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A small sturgeon (Acipenser ruthenus) found in the Caspian Sea and its rivers, and highly esteemed for its flavor. The finest caviare is made from its roe.

Having a certain hardness or severity of nature, manner, or aspect; hard; severe; rigid; rigorous; austere; fixed; unchanging; unrelenting; hence, serious; resolute; harsh; as, a sternresolve; a stern necessity; a stern heart; a stern gaze; a stern decree. The sterne wind so loud gan to rout. Chaucer. I would outstare…

A special podlike or fusiform branch containing tetraspores. It is found in certain red algæ.

That which stimulates, provokes, or excites. His feelings had been exasperated by the constant application of stimulants. Macaulay.

to inflict a wound by piercing; as the caudal sting of a scorpion. The sting of a bee or wasp is a modified ovipositor. The caudal sting, or spine, of a sting ray is a modified dorsal fin ray. The term is sometimes applied to the fang of a serpent. See Illust. of Scorpion.

A band, plate, or loop of metal for clasping and holding timbers or parts of a machine. (b) (Naut.)

with a scarlet aril. -- Strawberry crab (Zoöl.), a small European spider crab (Eurynome aspera); -- so called because the back is covered with pink tubercles. -- Strawberry fish (Zoöl.), the amadavat. -- Strawberry geranium (Bot.), a kind of saxifrage (Saxifraga sarmentosa) having reniform leaves, and producing lon…

posterior ones are large and membranous. They are parasitic in the larval state on bees, wasps, and the like; -- called also Rhipiptera. See Illust. under Rhipipter.

efly for ornament; an ornamental knob; a boss. A belt of straw and ivy buds, With coral clasps and amber studs. Marlowe. Crystal and myrrhine cups, embossed with gems And studs of pearl. Milton.

ence, hellish; infernal. See Styx. At that so sudden blaze, the Stygian throng Bent their aspect. Milton.

A genus of minute insects parasitic, in their larval state, on bees and wasps. It is the typical genus of the group Strepsiptera, formerly considered a distinct order, but now generally referred to the Coleoptera. See Strepsiptera.

ecepts be succinct and clear. Roscommon. The shortest and most succinct model that ever grasped all the needs and necessities of mankind. South.

ared or employed; quick; rapid. Never was such a sudden scholar made. Shak. The apples of Asphaltis, appearing goodly to the sudden eye. Milton.

Supraspinuos.

without tone, or proper vocal sound; voiceless; unintonated; nonvocal; atonic; whispered; aspirated; sharp; hard, as f, p, s, etc.; -- opposed to sonant. See Guide to Pronunciation, §§169, 179, 180.

A kind of small hand-pump for throwing a stream of liquid, or for purposes of aspiration. It consists of a small cylindrical barrel and piston, or a bulb of soft elastic material, with or without valves, and with a nozzle which is sometimes at the end of a flexible tube; -- used for injecting animal bodies, cleansing w…

A spoon of the largest size commonly used at the table; -- distinguished from teaspoon, dessert spoon, etc.

In an active sense; To lay hold of; to seize with the hands, or otherwise; to grasp; to get into one's hold or possession; to procure; to seize and carry away; to convey. Hence, specifically: --

es laden with choice fruit which likewise receded whenever he stretched out his hand to grasp them.

es are large species of Mygale. [Written also tarentula.] Tarantula killer, a very large wasp (Pompilus formosus), which captures the Texan tarantula (Mygale Hentzii) and places it in its nest as food for its young, after paralyzing it by a sting.