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A kind of water clock, used anciently for measuring time, the water tricking from an orifice at the end of a graduated tube.

A satirical poem (such poems having been anciently written in iambic verse); a satire; a lampoon.

A sort of light spear, to be thrown or cast by thew hand; anciently, a weapon of war used by horsemen and foot soldiers; now used chiefly in hunting the wild boar and other fierce game. Flies the javelin swifter to its mark, Launched by the vigor of a Roman arm Addison.

of a pea, contain coloring matter analogous to carmine, and are used in dyeing. They were anciently thought to be of a vegetable nature, and were used in medicine. [Written also chermes.]

A kind of spear anciently used. Its use was prohibited by a statute of Richard II. Nares. In his hand a launcegay, A long sword by his side. Chaucer.

Of or pertaining to the island anciently called Lesbos, now Mitylene, in the Grecian Archipelago.

A kind of linen cloth anciently used in England, originally imported from Brittany. Shak.

, a hardy perennial herbaceous plant, a native of high lands in Great Britain. (b) A name anciently given to the Sweet William. Dr. Prior. -- London rocket (Bot.), a cruciferous plant (Sisymbrium Irio) which sprung up in London abundantly on the ruins of the great fire of 1667.

e of several kinds of water lilies; as Nelumbium speciosum, used in religious ceremonies, anciently in Egypt, and to this day in Asia; Nelumbium luteum, the American lotus; and Nymphæa Lotus and N. cærulea, the respectively white-flowered and blue-flowered lotus of modern Egypt, which, with Nelumbium speciosum, are fig…

. Most of the species have brilliantly colored flowers and cottony leaves, which may have anciently answered as wicks for lamps. The botanical name is in common use for the garden species. The corn cockle (Lychnis Githago) is a common weed in wheat fields.

A kind of high shoe anciently worn. [Written also moyle.]

rfect of numbers, and properly expressed by a circle, the most perfect figure. O was also anciently used to represent 11: with a dash over it (O O, n.; pl. O's or Oes (.

A branch or leaf of the palm, anciently borne or worn as a symbol of victory or rejoicing. A great multitude . . . stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palme in their hands. Rev. vii. 9.

rains, or the twentieth part of an ounce; as, a pennyweight of gold or of arsenic. It was anciently the weight of a silver penny, whence the name.

A Paris candle anciently used in England; also, a large wax candle formerly set upon the altar. [Obs.] Bailey.

A kind of blue color; also, anciently, a kind of cloth, generally blue.

Anciently, a kind of battle-ax with a long handle; later, an ax or hatchet with a short handle, and a head variously patterned; -- used by soldiers, and also by sailors in boarding a vessel.

Licentious painting or literature; especially, the painting anciently employed to decorate the walls of rooms devoted to bacchanalian orgies.

al course of nature, from which omens are drawn; a portent; as, eclipses and meteors were anciently deemed prodigies. So many terrors, voices, prodigies, May warn thee, as a sure foregoing sign. Milton.

Money anciently paid by servile tenants to their lord, in lieu of the customary service of reaping his corn or grain.