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Flat at the anterior and concave at the posterior end; -- said of the centra of the vertebræ of some extinct dinouaurs.

including the cestodes, or tapeworms, the trematodes, and the turbellarians. Called also flatworms.

A division of Pseudoneuroptera including the species which have four broad, flat wings, as the termites, or white-ants, and the stone flies (Perla).

One who flatters, or courts the favor of, the common people; a demagogue. [R.]

A compress, or small flat tent of lint, laid over a wound, ulcer, or the like, to exclude air, retain dressings, or absorb the matter discharged.

A flat oblong cake of pressed tobacco. [U. S.]

Having thin, flat, leaflike locomotive organs.

(Glass Making) A tool consisting of a flat wooden block with a long iron handle, used for flattening out split cylinders of blown glass.

The act of inflating the middle ear by blowing air up the nose during the act of swallowing; -- so called from Prof. Politzer of Vienna, who first practiced it.

A wooden flat-bottomed boat, a metallic cylinder, or a frame covered with canvas, India rubber, etc., forming a portable float, used in building bridges quickly for the passage of troops.

eed the opium poppy (P. somniferum). -- Spatling poppy (Bot.), a species of Silene (S. inflata). See Catchfly.

lectognath fish having the body covered with spines which become erect when the body is inflated. See Diodon, and Globefish. -- Porcupine grass (Bot.), a grass (Stipa spartea) with grains bearing a stout twisted awn, which, by coiling and uncoiling through changes in moisture, propels the sharp-pointed and barbellate…

A flat-bottomed boat or lighter, -- used in Holland and the Baltic, and sometimes armed in case of war. [Written also pram, and prame.]

in which the form of type or plates is curved around a cylinder, instead of resting on a flat bed. Hydrostatic press. See under Hydrostatic. -- Liberty of the press, the free right of publishing books, pamphlets, or papers, without previous restraint or censorship, subject only to punishment for libelous, seditious,…

of the cactaceous genus Opuntia, American plants consisting of fleshy, leafless, usually flattened, and often prickly joints inserted upon each other. The sessile flowers have many petals and numerous stamens. The edible fruit is a large pear-shaped berry containing many flattish seeds. The common species of the North…

A sailing canoe of the Ladrone Islands and Malay Archipelago, having its lee side flat and its weather side like that of an ordinary boat. The ends are alike. The canoe is long and narrow, and is kept from overturning by a cigar-shaped log attached to a frame extending several feet to windward. It has been called the f…

Prostrate; flat; esp., lying with the face down; -- opposed to supine. Which, as the wind, Blew where it listed, laying all things prone. Byron.

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 testing the consistency of the sirup. -- Proof text, a passage of Scripture used to prove a doctrine. proof coin or proof, a coin which h…

That which is puerile or childish; especially, an expression which is flat, insipid, or silly.

sudden or short blast of wind; a slight gust; a whiff. " To every puff of wind a slave." Flatman.