Search the Dictionary

d as premolars, and those which are not preceded by deciduous teeth are sometimes called true molars. See Tooth.

Resembling the true mollusks; belonging to the Molluscoidea. -- n.

Any thing or person of unnatural or excessive ugliness, deformity, wickedness, or cruelty.

To be dull and spiritless. "Moping melancholy." Milton. A sickly part of one true sense Could not so mope. Shak.

(Biol.) See Morula. -- Paper mulberry, a tree (Broussonetia papyrifera), related to the true mulberry, used in Polynesia for making tapa cloth by macerating and pounding the inner bark, and in China and Japan for the manufacture of paper. It is seen as a shade tree in America.

To mutilate, spoil, or deform, as if with malice or cruelty; to mangle; as, to murder the king's English.

An old name for mosses in the widest sense, including the true mosses and also hepaticæ and sphagna.

Of or pertaining to the Muscicapidæ, a family of birds that includes the true flycatchers.

man. -- To return to one's muttons. Etym: [A translation of a phrase from a farce by De Brueys, revenons à nos moutons let us return to our sheep.] To return to one's topic, subject of discussion, etc. [Humorous] I willingly return to my muttons. H. R. Haweis.

A large genus of tropical American trees and shrubs, nearly related to the true myrtles (Myrtus), from which they differ in having very few seeds in each berry.

differ in having the body made up of numerous similar segments, nearly all of which bear true jointed legs. They have one pair of antennæ, three pairs of mouth organs, and numerous trachaæ, similar to those of true insects. The larvæ, when first hatched, often have but three pairs of legs. See Centiped, Galleyworm, Mil…

A soldier or a subordinate civil officer who executes cruel orders of a superior without protest or pity; -- sometimes applied to bailiffs, constables, etc. Thackeray. With unabated ardor the vindictive man of law and his myrmidons pressed forward. W. H. Ainsworth.

Having a true natural luster without being cut; -- applied by jewelers to a precious stone.

Springing from true sentiment; not artifical or exaggerated; -- said of action, delivery, etc.; as, a natural gesture, tone, etc.

loudlike, self-luminous mass of matter situated beyond the solar system among the stars. True nebulæ are gaseous; but very distant star clusters often appear like them in the telescope.

To prove unreal or intrue; to disprove. The omission or infrequency of such recitals does not negative the existence of miracles. Paley.

The modern, or true, Crustacea, as distinguished from the Merostomata.

dow have children or nephews [Rev. Ver. grandchildren,]. 1 Tim. v. 4. If naturalists say true that nephews are often liker to their grandfathers than to their fathers. Jer. Taylor.

A Roman emperor notorius for debauchery and barbarous cruelty; hence, any profligate and cruel ruler or merciless tyrant. -- Ne*ro"ni*an, a.

are examples. Formerly, the name was given to a much more extensive group, including the true Neuroptera and the Pseudoneuroptera.