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e mechanism is introduced in the most effective manner, regardless of the size of the instrument. -- Grand relief (Sculp.), alto relievo. -- Grand Seignior. See under Seignior. -- Grand stand, the principal stand, or erection for spectators, at a, race course, etc. -- Grand vicar (Eccl.), a principal vicar; an eccl…

An optical instrument for magnifying engravings, photographs, etc., usually having one large lens and two smaller ones.

r, with four or five flukes or claws, used to hold boats or small vessels; hence, any instrument designed to grapple or hold; a grappling iron; a grab; -- written also grapline, and crapnel.

An instrument, usually with hinged claws, for seizing and holding fast to an object; a grab. (b) (Naut.)

One who, or that which, grates; especially, an instrument or utensil with a rough, indented surface, for rubbing off small particles of any substance; as a grater for nutmegs.

(Physics) An instrument for ascertaining the specific gravity of bodies.

A handsome tropical American wood, much used for making flutes and other wind instruments; -- called also Grenada cocos, or cocus, and red ebony.

ge, surface, or channel, for giving direction to the motion of anything, as water, an instrument, or part of a machine, or for directing the hand or eye, as of an operator; as:

Any machine or instrument for cutting or shearing, resembling in its action a guillotine.

A stringed instrument of music resembling the lute or the violin, but larger, and having six strings, three of silk covered with silver wire, and three of catgut, -- played upon with the fingers.

A weapon which throws or propels a missile to a distance; any firearm or instrument for throwing projectiles by the explosion of gunpowder, consisting of a tube or barrel closed at one end, in which the projectile is placed, with an explosive charge behind, which is ignited by various means. Muskets, rifles, carbines,…

ed inside a rigid case to which is attached a thin flange of metal for supporting the instrument. It is used in studying the dynamics of rotating bodies.

thout skill or definite purpose; to notch; to mangle by repeated strokes of a cutting instrument; as, to hack a post. My sword hacked like a handsaw. Shak.

One who, or that which, hacks. Specifically: A cutting instrument for making notches; esp., one used for notching pine trees in collecting turpentine; a hack.

An instrument for registering the velocity of the blood.

An instrument for determining the number of blood corpuscles in a given quantity of blood.

An instrument devised by Hermann, for regulating and measuring the thickness of a layer of blood for spectroscopic examination.

A handle; that part of an instrument or vessel taken into the hand, and by which it is held and used; -- said chiefly of a knife, sword, or dagger; the hilt. This brandish'dagger I'll bury to the haft in her fair breast. Dryden.

, between the open position and the first shift, in playing on the violin and kindred instruments. See Shift. -- Half step (Mus.), a semitone; the smallest difference of pitch or interval, used in music. -- Half tide, the time or state of the tide equally distant from ebb and flood. -- Half time, half the ordinary t…

An instrument for measuring the forms and angles of salts and crystals; a goniometer.