Search the Dictionary

Despotic; absolute in power; bound by no law; harsh and unforbearing; tyrannical; as, an arbitrary prince or government. Dryden. Arbitrary constant, Arbitrary function (Math.), a quantity of function that is introduced into the solution of a problem, and to which any value or form may at will be given, so that the solu…

A spot or small marked space; as, the germinative area.

A species of shell (Cypræa argus), beautifully variegated with spots resembling those in a peacock's tail.

Of or pertaining to ink; inky; black, like ink; as, atramental galls; atramentous spots.

rizon; when reaching south beyond the zenith, it forms what is called the corona, about a spot in the heavens toward which the dipping needle points. Occasionally the aurora appears as an arch of light across the heavens from east to west. Sometimes it assumes a wavy appearance, and the streams of light are then called…

One who rules with undisputed sway in any company or relation; a despot. The autocrat of the breakfast table. Holmes.

The spotted deer (Cervus axis or Axis maculata) of India, where it is called hog deer and parrah (Moorish name).

A row of bright spots observed in connection with total eclipses of the sun. Just before and after a total eclipse, the slender, unobscured crescent of the sun's disk appears momentarily like a row of bright spots resembling a string of beads. The phenomenon (first fully described by Francis Baily, 1774 -- 1844) is tho…

Marked with a white spot on the head; bald-faced. Bald buzzard (Zoöl.), the fishhawk or osprey. -- Bald coot (Zoöl.), a name of the European coot (Fulica atra), alluding to the bare patch on the front of the head.

A style of calico printing, in which white or bright spots are produced upon cloth previously dyed of a uniform red or dark color, by discharging portions of the color by chemical means, while the rest of the cloth is under pressure. Ure.

The spotted redshank.

shion. [Obs.] She stained her hair yellow, which was then the beauty. Jer. Taylor. Beauty spot, a patch or spot placed on the face with intent to heighten beauty by contrast.

by spattering; to sprinkle, esp. with dirty water, mud, or anything which will leave foul spots or stains.

To mark with speckles or spots. Milton.

To stick over, as with sharp points pressed in; to mark by infixing points or spots here and there; to pierce. Truth shall retire Bestuck with slanderous darts. Milton.

A place of worship; a hallowed spot. S. F. Adams.

Having two callosities or hard spots. Gray.

Having, or marked with, two spots.

Having two ocelli (eyelike spots); -- said of a wing, etc.

Having two punctures, or spots.