Search the Dictionary

Articles made of the blades or fiber of the Lygeum Spartum and Stipa (or Macrochloa) tenacissima, kinds of grass used in Spain and other countries for making ropes, mats, baskets, nets, and mattresses. Loudon.

A tool or implement for mottling a molded article with coloring matter Knoght.

the terms of a contract, the description of an invention, as in a patent; also, a single article, item, or particular, an allegation of a specific act, as in a charge of official misconduct.

ds so as to distinguish from other things; as, to specify the uses of a plant; to specify articles purchased. He has there given us an exact geography of Greece, where the countries and the uses of their soils are specified. Pope.

A very small thing; a particle; a mite; as, specks of dust; he has not a speck of money. Many bright specks bubble up along the blue Egean. Landor.

nimals and plants, the essential element in fertilization; a microscopic animalcule-like particle, usually provided with one or more cilia by which it is capable of active motion. In animals, the familiar type is that of a small, more or less ovoid head, with a delicate threadlike cilium, or tail. Called also spermatoz…

vessel; to lose, or suffer to be scattered; -- applied to fluids and to substances whose particles are small and loose; as, to spill water from a pail; to spill quicksilver from a vessel; to spill powder from a paper; to spill sand or flour.

A small instrument containing a minute particle of a radium compound mounted in front of a fluorescent screen and viewed with magnifying lenses. The tiny flashes produced by the continual bombardment of the screen by the a rays are thus rendered visible. -- Spin*thar`i*scop"ic (#), a.

inder of wood with a ridge at each end, used to wind thread or yarn upon. Spool stand, an article holding spools of thread, turning on pins, -- used by women at their work.

at a pawnbroker's; -- in allusion to the spout up which the pawnbroker sent the ticketed articles. [Cant]

Water flying in small drops or particles, as by the force of wind, or the dashing of waves, or from a waterfall, and the like.

To scatter in small drops or particles, as water, seed, etc.

A small quantity falling in distinct drops or particles; as, a sprinkling of rain or snow.

d into ropes for convenient carriage, as on a military expedition. -- Spun silk, a cheap article produced from floss, or short-fibered, broken, and waste silk, carded and spun, in distinction from the long filaments wound from the cocoon. It is often mixed with cotton. -- Spun yarn (Naut.), a line formed of two or mo…

Moist matter thrown out in small detached particles; also, confused and hasty speech.

A bench or table on which small articles of merchandise are exposed for sale. How peddlers' stalls with glittering toys are laid. Gay.

; also, one's favorite resort. [U.S.] -- Stamping machine, a machine for forming metallic articles or impressions by stamping. -- Stamping mill (Mining), a stamp mill.

One who sells paper, pens, quills, inkstands, pencils, blank books, and other articles used in writing.

The articles usually sold by stationers, as paper, pens, ink, quills, blank books, etc.

Stay tackle (Naut.), a tackle attached to a stay and used for hoisting or lowering heavy articles over the side. -- To miss stays (Naut.), to fail in the attempt to go about. Totten. -- Triatic stay (Naut.), a rope secured at the ends to the heads of the foremast and mainmast with thimbles spliced to its bight into…