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A plate of iron or a mass of wood under the end of a bridge girder, to keep the girder from resting directly on the abutment.

A string used by the Turks for strangling offenders. Bowstring bridge, a bridge formed of an arch of timber or iron, often braced, the thrust of which is resisted by a tie forming a chord of the arch. -- Bowstring girder, an arched beam strengthened by a tie connecting its two ends. -- Bowstring hemp (Bot.), the tena…

nt of disorderly persons; -- so called from a hospital built in 1553 near St. Bride's (or Bridget's) well, in London, which was subsequently a penal workhouse.

A bridge. [Scot.] Burns.

A bridge. [Obs.] Chaucer.

The mass of stone or solid work at the end of a bridge, by which the extreme arches are sustained, or by which the end of a bridge without arches is supported. Butment cheek (Carp.), the part of a mortised timber surrounding the mortise, and against which the shoulders of the tenon bear. Knight.

ally covered with some protecting, or insulating substance; as, the cable of a suspension bridge; a telegraphic cable.

A native or resident of Cambridge; esp. a student or graduate of the university of Cambridge, England.

A projecting beam, truss, or bridge unsupported at the outer end; one which overhangs. Cantalever bridge, a bridge in which the principle of the cantalever is applied. It is usually a trussed bridge, composed of two portions reaching out from opposite banks, and supported near the middle of their own length on piers wh…

The council or ruling body of the University of Cambridge prior to the constitution of 1856. Your caputs and heads of colleges. Lamb. Caput mortuum (. Etym: [L., dead head.] (Old Chem.) The residuum after distillation or sublimation; hence, worthless residue.

hain attached for drawing it out of position. -- Chain bond. See Chain timber. -- Chain bridge, a bridge supported by chain cables; a suspension bridge. -- Chain cable, a cable made of iron links. -- Chain coral (Zoöl.), a fossil coral of the genus Halysites, common in the middle and upper Silurian rocks. The tubul…

nsisting of two or more planks doweled together, for the flooring of a temporary military bridge. Wilhelm. A singular, chess, is sometimes used. "Each chess consists of three planks." Farrow.

read, such persons being, in the eye of the law, clerici, or clerks. This privilege was abridged and modified by various statutes, and finally abolished in the reign of George IV. (1827). -- Regular clergy, Secular clergy See Regular, n., and Secular, a.

The bridge piece which affords a bearing for the pivot of a balance in a clock or watch. Knight. Ball cock. See under Ball. -- Chaparral cock. See under Chaparral. -- Cock and bull story, an extravagant, boastful story; a canard. -- Cock of the plains (Zoöl.) See Sage cock. -- Cock of the rock (Zoöl.), a South Amer…

instruction, esp. in the higher branches of knowledge; as, the colleges of Oxford and Cambridge Universities, and many American colleges.

of control, influence, access, or vision; to dominate by position; to guard; to overlook. Bridges commanded by a fortified house. Motley. Up to the eastern tower, Whose height commands as subject all the vale. Shak. One side commands a view of the finest garden. Addison.

Containing the substance oe general principles of a subject or work in a narrow compass; abridged; summarized. More compendious and exeditious ways. Woodward. Three things be required in the oration of a man having authority -- that it be compendious, sententious, and delectable. Sir T. Elyot.

compact, or dense; to compress or concentrate into a smaller compass; to consolidate; to abridge; to epitomize. In what shape they choose, Dilated or condensed, bright or obscure. Milton. The secret course pursued at Brussels and at Madrid may be condensed into the usual formula, dissimulation, procrastination, and aga…

To carry onward or extend; to prolong or produce; to add to or draw out in length. A bridge of wond'rous length, From hell continued, reaching th' utmost orb of this frall world. Milton.

A counterpoise to balance the weight of anything, as of a drawbridge or a scale beam. Money is the counterbalance to all other things purchasable by it. Locke.