Search the Dictionary

A genus (Ephedra) of leafless shrubs, with the stems conspicuously jointed; -- called also shrubby horsetail. There are about thirty species, of which two or three are found from Texas to California.

A slender, nearly leafless, American herb (Polygonum articulatum), with jointed spikes of small flowers.

n rodent (Pedetes Caffer), allied to the jerboa. -- Jumping jack, a toy figure of a man, jointed and made to jump or dance by means of strings. -- Jumping louse (Zoöl.), any of the numerous species of plant lice belonging to the family Psyllidæ, several of which are injurious to fruit trees. -- Jumping mouse (Zoöl.)…

A toggle joint; -- so called because consisting of two pieces jointed to each other end to end, making an angle like the knee when bent.

a common weed with jointed stems (Polygonum aviculare); knotweed.

Jointed. [Obs.] Bacon.

A plan; a scheme. [Slang] Dickens. Lay figure. (a) A jointed model of the human body that may be put in any attitude; -- used for showing the disposition of drapery, etc. (b) A mere puppet; one who serves the will of others without independent volition. -- Lay race, that part of a lay on which the shuttle travels in w…

he slotted bar, or connecting piece, to the opposite ends of which the eccentric rods are jointed, and by means of which the movement of the valve is varied, in a link motion.

which the fin rays, except the anterior ray of the pectoral and dorsal fins, are closely jointed, and not spiny. It includes the carp, pike, salmon, shad, etc. Called also Malacopteri.

A mop or sponge attached to a jointed staff for swabbing out a cannon.

er in having the body made up of numerous similar segments, nearly all of which bear true jointed legs. They have one pair of antennæ, three pairs of mouth organs, and numerous trachaæ, similar to those of true insects. The larvæ, when first hatched, often have but three pairs of legs. See Centiped, Galleyworm, Millipe…

A process (resembling splicing) by which two ropes are jointed end so as to form one rope.

A portable lock with a bow which is usually jointed or pivoted at one end so that it can be opened, the other end being fastened by the bolt, -- used for fastening by passing the bow through a staple over a hasp or through the links of a chain, etc.

A feeler; especially, one of the jointed sense organs attached to the mouth organs of insects, arachnids, crustaceans, and annelids; as, the mandibular palpi, maxillary palpi, and labial palpi. The palpi of male spiders serve as sexual organs. Called also palp. See Illust. of Arthrogastra and Orthoptera.…

forces which act in directions parallel to each other. -- Parallel motion. (a) (Mach.) A jointed system of links, rods, or bars, by which the motion of a reciprocating piece, as a piston rod, may be guided, either approximately or exactly in a straight line. Rankine. (b) (Mus.) The ascending or descending of two or mo…

A minute jointed filament growing among the archegonia and antheridia of mosses, or with the spore cases, etc., of other flowerless plants.

An extensive division of Coleoptera, including those that normally have five-jointed tarsi. It embraces about half of all the known species of the Coleoptera.

longlegs or harvestman (Phalangium) and many similar kinds. They have long, slender, many-jointed legs; usually a rounded, segmented abdomen; and chelate jaws. They breathe by tracheæ. Called also Phalangides, Phalangidea, Phalangiida, and Opilionea.

Subdivided into many distinct subordinate parts, which, however, not being jointed to the petiole, are not true leaflets; -- said of leaves. Henslow.

udatus) having a long, slender pod, which is sometimes eaten. -- Wild radish (Bot.), the jointed charlock.