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e chorus; refrain. Hence: That which is often repeated or which is dwelt upon; the main topic; as, the burden of a prayer. I would sing my song without a burden. Shak.

To dress or finish up (cloth); to pick knots, burs, loose threads, etc., from, as in finishing cloth. Burling iron, a peculiar kind of nippers or tweezers used in burling woolen cloth.

the genus Thamnophilus, and allied genera; -- called also batarg. Many species inhabit tropical America. -- Bush tit (Zoöl.), a small bird of the genus Psaltriparus, allied to the titmouse. P. minimus inhabits California.

A large indefinite quantity. [Colloq.] The worthies of antiquity bought the rarest pictures with bushels of gold, without counting the weight or the number of the pieces. Dryden.

aph of a size smaller than an imperial, though larger than a carte de visite. -- Cabinet picture, a small and generally highly finished picture, suitable for a small room and for close inspection.

One of the seeds or large beans of a tropical vine (Entada scandens) used for making purses, scent bottles, etc.

Base; wicked and mean; cowardly; despicable. Arnold had sped his caitiff flight. W. Irving.

. Calabar bean, The of a climbing legumious plant (Physostigma venenosum), a native of tropical Africa. It is highly poisonous. It is used to produce contraction of the pupil of the eye; also in tetanus, neuralgia, and rheumatic diseases; -- called also ordeal bean, being used by the negroes in trials for witchcraft.…

nsil, made from the dry shell of a calabash or gourd. Calabash tree. (Bot.), a tree of tropical America (Crescentia cujete), producing a large gourdike fruit, containing a purgative pulp. Its hard shell, after the removal of the pulp, is used for cups, bottles, etc. The African calabash tree is the baobab.…

An order of marine sponges, containing calcareous spicules. See Porifera.

A name formerly given to various fevers occuring in tropics; esp. to a form of furious delirium accompanied by fever, among sailors, which sometimes led the affected person to imagine the sea to be a green field, and to throw himself into it.

A method of taking photographic pictures, on paper sensitized with iodide of silver; -- also called Talbotype, from the inventor, Mr. Fox. Talbot.

To cut in slices and pickle, as salmon. [Obs.] For a change, leave calvered salmon and eat sprats. Massinger.

hears testimony which is not fit for the open court in camera. -- Panoramic, or Pantascopic, camera, a photographic camera in which the lens and sensitized plate revolve so as to expose adjacent parts of the plate successively to the light, which reaches it through a narrow vertical slit; -- used in photographing bro…

thern limit of the sun's course in summer; hence, the sign of the summer solstice. See Tropic.

A genus of tropical plants, with large leaves and often with showy flowers. The Indian shot. (C. Indica) is found in gardens of the northern United States.

Of pertaining to Canopus in egypt; as, the Canopic vases, used in embalming.

A rapid or easy passing over. A rapid canter in the Times over all the topics. Sir J. Stephen.

ail, or a collection of sails. (b) A tent, or a collection of tents. (c) A painting, or a picture on canvas. To suit his canvas to the roughness of the see. Goldsmith. Light, rich as that which glows on the canvas of Claude. Macaulay.

A tenacious, elastic, gummy substance obtained from the milky sap of several plants of tropical South America (esp. the euphorbiaceous tree Siphonia elastica or Hevea caoutchouc), Asia, and Africa. Being impermeable to liquids and gases, and not readly affected by exposure to air, acids, and alkalies, it is used, espec…