Search the Dictionary

One who teaches drill, especially in the way of gymnastics. Macaulay.

Dryness; want of rain or of water; especially, such dryness of the weather as affects the earth, and prevents the growth of plants; aridity. The drought of March hath pierced to the root. Chaucer. In a drought the thirsty creatures cry. Dryden.

To overpower; to overcome; to extinguish; -- said especially of sound. Most men being in sensual pleasures drowned. Sir J. Davies. My private voice is drowned amid the senate. Addison. To drown up, to swallow up. [Obs.] Holland.

One who deals in drugs; especially, one who buys and sells drugs without compounding them; also, a pharmaceutist or apothecary.

rder of priests which in ancient times existed among certain branches of the Celtic race, especially among the Gauls and Britons.

icient in the natural or normal supply of moisture, as rain or fluid of any kind; -- said especially: (a) Of the weather: Free from rain or mist. The weather, we agreed, was too dry for the season. Addison.

A peddler or hawker, especially of cheap and flashy goods pretended to be smuggled; a duffer. [Eng.]

A kind of dandy; especially, one characterized by an ultrafashionable style of dress and other affectations. [Recent] The social dude who affects English dress and English drawl. The American.

A stiff flour pudding, boiled in a bag; -- a term used especially by seamen; as, plum duff.

A peddler or hawker, especially of cheap, flashy articles, as sham jewelry; hence, a sham or cheat. [Slang, Eng.] Halliwell.

The act of dumping loads from carts, especially loads of refuse matter; also, a heap of dumped matter.

An instrument for measuring the degree of hardness; especially, an instrument for testing the relative hardness of steel rails and the like.

The efficiency of an engine, especially a steam pumping engine, as measured by work done by a certain quantity of fuel; usually, the number of pounds of water lifted one foot by one bushel of coal (94 lbs. old standard), or by 1 cwt. (112 lbs., England, or 100 lbs., United States).

An animal or plant which is much below the ordinary size of its species or kind; especially, a diminutive human being.

Pertaining to the development of electricity, especially electrical currents, by power; producing electricity or electrical currents by mechanical power.

An apparatus for measuring force or power; especially, muscular effort of men or animals, or the power developed by a motor, or that required to operate machinery.

Fear or timidity, especially of something supernatural. [Written also eiryness.] The sense of eariness, as twilight came on. De Quincey.

To chew and swallow as food; to devour; -- said especially of food not liquid; as, to eat bread. "To eat grass as oxen." Dan. iv. 25. They . . . ate the sacrifices of the dead. Ps. cvi. 28. The lean . . . did eat up the first seven fat kine. Gen. xli. 20. The lion had not eaten the carcass. 1 Kings xiii. 28. With stori…

Like ebony, especially in color; black; dark. Night, sable goddess! from her ebon throne. Young.

An instrument for observing the boiling point of liquids, especially for determining the alcoholic strength of a mixture by the temperature at which it boils.