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A joint of the backbone; a vertebra.

To weaken, as a joint, ligament, or muscle, by sudden and excessive exertion, as by wrenching; to overstrain, or stretch injuriously, but without luxation; as, to sprain one's ankle.

aff, pointed and iron-shod at the bottom, for penetrating the ground, and having a socket joint at the top, used, instead of a tripod, for supporting a compass. -- Staff angle (Arch.), a square rod of wood standing flush with the wall on each of its sides, at the external angles of plastering, to prevent their being d…

natifer; -- called also stalk barnacle. -- Stalked crinoid (Zoöl.), any crinoid having a jointed stem.

lines on and between which musical notes are written or pointed; the staff. [Obs.] Stave jointer, a machine for dressing the edges of staves.

bent; not flexible or pliant; not limber or flaccid; rigid; firm; as, stiff wood, paper, joints. [They] rising on stiff pennons, tower The mid aërial sky. Milton.

The joint next above the hock, and near the flank, in the hind leg of the horse and allied animals; the joint corresponding to the knee in man; -- called also stifle joint. See Illust. under Horse. Stifle bone, a small bone at the stifle joint; the patella, or kneepan.

The second joint of a maxilla of an insect or a crustacean.

securities, called also the public funds; in the plural, property consisting of shares in joint-stock companies, or in the obligations of a government for its funded debt; -- so in the United States, but in England the latter only are called stocks, and the former shares.

A trailing branch which is disposed to take root at the end or at the joints; a stole.

S.] Straight arch (Arch.), a form of arch in which the intrados is straight, but with its joints drawn radially, as in a common arch. -- A straight face, one giving no evidence of merriment or other emotion. -- A straight line. "That which lies evenly between its extreme points." Euclid. "The shortest line between tw…

To injure in the muscles or joints by causing to make too strong an effort; to harm by overexertion; to sprain; as, to strain a horse by overloading; to strain the wrist; to strain a muscle. Prudes decayed about may track, Strain their necks with looking back. Swift.

To cut off, as a mortar joint, even with the face of the wall, or inward at a slight angle.

and tallow used in softening and dressing leather. Stuffing box, a device for rendering a joint impervious where there is a hole through which a movable cylindrical body, as the paston rod of a steam engine, or the plunger of a pump, slides back and forth, or in which a shaft turns. It usually consists of a box or cham…

The heel joint.

-- Sugar cane (Bot.), a tall perennial grass (Saccharum officinarium), with thick short-jointed stems. It has been cultivated for ages as the principal source of sugar. -- Sugar loaf. (a) A loaf or mass of refined sugar, usually in the form of a truncated cone. (b) A hat shaped like a sugar loaf. Why, do not or know…

Pliant; flexible; easily bent; as, supple joints; supple fingers.

The longer liver of two joint tenants, or two persons having a joint interest in anything. Blackstone.

The right of a joint tenant, or other person who has a joint interest in an estate, to take the whole estate upon the death of other. Blackstone. Chance of survivorship, the chance that a person of a given age has of surviving another of a giving age; thus, by the Carlisle tables of mortality the chances of survivorshi…

A kind of tenon or tongue used in making joints. See Dovetail.