PRESS v.
To urge, or act upon, with force, as weight; to act upon by pushing or thrusting, in distinction from pulling; to crowd or compel by a gradual and continued exertion; to bear upon; to squeeze; to compress; as, we press the ground with the feet when we walk; we press the couch on which we repose; we press substances wit…
PRIME a. 2 definitions
natural agency applied by man to the production of power. Especially: Muscular force; the weight and motion of fluids, as water and air; heat obtained by chemical combination, and applied to produce changes in the volume and pressure of steam, air, or other fluids; and electricity, obtained by chemical action, and appl…
PRIZING n.
The application of a lever to move any weighty body, as a cask, anchor, cannon, car, etc. See Prize, n., 5.
PROOF a.
is defined by Act 58, George III., to be such as shall at a temperature of 51º Fahrenheit weigh exactly the second, third, and fourth proof spirits respectively. -- Proof staff, a straight-edge used by millers to test the flatness of a stone. -- Proof stick (Sugar Manuf.), a rod in the side of a vacuum pan, for testi…
PURSE n.
ab (Zoöl.), any land crab of the genus Birgus, allied to the hermit crabs. They sometimes weigh twenty pounds or more, and are very strong, being able to crack cocoanuts with the large claw. They chiefly inhabit the tropical islands of the Pacific and Indian Oceans, living in holes and feeding upon fruit. Called also p…
QUANTITY n.
rs. Wharton (Law Dict. ) -- Quantity of matter, in a body, its mass, as determined by its weight, or by its momentum under a given velocity. -- Quantity of motion (Mech.), in a body, the relative amount of its motion, as measured by its momentum, varying as the product of mass and velocity. -- Known quantities (Math.…
RACE n.
ng machine, etc. Race cloth, a cloth worn by horses in racing, having pockets to hold the weights prescribed. -- Race course. (a) The path, generally circular or elliptical, over which a race is run. (b) Same as Race way, below. -- Race cup, a cup given as a prize to the victor in a race. -- Race glass, a kind of fi…
RADIUM n.
minute quantities in pitchblende, and various other uranium minerals. Symbol, Ra; atomic weight, 226.4. Radium was discovered by M. and Mme. Curie, of Paris, who in 1902 separated compounds of it by a tedious process from pitchblende. Its compounds color flames carmine and give a characteristic spectrum. It resembles…