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id rotary motion around an axis which was also the axis of a sun or a planet. Descartes attempted to account for the formation of the universe, and the movements of the bodies composing it, by a theory of vortices.

ll this waste of wealth loss of blood. Milton. He will never . . . in the way of waste, attempt us again. Shak. Little wastes in great establishments, constantly occurring, may defeat the energies of a mighty capital. L. Beecher.

Not able to withstand temptation, urgency, persuasion, etc.; easily impressed, moved, or overcome; accessible; vulnerable; as, weak resolutions; weak virtue. Guard thy heart On this weak side, where most our nature fails. Addison.

A child; a youth; -- jocosely or in contempt. That awkward whelp with his money bags would have made his entrance. Addison.

A Whig; -- a cant term applied in contempt to Scotch Presbyterians. [Scot.] Sir W. Scott.

A petty or inferior Whig; -- used in contempt. Spectator.

A tailor; -- so called in contempt.

ction or discrimination. Some, from vanity or envy, despise a valuable book, and throw contempt upon it by wholesale. I. Watts.

A bastard; colloquially, a low, scurvy fellow; -- used generally in contempt, or in coarse humor. Also used adjectively. [Archaic] Shak.

One who makes undue pretensions to wisdom; a would-be-wise person; hence, in contempt, a simpleton; a dunce.

A witty saying; a sentence or phrase which is affectedly witty; an attempt at wit; a conceit. Milton. He is full of conceptions, points of epigram, and witticisms; all which are below the dignity of heroic verse. Addison.

Hatefully contemptible; despicable; wicked. [Obs.] "Wretched ungratefulness." Sir P. Sidney. Nero reigned after this Claudius, of all men wretchedest, ready to all manner [of] vices. Capgrave.

ed.), paralysis of the extensor muscles of the hand, affecting the hand so that when an attempt is made to hold it out in line with the forearm with the palm down, the hand drops. It is chiefly due to plumbism. Called also hand drop. -- Wrist plate (Steam Engine), a swinging plate bearing two or more wrists, for opera…

he body; to be distorted; as, to writhe with agony. Also used figuratively. After every attempt, he felt that he had failed, and writhed with shame and vexation. Macaulay.

rowsiness, etc., consisting of a deep and long inspiration following several successive attempts at inspiration, the mouth, fauces, etc., being wide open. One person yawning in company will produce a spontaneous yawn in all present. N. Chipman.