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ground; especially, a vault under a church, whether used for burial purposes or for a subterranean chapel or oratory. Priesthood works out its task age after age, . . . treasuring in convents and crypts the few fossils of antique learning. Motley. My knees are bowed in crypt and shrine. Tennyson.

o tear from a foundation; to uproot. A piece of ground disrooted from its situation by subterraneous inundations. Goldsmith.

A passage driven or cut between shaft and shaft; a driftway; a small subterranean gallery; an adit or tunnel.

A shaking, trembling, or concussion of the earth, due to subterranean causes, often accompanied by a rumbling noise. The wave of shock sometimes traverses half a hemisphere, destroying cities and many thousand lives; -- called also earthdin, earthquave, and earthshock. Earthquake alarm, a bell signal constructed to ope…

Pertaining to, or derived from, a genus of cruciferous Mediterranean herbs (Eruca or Brassica); as, erucic acid, a fatty acid resembling oleic acid, and found in colza oil, mustard oil, etc.

Periodical; annual; -- applied to winds which annually blow from the north over the Mediterranean, esp. the eastern part, for an irregular period during July and August.

A tempestuous northeast wind which blows in the Mediterranean. See Levanter. A tempestuous wind called Euroclydon. Acts xxvii. 14.

; to discharge its waters; to empty; -- with into; as, the river Rhone falls into the Mediterranean.

mall, swift-sailing vessel, propelled by oars and lateen sails, -- once common in the Mediterranean.

A wave. [Obs.] "The Mediterranean flote." Shak.

Originally, a vessel of the Mediterranean propelled by sails and by oars. The French, about 1650, transferred the name to larger vessels, and by 1750 it had been appropriated for a class of war vessels intermediate between corvettes and ships of the line. Frigates, from about 1750 to 1850, had one full battery deck and…

A small galley, formerly used in the Mediterranean, built mainly for speed. It was moved both by sails and oars, having one mast, and sixteen or twenty seats for rowers.

The Pagrus, or Chrysophrys, auratus, a valuable food fish common in the Mediterranean (so named from its golden-colored head); -- called also giltpoll.

The name also given to Scilla Peruviana, a Mediterranean plant, one variety of which produces white, and another blue, flowers; -- called also, from a mistake as to its origin, Hyacinth of Peru.

The subterraneous portion of a building, as in amphitheaters, for the service of the games; also, subterranean galleries, as the catacombs.

inkled with pellucid, watery vesicles, which glisten like ice. It is native along the Mediterranean, in the Canaries, and in South Africa. Its juice is said to be demulcent and diuretic; its ashes are used in Spain in making glass. Ice-skater = one who skates on ice wearing an ice skate; esp. an athlete who performs at…

To come between, or to be between, persons or things; -- followed by between; as, the Mediterranean intervenes between Europe and Africa.

The sweet and edible drupes (fruits) of several Mediterranean and African species small trees, of the genus Zizyphus, especially the Z. jujuba, Z. vulgaris, Z. mucronata, and Z. Lotus. The last named is thought to have furnished the lotus of the ancient Libyan Lotophagi, or lotus eaters. Jujube paste, the dried or insp…

ilicis), allied to the cochineal insect, and found on several species of oak near the Mediterranean. They are round, about the size of a pea, contain coloring matter analogous to carmine, and are used in dyeing. They were anciently thought to be of a vegetable nature, and were used in medicine. [Written also chermes.]…

Of or pertaining to a peculiar rig used in the Mediterranean and adjacent waters, esp. on the northern coast of Africa. See below. Lateen sail. Etym: [F. voile latine a sail in the shape of a right- angled triangle; cf. It. & Sp. vela latina; properly Latin sail. See Latin.] (Naut.) A triangular sail, extended by a lon…