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iaca of Linnæus, but probably not a distinct species), the Abyssinian (M. Ensete), the Philippine Island (M. textilis, which yields Manila hemp), and about eighteen other species. See Illust. of Banana and Plantain.

That part of the beard which grows on the upper lip; hair left growing above the mouth.

To utter words indistinctly or with a low voice and lips partly closed; esp., to utter indistinct complains or angry expressions; to grumble; to growl. Wizards that peep, and that mutter. Is. viii. 19. Meantime your filthy foreigner will stare, And mutter to himself. Dryden.

rvæ, when first hatched, often have but three pairs of legs. See Centiped, Galleyworm, Milliped.

Of or pertaining to the upper lip, or mustache.

-- To take a name in vain, to use a name lightly or profanely; to use a name in making flippant or dishonest oaths. Ex. xx. 7.

Africa, and are distinguished by crisped or curly hair, flat noses, and thick protruding lips; also, any black person of unmixed African blood, wherever found.

The cutting lip which projects downward at the edge of a boring bit and cuts a circular groove in the wood to limit the size of the hole that is bored.

To remove by pinching, biting, or cutting with two meeting edges of anything; to clip. The small shoots ... must be nipped off. Mortimer.

The middle or highest point of the part of the ecliptic which is at any given moment above the horizon. It is the ninetieth degree of the ecliptic, reckoned from the points in which it is intersected by the horizon.

measured and counted; melodious; musical. [Obs.] Such prompt eloquence Flowed from their lips, in prose or numerous verse. Milton. -- Nu"mer*ous*ly, adv. -- Nu"mer*ous*ness, n.

mall libratory motion of the earth's axis, by which its inclination to the plane of the ecliptic is constantly varying by a small amount.

; -- used chiefly or only in the titles of Roman Catholic orders. See Oblate, n. Oblate ellipsoid or spheroid (Geom.), a solid generated by the revolution of an ellipse about its minor axis; an oblatum. See Ellipsoid of revolution, under Ellipsoid.

An oblate spheroid; a figure described by the revolution of an ellipse about its minor axis. Cf. Oblongum.

or perpendicularity; the amount of such deviation; divergence; as, the obliquity of the ecliptic to the equator.

A prolate spheroid; a figure described by the revolution of an ellipse about its greater axis. Cf. Oblatum, and see Ellipsoid of revolution, under Ellipsoid.

ration of obscuring; the state of being obscured; as, the obscuration of the moon in an eclipse. Sir J. Herschel.

attention to; to notice with care; to see; to perceive; to discover; as, to observe an eclipse; to observe the color or fashion of a dress; to observe the movements of an army.

To eclipse; to hide from sight.

ight by the intervention of some other of the heavenly bodies; -- applied especially to eclipses of stars and planets by the moon, and to the eclipses of satellites of planets by their primaries.