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olics. See under Catholic. -- Old English. See under English. n., 2. -- Old Nick, Old Scratch, the devil. -- Old lady (Zoöl.), a large European noctuid moth (Mormo maura). -- Old maid. (a) A woman, somewhat advanced in years, who has never been married; a spinster. (b) (Bot.) A West Indian name for the pink- flower…

A click or pawl for driving a ratchet wheel.

of a machine, adapted to fall into notches, or interdental spaces, on another part, as a ratchet wheel, in such a manner as to permit motion in one direction and prevent it in the reverse, as in a windlass; a catch, click, or detent. See Illust. of Ratchet Wheel. [Written also paul, or pall.] Pawl bitt (Naut.), a heav…

r materials, as of steel, gold, etc. Also, originally, a stylus or other instrument for scratching or graving. Graven with an iron pen and lead in the rock. Job xix. 24.

Predestinated; foreordained; fated. "A predestinate scratched face." Shak.

The first coating of plaster in work of three coats upon laths. Its surface is scratched once to form a better key for the next coat. In the United States called scratch coat. Brande & C.

To pass a rake over; to scrape or scratch with a rake for the purpose of collecting and clearing off something, or for stirring up the soil; as, to rake a lawn; to rake a flower bed.

To rub or scratch out; to erase. [Obsoles.] Except we rase the faculty of memory, root and branch, out of our mind. Fuller.

Hence, to scratch or tear. Holland.

lted glass into water. It is remarkable for bursting into fragments when the surface is scratched or the tail broken; -- so called from Prince Rupert, nephew of Charles I., by whom they were first brought to England. Called also Rupert's ball, and glass tear.

To scratch or cut the skin of; esp. (Med.), to make small incisions in, by means of a lancet or scarificator, so as to draw blood from the smaller vessels without opening a large vein.

To mark with lines, scratches, or notches; to cut notches or furrows in; to notch; to scratch; to furrow; as, to score timber for hewing; to score the back with a lash. Let us score their backs. Shak. A briar in that tangled wilderness Had scored her white right hand. M. Arnold.

To scrape, paw, or scratch with the hands; to proceed by clawing with the hands and feet; to scramble; as, to scrabble up a cliff or a tree. Now after a while Little-faith came to himself, and getting up made shift to scrabble on his way. Bunyan.

The act of scraping; also, the effect of scraping, as a scratch, or a harsh sound; as, a noisy scrape on the floor; a scrape of a pen.

To scratch. [Obs.] Burton.

To draw or mark awkwardly and irregularly; to write hastily and carelessly; to scratch; to scribble; as, to scrawl a letter. His name, scrawled by himself. Macaulay.

Scratched; -- said of decorative painting of a certain style, in which a white overland surface is cut or scratched through, so as to form the design from a dark ground underneath.

To scratch; to rub. [Obs.] Farquhar.

The fine powder or mark yielded by a mineral when scratched or rubbed against a harder surface, the color of which is sometimes a distinguishing character.

To stratch, as cloth, for the purpose of raising a nap; teasel.