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A professor of canon law; one skilled in the knowledge and practice of ecclesiastical law. South.

nts and commended to perpetual veneration and invocation. Canonization of saints was not known to the Christian church titl toward the middle of the tenth century. Hoock.

The highest vocal part; the air or melody in choral music; anciently the tenor, now the soprano. Canto fermo ( Etym: [It.] (Mus.), the plain ecclesiastical chant in cathedral service; the plain song.

egal cap. Cap of a cannon, a piece of lead laid over the vent to keep the priming dry; -- now called an apron. -- Cap in hand, obsequiously; submissively. -- Cap of liberty. See Liberty cap, under Liberty. -- Cap of maintenance, a cap of state carried before the kings of England at the coronation. It is also carried…

Able or qualified to make large views of things, as in obtaining knowledge or forming designs; comprehensive; liberal. "A capacious mind." Watts.

The power of receiving and holding ideas, knowledge, etc.; the comprehensiveness of the mind; the receptive faculty; capability of undestanding or feeling. Capacity is now properly limited to these [the mere passive operations of the mind]; its primary signification, which is literally room for, as well as its employme…

Of or pertaining to the head. [Obs.] Needs must the Serpent now his capital bruise Expect with mortal pain. Milton.

The front piece of a cap; -- now more commonly called visor.

hing the latter in their course through the organ. -- Suprarenal capsule, an organ of unknown function, above or in front of each kidney.

Taken prisoner; made captive; insnared; charmed. Women have been captivate ere now. Shak.

mineral coals. In its pure crystallized state it constitutes the diamond, the hardest of known substances, occuring in monometric crystals like the octahedron, etc. Another modification is graphite, or blacklead, and in this it is soft, and occurs in hexagonal prisms or tables. When united with oxygen it forms carbon d…

ormed in the explosion of fire damp in mines, and is hance called after damp; it is also know as choke damp, and mephilic air. Water will absorb its own volume of it, and more than this under pressure, and in this state becomes the common soda water of the shops, and the carbonated water of natural springs. Combined wi…

A dead body, whether of man or beast; a corpse; now commonly the dead body of a beast. He turned to see the carcass of the lion. Judges xiv. 8. This kept thousands in the town whose carcasses went into the great pits by cartloads. De Foe.

ompass are marked; the dial or face of the mariner's compass. All the quartere that they know I' the shipman's card. Shak.

; chief; principal. The cardinal intersections of the zodiac. Sir T. Browne. Impudence is now a cardinal virtue. Drayton. But cardinal sins, and hollow hearts, I fear ye. Shak. Cardinal numbers, the numbers one, two, three, etc., in distinction from first, second, third, etc., which are called ordinal numbers. -- Card…

us; bloody. [Obs.] This carnal cur Preys on the issue of his mother's body. Shak. Carnal knowledge, sexual intercourse; -- used especially of an unlawful act on the part of the man.

ug. -- Carpet knight. (a) A knight who enjoys ease and security, or luxury, and has not known the hardships of the field; a hero of the drawing room; an effeminate person. Shak. (b) One made a knight, for some other than military distinction or service. -- Carpet moth (Zoöl.), the larva of an insect which feeds on ca…

terfall less than a cataract. The silver brook . . . pours the white cascade. Longjellow. Now murm'ring soft, now roaring in cascade. Cawper.

e case of the man be so with his wife. Matt. xix. 10. And when a lady's in the case. You know all other things give place. Gay. You think this madness but a common case. Pope. I am in case to justle a constable, Shak.

is properly a general cash, where every man lodges his money. Sir W. Temple. £20,000 are known to be in her cash. Sir R. Winwood.