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A thin slice; a shive. [Obs. or Prov. Eng.] "A shiver of their own loaf." Fuller. Of your soft bread, not but a shiver. Chaucer.

A broad, triangular piece of plank placed upon the fluke to give it a better hold in soft ground. -- Shoe block (Naut.), a block with two sheaves, one above the other, and at right angles to each other. -- Shoe bolt, a bolt with a flaring head, for fastening shoes on sleigh runners. -- Shoe pac, a kind of moccasin.…

To shrive; to question. [Obs.] "She gan him soft to shrieve." Spenser.

esembling the yaws. It is marked by ulceration of the throat and nose and by pustules and soft fungous excrescences upon the surface of the body. In the Orkneys the name is applied to the itch. [Written also sivvens.]

Soft; pulpy. [Obs. or Prov. Eng.]

tiplying facsimiles of an engraved steel plate by first rolling over it, when hardened, a soft steel cylinder, and then rolling the cylinder, when hardened, over a soft steel plate, which thus becomes a facsimile of the original. The process has been superseded by electrotypy.

The fine, soft thread produced by various species of caterpillars in forming the cocoons within which the worm is inclosed during the pupa state, especially that produced by the larvæ of Bombyx mori.

Fig.: Soft; delicate; tender; smooth; as, silken language. "Silken terms precise." Shak.

The quality or state of being silky or silken; softness and smoothness.

Hence, soft and smooth; as, silky wine.

A dish made by mixing wine or cider with milk, and thus forming a soft curd; also, sweetened cream, flavored with wine and beaten to a stiff froth. [Written also syllabub.]

A soft white metallic element, sonorous, ductile, very malleable, and capable of a high degree of polish. It is found native, and also combined with sulphur, arsenic, antimony, chlorine, etc., in the minerals argentite, proustite, pyrargyrite, ceragyrite, etc. Silver is one of the "noble" metals, so-called, not being e…

Having the clear, musical tone of silver; soft and clear in sound; as, silvery voices; a silvery laugh. Silvery iron (Metal.), a peculiar light-gray fine-grained cast iron, usually obtained from clay iron ore.

The anterior prolongation of the margin of any gastropod shell for the protection of the soft siphon.

The bony and cartilaginous framework which supports the soft parts of a vertebrate animal.

v. Eng. & Scot.] Sir W. Scott. When the skirling of the pipes cleft the air his cold eyes softened. Mrs. J. H. Ewing.

A soft-spoken, crafty hypocrite. [Prov. Eng.] Halliwell.

g sulphate of alumina, -- used in the manufacture of alum. -- Bituminous slate (Min.), a soft species of sectile clay slate, impregnated with bitumen. -- Hornblende slate (Min.), a slaty rock, consisting essentially of hornblende and feldspar, useful for flagging on account of its toughness. -- Slate ax or axe, a ma…

To make even and smooth; to render smooth, soft, and glossy; to smooth over. Sleeking her soft alluring locks. Milton. Gentle, my lord, sleek o'er your rugged looks. Shak.

Soft, moist earth or clay, having an adhesive quality; viscous mud. As it [Nilus] ebbs, the seedsman Upon the slime and ooze scatters his grain. Shak.