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ble hardness; a name given to the diamond and other substance of extreme hardness; but in modern minerology it has no technical signification. It is now a rhetorical or poetical name for the embodiment of impenetrable hardness. Opposed the rocky orb Of tenfold adamant, his ample shield. Milton.

nd A. Gregorii, the sour gourd or cream-of-tartar tree of Australia. Both have a trunk of moderate height, but of enormous diameter, and a wide-spreading head. The fruit is oblong, and filled with pleasantly acid pulp. The wood is very soft, and the bark is used by the natives for making ropes and cloth. D. C. Eaton.…

The quality of being agreeable or pleasing; that quality which gives satisfaction or moderate pleasure to the mind or senses. That author . . . has an agreeableness that charms us. Pope.

l square shield, formerly worn on the shoulders of knights, -- being the prototype of the modern epaulet. Fairholt.

onized chorals, psalmody, part songs, etc., the part which bears the tune or melody -- in modern harmony usually the upper part -- is sometimes called the air.

Becoming white or whitish; moderately white.

into gold, to find the panacea, or universal remedy for diseases, etc. It led the way to modern chemistry.

A dance in moderate twofold time, invented by the French in the reign of Louis XIV.; -- now mostly found in suites of pieces, like those of Bach and Handel.

A foot of three syllables, the middle one long, the first and last short (as, h. In modern prosody the accented syllable takes the place of the long and the unaccented of the short; as, pro-phet''ic.

ast; specifically applied to the times before the fall of the Roman empire; -- opposed to modern; as, ancient authors, literature, history; ancient days. Witness those ancient empires of the earth. Milton. Gildas Albanius . . . much ancienter than his namesake surnamed the Wise. Fuller.

Moving moderately slow, but distinct and flowing; quicker than larghetto, and slower than allegretto. -- n.

Old, as respects the present age, or a modern period of time; of old fashion; antiquated; as, an antique robe. "Antique words." Spenser.

A large constellation in the southern hemisphere, called also Argo Navis. In modern astronomy it is replaced by its three divisions, Carina, Puppis, and Vela.

rior to a superior degree, from mean to noble objects, from particulars to generals, from modern to ancient times, from one note to another more acute, etc.; as, our inquiries ascend to the remotest antiquity; to ascend to our first progenitor.

and that point of the equator that comes to the horizon with a star. It is little used in modern astronomy.

To mitigate; to moderate; to appease; to abate; to diminish. [Archaic] Chaucer.

The alloy or metal to be assayed. Ure. Assay and essay are radically the same word; but modern usage has appropriated assay chiefly to experiments in metallurgy, and essay to intellectual and bodily efforts. See Essay.]

To reduce, modify, or moderate, by mixture; to temper; to regulate, as temperature. If sweet with bitter . . . were not attempered still. Trench.

Actuated by avarice; greedy of gain; immoderately desirous of accumulating property.

The doctrine of a modern religious sect, which originated in Persia in 1843, being a mixture of Mohammedan, Christian, Jewish and Parsee elements.