Search the Dictionary

A secondary road; esp., a byroad at right angles to a main road. [Canada]

Hence, fig., to divert or reduce to a position or condition that is relatively secondary or subordinate in activity, importance, effectiveness, or the like; to switch off; to turn aside, as from a purpose. [Colloq.]

Toward the side; sidewise. A second refraction made sideways. Sir I. Newton. His beard, a good palm's length, at least, . . . Shot sideways, like a swallow's wings. Longfellow.

Freedom from duplicity, or secondary and selfish ends; purity of mind or purpose; simplicity; sincerity; as, singleness of purpose; singleness of heart.

or expectations; odd; whimsical; -- often implying disapproval or consure. His zeal None seconded, as out of season judged, Or singular and rash. Milton. To be singular in anything that is wise and worthy, is not a disparagement, but a praise. Tillotson.

, or from most, others; peculiarity. Pliny addeth this singularity to that soil, that the second year the very falling down of the seeds yieldeth corn. Sir. W. Raleigh. I took notice of this little figure for the singularity of the instrument. Addison.

producing musical tones and for ascertaining the number of sound waves or vibrations per second which produce a note of a given pitch. The sounds are produced by a perforated rotating disk or disks. A form with two disks operated by steam or highly compressed air is used sounding an alarm to vessels in fog. [Written a…

An interval comprising two octaves and a second. Moore (Encyc. of Music.)

One of the secondary branches of an antler. Snag boat, a steamboat fitted with apparatus for removing snags and other obstructions in navigable streams. [U.S.] -- Snag tooth. Same as Snag, 2. How thy snag teeth stand orderly, Like stakes which strut by the water side. J. Cotgrave.

A trifling or second-rate thing or person. [Obs.]

ecting a beam of sunlight through the tube, which sometimes is fixed in a window shutter; secondly, of a condenser, or large lens, for converging the beam upon the object; and, thirdly, of a small lens, or magnifier, for throwing an enlarged image of the object at its focus upon a screen in a dark room or in a darkened…

The second law officer in the government of Great Britain; also, a similar officer under the United States government, who is associated with the attorney-general; also, the chief law officer of some of the States.

One belonging to the second of the four classes in an American college, or one next above a freshman. [Formerly written also sophimore.]

wings of ducks and some other birds. It is usually situated on the distal portions of the secondary quills, and is much more brilliant in the adult male than in the female. Speculum metal, a hard, brittle alloy used for making the reflectors of telescopes and other instruments, usually consisting of copper and tin in v…

A small or secondary spike; especially, one of the ultimate parts of the in florescence of grasses. See Illust. of Quaking grass.

eter having two coils so arranged that one carries the primary current, and the other the secondary current, of a transformer.

spongy form by reduction of lead salts, or by compressing finely divided lead; -- used in secondary batteries and otherwise. -- Sponge tree (Bot.), a tropical leguminous tree (Acacia Farnesiana), with deliciously fragrant flowers, which are used in perfumery. -- Toilet sponge, a very fine and superior variety of Medi…

A secondary spore, or a filament produced from a spore, in certain kinds of minute fungi.

A salmon in its second year. [Prov. Eng.]

nd approved standard in England, in all probability, from the beginning of King Henry the Second's reign. S. M. Leake.