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Webster’s Dictionary (1828)



728 words match “SHELL”

RAPID-FIRE; RAPID-FIRING a.
id-fire guns; the former being automatic guns of not less than one inch caliber, firing a shell of not less than one pound weight, the explosion of each cartridge operating the mechanism for ejecting the empty shell, loading, and firing the next shot, the latter being guns that require one operation of the hand at each…
RAZOR n.
(a) A small Mediterranean fish (Coryphæna novacula), prized for the table. (b) The razor shell. -- Razor grass (Bot.), a West Indian plant (Scleria scindens), the triangular stem and the leaves of which are edged with minute sharp teeth. -- Razor grinder (Zoöl.), the European goat-sucker. -- Razor shell (Zoöl.), an…
REACH v.
trike, hit, or tough with a missile; as, to reach an object with an arrow, a bullet, or a shell.
RECAPPER n.
A tool used for applying a fresh percussion cap or primer to a cartridge shell in reloading it.
RECENT a.
Of or pertaining to the present or existing epoch; as, recent shells.
REINS n.
abutment, including, and having especial reference to, the loading or filling behind the shell of the vault. The reins are to a vault nearly what the haunches are to an arch, and when a vault gives way by thrusting outward, it is because its reins are not sufficiently filled up.
REPLICATE; REPLICATED a.
backward; folded back upon itself; as, a replicate leaf or petal; a replicate margin of a shell.
REPRIMER n.
A machine or implement for applying fresh primers to spent cartridge shells, so that the shells be used again.
RETICULARIA n.
or less slender and coalesce at certain points, forming irregular meshes. It includes the shelled Foraminifera, together with some groups which lack a true shell.
RETRACTOR n.
In breech-loading firearms, a device for withdrawing a cartridge shell from the barrel. (b) (Surg.)
REVERSE a.
Reversed; as, a reverse shell. Reverse bearing (Surv.), the bearing of a back station as observed from the station next in advance. -- Reverse curve (Railways), a curve like the letter S, formed of two curves bending in opposite directions. -- Reverse fire (Mil.), a fire in the rear. -- Reverse operation (Math.), an…
REVERSED a.
fically (Bot. & Zoöl.), sinistrorse or sinistral; as, a reversed, or sinistral, spiral or shell.
REVOLVING a.
tc., depending on the revolution of the earth. But grief returns with the revolving year. Shelley. Revolving seasons, fruitless as they pass. Cowper. Revolving firearm. See Revolver. -- Revolving light, a light or lamp in a lighthouse so arranged as to appear and disappear at fixed intervals, either by being turned ab…
RHACHIGLOSSA n.
three longitudinal rows of teeth on the radula. It includes many of the large ornamental shells, as the miters, murices, olives, purpuras, volutes, and whelks. See Illust. in Append.
RICOCHET n.
ly with small charges, at an elevation of only a few degrees, so as to cause the balls or shells to bound or skip along the ground.
RIGHT-HANDED a.
Having the whorls rising from left to right; dextral; -- said of spiral shells. See Illust. of Scalaria. Right-handed screw, a screw, the threads of which, like those of a common wood screw, wind spirally in such a direction that screw advances away from the observer when turned with a right-handed movement in a fixed…
RIND n.
The external covering or coat, as of flesh, fruit, trees, etc.; skin; hide; bark; peel; shell. Thou canst not touch the freedom of my mind With all thy charms, although this corporal rind Thou hast immanacled. Milton. Sweetest nurind. Shak.
RIVER n.
Zoöl.), a fresh-water, air-breathing mollusk of the genus Ancylus, having a limpet-shaped shell. -- River pirate (Zoöl.), the pike. -- River snail (Zoöl.), any species of fresh-water gastropods of Paludina, Melontho, and allied genera. See Pond snail, under Pond. -- River tortoise (Zoöl.), any one of numerous fresh-…
ROCAILLE n.
The rococo system of scroll ornament, based in part on the forms of shells and water-worn rocks.
ROCK n.
r in large basins or cavities. -- Rock seal (Zoöl.), the harbor seal. See Seal. -- Rock shell (Zoöl.), any species of Murex, Purpura, and allied genera. -- Rock snake (Zoöl.), any one of several large pythons; as, the royal rock snake (Python regia) of Africa, and the rock snake of India (P. molurus). The Australian…
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