Search the Dictionary

ower to create; exerting the act of creation. "Creative talent." W. Irving. The creative force exists in the germ. Whewell.

To urge or press forward; to force one's self; as, a man crowds into a room.

To chew with force and noise; to craunch. And their white tusks crunched o'er the whiter skull. Byron.

bodies; to squeeze, so as to destroy the natural shape or integrity of the parts, or to force together into a mass; as, to crush grapes. Ye shall not offer unto the Lord that which is bruised, or crushed, or broken, or cut. Lev. xxii. 24. The ass . . . thrust herself unto the wall, and crushed Balaam's foot against th…

ne who, or that which, crushes. Crusher gauge, an instrument for measuring the explosive force of gunpowder, etc., by its effect in compressing a piece of metal.

separates from the footstalk when ripe and expels its seeds and juice with considerable force through the opening thus made. See Elaterium. -- Star cucumber,a climbing weed (Sicyos angulatus) with prickly fruit.

Augmenting, gaining, or giving force, by successive additions; as, a cumulative argument, i. e., one whose force increases as the statement proceeds. The argument . . . is in very truth not logical and single, but moral and cumulative. Trench.

om; as, a tin cup, a silver cup, a wine cup; especially, in modern times, the pottery or porcelain vessel, commonly with a handle, used with a saucer in drinking tea, coffee, and the like.

me, of events, of opinion, etc. Current meter, an instrument for measuring the velocity, force, etc., of currents. -- Current mill, a mill driven by a current wheel. -- Current wheel, a wheel dipping into the water and driven by the current of a stream or by the ebb and flow of the tide.

oint in a stroke, so as to allow the remainder of the stroke to be made by the expansive force of the steam already let in. See Expansion gear, under Expansion.

The chamber of a steam engine in which the piston is moved by the force of steam.

y a moving straight line; -- used to illustrate the motions of a rigid body and also the forces acting on the body.

A genus of orchidaceous plants including the lady's slipper.

ied woman; a gerl; a maiden. With her train of damsels she was gone, In shady walks the scorching heat to shum. Dryden. Sometimes a troop of damsels glad, . . . Goes by to towered Cameleot. Tennyson.

rly laid on the English nation to buy off the ravages of Danish invaders, or to maintain forces to oppose them. It afterward became a permanent tax, raised by an assessment, at first of one shilling, afterward of two shillings, upon every hide of land throughout the realm. Wharton's Law Dict. Tomlins.…

To cast a gloom upon. With these forced thoughts, I prithee, darken not The mirth of the feast. Shak.

ected, is then sent to the general post office to be opened. (b) That which has lost its force or authority; as, the law has become a dead letter. -- Dead-letter office, a department of the general post office where dead letters are examined and disposed of. -- Dead level, a term applied to a flat country. -- Dead l…

To make as dead; to impair in vigor, force, activity, or sensation; to lessen the force or acuteness of; to blunt; as, to deaden the natural powers or feelings; to deaden a sound.

A small beetle (Anobium tessellatum and other allied species). By forcibly striking its head against woodwork it makes a ticking sound, which is a call of the sexes to each other, but has been imagined by superstitious people to presage death.

Declaration, which ought to be hung up in the nursery of every king, and blazoned on the porch of every royal palace. Buckle.