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A mucilagenous secretion of certain birds found as the characteristic ingredient of edible bird's-nests.

Having the prothorax elevated so as to form a sort of hood, receiving the head, as in certain insects.

A hood-shaped organ, resembling a cowl or monk's hood, as certain concave and arched sepals or petals.

Having the shape of a gourd seed; -- said of certain small worms.

ifficult to moisten with water, used for making violet or purple dye. It is prepared from certain species of lichen, especially Lecanora tartarea. Ure.

Having a covering of bony plates, resembling a cuirass;- said of certain fishes.

Sharp-edged and pointed; shaped like a pruning knife, as the beak of certain birds.

The edible flower head of certain brassicaceous plants, as the broccoli and cauliflower. Broccoli should be cut while the curd, as the flowering mass is termed, is entire. R. Thompson. Cauliflowers should be cut for use while the head, or curd, is still close and compact. F. Burr.

A flowing or passing; onward motion. Hence: A body of fluid moving continuously in a certain direction; a stream; esp., the swiftest part of it; as, a current of water or of air; that which resembles a stream in motion; as, a current of electricity. Two such silver currents, when they join, Do glorify the banks that bo…

An interval of time in which a certain succession of events or phenomena is completed, and then returns again and again, uniformly and continually in the same order; a periodical space of time marked by the recurrence of something peculiar; as, the cucle of the seasons, or of the year. Wages . . . bear a full proportio…

yrambic odes at Athens, dancing round the altar of Bacchus in a circle. -- Cyclic poets, certain epic poets who followed Homer, and wrote merely on the Trojan war and its heroes; -- so called because keeping within the circle of a singe subject. Also, any series or coterie of poets writing on one subject. Milman.…

A surface of the fourth degree, having certain special relations to spherical surfaces. The tore or anchor ring is one of the cyclides.

Having the gills around the margin of the body, as certain limpets.

A certain surface of the third degree, described by a moving straight line; -- used to illustrate the motions of a rigid body and also the forces acting on the body.

The free-swimming, bivalve larva of certain Bryozoa.

One of the bladders or air vessels of certain algæ, as of the great kelp of the Pacific, and common rockweeds (Fuci) of our shores. D. C. Eaton.

A white crystalline substance, C3H7NSO2, containing sulphur, occuring as a constituent of certain rare urinary calculi, and occasionally found as a sediment in urine.

The art of communicating ideas by certain movements and positions of the fingers; -- a method of conversing practiced by the deaf and dumb.

A measure of certain commodities by number, usually ten or twelve, but sometimes twenty; as, a daker of hides consisted of ten skins; a daker of gloves of ten pairs. Burrill.

Inability to perceive or distinguish certain colors, esp. red; color blindness. It has various forms and degrees. So called from the chemist Dalton, who had this infirmity. Nichol.