TROY n.
Troy weight. Troy weight, the weight which gold and silver, jewels, and the like, are weighed. It was so named from Troyes, in France, where it was first adopted in Europe. The troy ounce is supposed to have been brought from Cairo during the crusades. In this weight the pound is divided into 12 ounces, the ounce into…
TRY v.
n a pure state, as oil, tallow, lard, etc. Shak. The words of the Lord are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times. Ps. xii. 6. For thou, O God, hast proved us: thou hast tried us, as silver is tried. Ps. lxvi. 10.
WASH v.
To overlay with a thin coat of metal; as, steel washed with silver. To wash gold, etc., to treat earth or gravel, or crushed ore, with water, in order to separate the gold or other metal, or metallic ore, through their superior gravity. -- To wash the hands of. See under Hand.
WITCH n.
Maunder (Treas. of Bot.) -- Witches' besoms (Bot.), tufted and distorted branches of the silver fir, caused by the attack of some fungus. Maunder (Treas. of Bot.) -- Witches' butter (Bot.), a name of several gelatinous cryptogamous plants, as Nostoc commune, and Exidia glandulosa. See Nostoc. -- Witch grass (Bot.), a…