Search the Dictionary

A quill or reed on which thread or yarn is wound; a bobbin; also, the wound yarn on a weaver's shuttle; also, the reel of a fishing rod. [Scot.]

One who breeds fish.

Having nervous energy; forceful; cogent. This pithy speech prevailed, and all agreed. Dryden. In all these Goodman Fact was very short, but pithy. Addison. Pithy gall (Zoöl.), a large, rough, furrowed, oblong gall, formed on blackberry canes by a small gallfly (Diastrophus nebulosus).

ir; to poll wool; to poll grass. Who, as he polled off his dart's head, so sure he had decreed That all the counsels of their war he would poll off like it. Chapman.

A breed of dogs having curly hair, and often showing remarkable intelligence in the performance of tricks.

r postal purposes entered into by the most important powers, or governments, which have agreed to transport mail matter through their several territories at a stipulated rate.

ies in this, -- that the latter is admitted to be self-evident, while the former may be agreed upon between two reasoners, and admitted by both, but not as proposition which it would be impossible to deny. Eng. Cyc.

Previously arranged; agreed upon beforehand. -- Pre`con*cert"ed*ly, adv. -- Pre`con*cert"ed*ness, n.

ry to a book, essay, or discourse; as, prefatory remarks. That prefatory addition to the Creed. Dryden.

Being with young, as a female; having conceived; great with young; breeding; teeming; gravid; preparing to bring forth.

; hurt; damage; injury; detriment. Locke. England and France might, through their amity, Breed him some prejudice. Shak.

usly required, or necessary to an end or effect proposed. The necessary prerequisites of freedom. Goldsmith.

lay claim to, or strive after, something; -- usually with to. "Countries that pretend to freedom." Swift. For to what fine he would anon pretend, That know I well. Chaucer.

Prevail upon some judicious friend to be your constant hearer, and allow him the utmost freedom. Swift.

neration, or successive production; -- applied to animals and plants; as, to propagate a breed of horses or sheep; to propagate a species of fruit tree.

A statement of religious doctrine; an article of faith; creed; as, the propositions of Wyclif and Huss. Some persons . . . change their propositions according as their temporal necessities or advantages do turn. Jer. Taylor.

rring in a reverberatory furnace in the presence of oxidizing substances, by which it is freed from a portion of its carbon and other impurities. Puddling furnace, a reverberatory furnace in which cast iron is converted into wrought iron or into steel by puddling.

One of a small breed of pet dogs having a short nose and head; a pug dog.

One of a breed of large, heavy draught horses; as, the Suffolk punch.

A state or place of purification after death; according to the Roman Catholic creed, a place, or a state believed to exist after death, in which the souls of persons are purified by expiating such offenses committed in this life as do not merit eternal damnation, or in which they fully satisfy the justice of God for si…