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A nearly cubical block of some tough stone, esp. granite, used as a material for street pavements. Its usual diameter is 5 to 7 inches.

of a column included between the abacus and neck molding; also used for the naked core of nearly cylindrical shape, assumed to exist within the leafage of a capital.

A lever whose two arms form a right angle, or nearly a right angle, having its fulcrum at the apex of the angle. It is used in bell pulls and in changing the direction of bell wires at angles of rooms, etc., and also in machinery.

A pair of bellows, the ordinary household instrument for blowing fires, consisting of two nearly heart-shaped boards with handles, connected by leather, and having a valve and tube.

Utmost; highest endeavor or state; most nearly perfect thing, or being, or action; as, to do one's best; to the best of our ability. At best, in the utmost degree or extent applicable to the case; under the most favorable circumstances; as, life is at best very short. -- For best, finally. [Obs.] "Those constitutions…

That part of a ship's hull or bottom which is broadest and most nearly flat, and on which she would rest if aground.

A prism whose refracting angle is very nearly 180 degrees.

d which prevails on the northern coasts of the Mediterranean and in Switzerland, etc.; -- nearly the same as the mistral.

people, esp. at night. -- Blind cat (Zoöl.), a species of catfish (Gronias nigrolabris), nearly destitute of eyes, living in caverns in Pennsylvania. -- Blind coal, coal that burns without flame; anthracite coal. Simmonds. -- Blind door, Blind window, an imitation of a door or window, without an opening for passage…

Built with the stem nearly straight up and down.

Built with the stem nearly straight up and down.

ves, according to the shape of the instrument and the manner of throwing it, often moving nearly horizontally a long distance, then curving upward to a considerable height, and finally taking a retrograde direction, so as to fall near the place from which it was thrown, or even far in the rear of it.…

Having branches in pairs, decussated, all nearly horizontal, and each pair at right angles with the next, as in the maple and lilac.

f, as of a ship, by dropping the anchor, or by counterbracing the sails so as to keep her nearly stationary (she is then said to lie to). (c) To cause (a vessel) to lie to, as by firing across her course. (d) To apply a rope to the capstan. -- To bring to light, to disclose; to discover; to make clear; to reveal. --…

hether produced at the same time or not; young children of the same mother, especially if nearly of the same age; offspring; progeny; as, a woman with a brood of children. The lion roars and gluts his tawny brood. Wordsworth.

To throw by bucking. See Buck, v. i., 2. The brute that he was riding had nearly bucked him out of the saddle. W. E. Norris.

ted plasma of blood when the red corpuscles have so settled out that the coagulum appears nearly colorless. This is common in diseased conditions where the corpuscles run together more rapidly and in denser masses than usual. Huxley.

be dispatched to save them. -- Nut or Nun buoy, a buoy large in the middle, and tapering nearly to a point at each end. -- To stream the buoy, to let the anchor buoy fall by the ship's side into the water, before letting go the anchor. -- Whistling buoy, a buoy fitted with a whistle that is blown by the action of th…

butter of antimony, sesquichloride of antimony; also, certain concrete fat oils remaining nearly solid at ordinary temperatures, as butter of cacao, vegetable butter, shea butter. Butter and eggs (Bot.), a name given to several plants having flowers of two shades of yellow, as Narcissus incomparabilis, and in the Unite…

The small and nearly cubical stone building, toward which all Mohammedans must pray. [Written also kaaba.]