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pted, either by its length or by the character of its composition, to burn a certain time before producing an explosion.

To beat in the game of backgammon, before an antagonist has been able to get his "men" or counters home and withdraw any of them from the board; as, to gammon a person.

ments that prove; to infer; to conclude. Let me say no moreGather the sequel by that went before. Shak.

sh colonial architecture of the period of the four Georges, especially that of the period before 1800.

A kind of cotton or linen cloth, usually in stripes or checks, the yarn of which is dyed before it is woven; -- distinguished from printed cotton or prints.

th a girdle; to support and strengthen, as with a girdle. He girded up his loins, and ran before Ahab. 1 Kings xviii. 46. Gird up the loins of your mind. 1 Pet. i. 13. -- Girt up; prepared or equipped, as for a journey or for work, in allusion to the ancient custom of gathering the long flowing garments into the girdle…

A shady, gloomy, or dark place or grove. Before a gloom of stubborn-shafted oaks. Tennyson .

emerald, euclase, and danalite. It was named from its oxide glucina, which was known long before the element was isolated. Symbol Gl. Atomic weight 9.1. Called also beryllium. [Formerly written also glucinium.]

A petition for grace; a blessing asked, or thanks rendered, before or after a meal.

A salmon one or two years old, before it has gone to sea.

-- Green sand (Founding) molding sand used for a mold while slightly damp, and not dried before the cast is made. -- Green sea (Naut.), a wave that breaks in a solid mass on a vessel's deck. -- Green sickness (Med.), chlorosis. -- Green snake (Zoöl.), one of two harmless American snakes (Cyclophis vernalis, and C.…

called general average. Bouvier. Burrill. -- Gross receipts, the total of the receipts, before they are diminished by any deduction, as for expenses; -- distinguished from net profits. Abbott. -- Gross weight the total weight of merchandise or goods, without deduction for tare, tret, or waste; -- distinguished from…

round tackle. [Obs.] Spenser. -- Ground ice, ice formed at the bottom of a body of water before it forms on the surface. -- Ground ivy. (Bot.) A trailing plant; alehoof. See Gill. -- Ground joist, a joist for a basement or ground floor; a. sleeper. -- Ground lark (Zoöl.), the European pipit. See Pipit. -- Ground l…

Chaucer. The word gun was in use in England for an engine to cast a thing from a man long before there was any gunpowder found out. Selden.

A sharpened flint for the lock of a gun, to ignite the charge. It was in common use before the introduction of percussion caps.

oreign languages, h following c and g indicates that those consonants have the hard sound before e, i, and y, as in chemistry, chiromancy, chyle, Ghent, Ghibelline, etc.; in some others, ch has the sound of sh, as in chicane. See Guide to Pronunciation, §§ 153, 179, 181-3, 237-8.

A writ having for its object to bring a party before a court or judge; especially, one to inquire into the cause of a person's imprisonment or detention by another, with the view to protect the right to personal liberty; also, one to bring a prisoner into court to testify in a pending trial. Bouvier.…

To pledge; to bind; to betroth by joining hands, in order to cohabitation, before the celebration of marriage. [Obs.]

In a hard or difficult manner; with difficulty. Recovering hardly what he lost before. Dryden.

ally, a stand or reflector used for confining the heat of the fire to meat while roasting before it.