UNDERLAY n.
A thickness of paper, pasteboard, or the like, placed under a cut, or stereotype plate, or under type, in the from, to bring it, or any part of it, to the proper height; also, something placed back of a part of the tympan, so as to secure the right impression.
UNIT n.
r order or orders of individuality. -- Unit jar (Elec.), a small, insulated Leyden jar, placed between the electrical machine and a larger jar or battery, so as to announce, by its repeated discharges, the amount of electricity passed into the larger jar. -- Unit of heat (Physics), a determinate quantity of heat adop…
UNIVERSAL a.
azimuth instrument, the peculiarity of which is, that the object end of the telescope is placed at right angles to the eye end, with a prism of total reflection at the angle, and the eye end constitutes a portion of the horizontal axis of the instrument, having the eyepiece at the pivot and in the center of the altitud…
VAIR n.
kings, nobles, and prelates. It is represented in heraldry by a series of small shields placed close together, and alternately white and blue. Fairholt. No vair or ermine decked his garment. Sir W. Scott. Counter vair (Her.), a fur resembling vair, except in the arrangement of the patches or figures.…
WASSAIL a.
candle, my lord, all tallow." Shak. Wassail bowl, a bowl in which wassail was mixed, and placed upon the table. "Spiced wassail bowl." J. Fletcher. "When the cloth was removed, the butler brought in a huge silver vessel . . . Its appearance was hailed with acclamation, being the wassail bowl so renowned in Christmas fe…