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ng a tail like that of a swallow; hence, like a swallow's tail in form; having narrow and tapering or pointed skirts; as, a swallow- tailed coat.

ith a tap; as, a barrel on tap. -- Plug tap (Mech.), a screw-cutting tap with a slightly tapering end. -- Tap bolt, a bolt with a head on one end and a thread on the other end, to be screwed into some fixed part, instead of passing through the part and receiving a nut. See Illust. under Bolt. -- Tap cinder (Metal.),…

A tapering form; gradual diminution of thickness in an elongated object; as, the taper of a spire.

The quality or state of being taper; tapering form; taper. Shenstone.

A genus of marine gastropods having a long, tapering spire. They belong to the Toxoglossa. Called also auger shell.

Cylindrical and slightly tapering; columnar, as some stems of plants.

A wooden pin tapering toward both ends with a groove around its middle, fixed transversely in the eye of a rope to be secured to any other loop or bight or ring; a kind of button or frog capable of being readily engaged and disengaged for temporary purposes.

A tapering mandrel.

the large speaking trumpet used on board Italian vessels, which is of the same length and tapering shape." Grove. -- Trumpet shell (Zoöl.), any species of large marine univalve shells belonging to Triton and allied genera. See Triton, 2. -- Trumpet tree. (Bot.) See Trumpetwood.

es of actinians belonging to the genus Cerianthus. These animals have a long, smooth body tapering to the base, and two separate circles of tentacles around the mouth. They form a tough, flexible, feltlike tube with a smooth internal lining, in which they dwell, whence the name.

parts; not of uniform size throughout; -- said especially of sawed boards or timber when tapering or uneven, from being cut too near the outside of the log.

A piece of metal, or other hard material, thick at one end, and tapering to a thin edge at the other, used in splitting wood, rocks, etc., in raising heavy bodies, and the like. It is one of the six elementary machines called the mechanical powers. See Illust. of Mechanical powers, under Mechanical.…

Broad and truncate at the summit, and tapering down to the base; as, a wedge-shaped leaf.

Shaped like the lash of a whip; long, slender, round, and tapering; as, a whip-shaped root or stem.

s of cloth. Knight. -- Wood cell (Bot.), a slender cylindrical or prismatic cell usually tapering to a point at both ends. It is the principal constituent of woody fiber. -- Wood choir, the choir, or chorus, of birds in the woods. [Poetic] Coleridge. -- Wood coal, charcoal; also, lignite, or brown coal. -- Wood cri…

Spenser. Woody fiber. (Bot.) (a) Fiber or tissue consisting of slender, membranous tubes tapering at each end. (b) A single wood cell. See under Wood. Goodale. -- Woody nightshade. (Bot.). See Bittersweet, 3 (a). -- Woody pear (Bot.), the inedible, woody, pear-shaped fruit of several Australian proteaceous trees of…

A long piece of timber, nearly cylindrical, tapering toward the ends, and designed to support and extend a square sail. A yard is usually hung by the center to the mast. See Illust. of Ship. Golden Yard, or Yard and Ell (Astron.), a popular name the three stars in the belt of Orion. -- Under yard [i. e., under the rod…