN a.
Of, pertaining to, or resembling the style of, Richard Wagner, the German musical composer.
WALDGRAVE n.
In the old German empire, the head forest keeper.
WATCHET a.
Pale or light blue. [Obs.] "Watchet mantles." Spenser. Who stares in Germany at watchet eyes Dryden.
WEISMANNISM n.
The theories and teachings in regard to heredity propounded by the German biologist August Weismann, esp. in regard to germ plasm as the basis of heredity and the impossibility of transmitting acquired characteristics; -- often called neo-Darwinism.
WELSH a.
aves, but scarcely any bulb, a native of Siberia. It is said to have been introduced from Germany, and is supposed to have derived its name from the German term wälsch foreign. -- Welsh parsley, hemp, or halters made from hemp. [Obs. & Jocular] J. Fletcher. -- Welsh rabbit. See under Rabbit.
WENDS n.
A Slavic tribe which once occupied the northern and eastern parts of Germany, of which a small remnant exists.
WERNERIAN a.
Of or pertaining to A. G. Werner, The German mineralogist and geologist, who classified minerals according to their external characters, and advocated the theory that the strata of the earth's crust were formed by depositions from water; designating, or according to, Werner's system.
WOOD n. 2 definitions
on. It is drab or yellowish brown, with a black stripe on each side of the head. -- Wood germander. (Bot.) See under Germander. -- Wood god, a fabled sylvan deity. -- Wood grass. (Bot.) See under Grass. -- Wood grouse. (Zoöl.) (a) The capercailzie. (b) The spruce partridge. See under Spruce. -- Wood guest (Zoöl.),…
WOODENNESS n.
stupidity; blockishness. We set our faces against the woodenness which then characterized German philology. Sweet.
XYLOPHONE n.
he musical scale, resting on belts of straw, and struck with two small hammers. Called in Germany strohfiedel, or straw fiddle.
YAGER n.
In the German army, one belonging to a body of light infantry armed with rifles, resembling the chasseur of the French army. [Written also jager.]
YEAST n.
depending on the conditions of growth. Yeast cake, a mealy cake impregnated with the live germs of the yeast plant, and used as a conveniently transportable substitute for yeast. -- Yeast plant (Bot.), the vegetable organism, or fungus, of which beer yeast consists. The yeast plant is composed of simple cells, or gran…
YIDDISH n.
A language used by German and other Jews, being a Middle German dialect developed under Hebrew and Slavic influence. It is written in Hebrew characters.
ZEALOTRY n.
zeal; fanatical devotion to a cause. Enthusiasm, visionariness, seems the tendency of the German; zeal, zealotry, of the English; fanaticism, of the French. Coleridge.
ZITHER n.
An instrument of music used in Austria and Germany. It has from thirty to forty wires strung across a shallow sounding-board, which lies horizontally on a table before the performer, who uses both hands in playing on it.
ZOLLVEREIN n.
several customs unions successively formed under the leadership of Prussia among certain German states for establishing liberty of commerce among themselves and common tariff on imports, exports, and transit.
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