Search the Dictionary

A thatched or tiled house or cottage, of a single story, usually surrounded by a veranda. [India]

eath them. The larvæ feed upon decaying flesh, and are useful scavengers. -- To bury the hatchet, to lay aside the instruments of war, and make peace; -- a phrase used in allusion to the custom observed by the North American Indians, of burying a tomahawk when they conclude a peace.

A cellar in which butts of wine are kept. Weale. Buttery hatch, a half door between the buttery or kitchen and the hall, in old mansions, over which provisions were passed. Wright.

To break or crack, or crack off a portion of, as of an eggshell in hatching, or a piece of crockery.

Raised pieces of wood of iron around a hatchway, skylight, or other opening in the deck, to prevent water from running bellow; esp. the fore-and-aft pieces of a hatchway frame as distinguished from the transverse head ledges. [Written also combings.]

ith straw. [Prov. Eng.] The poor cottager contenteth himself with cob for his walls, and thatch for his covering. R. Carew.

grass (Imperata arundinacea) of the Philippine Islands and adjacent countries, used for thatching.

A wooden hood or penthouse covering the companion way; a companion hatch. Companion hatch (Naut.), a wooden porch over the entrance or staircase of the cabin. -- Companion ladder (Naut.), the ladder by which officers ascend to, or descend from, the quarter-deck. Totten. -- Companion way (Naut.), a staircase leading t…

A space in the galley; a part of the hatches. Ham. Nav. Encyc.

A brood or hatch of birds; an old bird with her brood of young; hence, a small flock or number of birds together; -- said of game; as, a covey of partridges. Darwin.

nd inhabit the large rivers of Africa, Asia, and America. The eggs, laid in the sand, are hatched by the sun's heat. The best known species is that of the Nile (C. vulgaris, or C. Niloticus). The Florida crocodile (C. Americanus) is much less common than the alligator and has longer jaws. The name is also sometimes app…

A group of passerine birds, including the creepers and nuthatches.

Those birds whose young are covered with down when hatched.

To unclose; to open; -- applied esp. to eggs in the sense of to hatch. The ostrich layeth her eggs under sand, where the heat of the discloseth them. Bacon.

A rude ancient ax or hatchet, seen in museums.

Shaped like the head of an ax or hatchet, as some leaves, and also certain organs of some shellfish.

To let fall in drops. Which from the thatch drips fast a shower of rain. Swift.

A contrivance for hatching eggs by artificial heat.

The skin or fibrous part of the flax plant, when broken and cleaned by hatcheling or combing. Earth flax (Min.), amianthus. -- Flax brake, a machine for removing the woody portion of flax from the fibrous. -- Flax comb, a hatchel, hackle, or heckle. -- Flax cotton, the fiber of flax, reduced by steeping in bicarbina…

A light covering of reeds, over which the main covering is laid, in thatching houses. [Prov. Eng.] Wright.