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ion of a contingent advance in value, and a consequent sale at a profit; -- often, in a somewhat depreciative sense, of unsound or hazardous transactions; as, to speculate in coffee, in sugar, or in bank stock.

m Athamanticum) having finely divided leaves, common in Europe; -- called also baldmoney, mew, and bearwort. [Written also spignel.]

Having small spines; somewhat thorny.

Somewhat spongy; spongelike; full of small cavities like sponge; as, spongious bones.

In certain Sporozoa, a small active, usually elongate, sickle- shaped or somewhat amoboid spore, esp. one of those produced by division of the passive spores into which the zygote divides. The sporozoites reproduce asexually.

f the great northern diver. [Prov. Eng.] (b) The red-throated diver. See Diver. -- Sprat mew (Zoöl.), the kittiwake gull.

n. -- Spring beauty. (a) (Bot.) Any plant of the genus Claytonia, delicate herbs with somewhat fleshy leaves and pretty blossoms, appearing in springtime. (b) (Zoöl.) A small, elegant American butterfly (Erora læta) which appears in spring. The hind wings of the male are brown, bordered with deep blue; those of the f…

hells of the genus Trochus, or Imperator. The shell is conical, with the margin toothed somewhat like the rowel of a spur.

Somewhat squarrose; slightly squarrose. Gray.

A shrill, somewhat prolonged cry.

Somewhat intoxicated; tipsy. [Slang] Kipling.

l.), any one of several species of large branching corals of the genus Madrepora, which somewhat resemble the antlers of the stag, especially Madrepora cervicornis, and M. palmata, of Florida and the West Indies. -- Stag-horn fern (Bot.), an Australian and West African fern (Platycerium alcicorne) having the large fro…

Having the mandibles large and palmate, or branched somewhat like the antlers of a stag; -- said of certain beetles.

A flight of stairs with their supporting framework, casing, balusters, etc. To make a complete staircase is a curious piece of architecture. Sir H. Wotton. Staircase shell. (Zoöl.) (a) Any scalaria, or wentletrap. (b) Any species of Solarium, or perspective shell.

To become somewhat displaced or loosened; as, a rivet or a seam may start under strain or pressure. To start after, to set out after; to follow; to pursue. -- To start against, to act as a rival candidate against. -- To start for, to be a candidate for, as an office. -- To start up, to rise suddenly, as from a seat…

ll apartment for lodging or sleeping in the cabin, or on the deck, of a vessel; also, a somewhat similar apartment in a railway sleeping car.

Somewhat steep. Carlyle.

A portable framework of stairs, much used indoors in reaching to a high position.

e stern of a ship or other vessel, as to a wharf or buoy. -- Stern frame (Naut.), the framework of timber forms the stern of a ship. -- Stern knee. See Sternson. -- Stern port (Naut.), a port, or opening, in the stern of a ship. -- Stern sheets (Naut.), that part of an open boat which is between the stern and the a…

Having the quill feathers of the tail somewhat rigid.