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silvery salmonoid fishes of the genus Osmerus and allied genera, which ascend rivers to spawn, and sometimes become landlocked in lakes. They are esteemed as food, and have a peculiar odor and taste.

A rapid inspiratory act, in which the mouth is kept shut and the air drawn in through the nose.

state of being alone, or withdrawn from society; a lonely life; loneliness. Whosoever is delighted with solitude is either a wild beast or a god. Bacon. O Solitude! where are the charms That sages have seen in thy face Cowper.

tions of a substance capable of emitting a musical tone, as when the bow of a violin is drawn along the edge of a piece of glass or metal on which sand is strewed, and the sand arranges itself in figures according to the musical tone. Called also acoustic figures. -- Sonorous tumor (Med.), a tumor which emits a clear,…

t passage on which the eye fell, upon opening a volume of Homer or Virgil, or a passage drawn from an urn which several were deposited, as indicating future events, or the proper course to be pursued. In later times the Bible was used for the same purpose by Christians.

A cringing, fawning person. Shak.

needles (Bot.), a composite weed (Bidens bipinnata) having achenia armed with needlelike awns. -- Spanish nut (Bot.), a bulbous plant (Iris Sisyrinchium) of the south of Europe. -- Spanish potato (Bot.), the sweet potato. See under Potato. -- Spanish red, an ocherous red pigment resembling Venetian red, but slightl…

To emit spawn; to emit, as spawn.

Chief in excellence. [Obs.] The king hath drawn The special head of all the land together. Shak. Special administration (Law), an administration limited to certain specified effects or acts, or one granted during a particular time or the existence of a special cause, as during a controversy respecting the probate of a…

ticularly specified. Chitty. Bouvier. Wharton (Law Dict.). Let specialties be therefore drawn between us. Shak.

Exhausted of spawn or sperm; -- said especially of fishes. Spent ball, a ball shot from a firearm, which reaches an object without having sufficient force to penetrate it.

as of right ascension and declination, the equator, ecliptic, etc., are conceived to be drawn; an ideal geometrical sphere, with the astronomical and geographical circles in their proper positions on it.

Timber sawn into lengths and then split.

To pawn; to pledge; as, spout a watch. [Cant]

A noose fastened to an elastic body, and drawn close with a sudden spring, whereby it catches a bird or other animal; a gin; a snare. As a woodcock to mine own springe. Shak.

springing thereof. Ps. lxv. 10. Springing line of an arch (Arch.), the horizontal line drawn through the junction of the vertical face of the impost with the curve of the intrados; -- called also spring of an arch.

Primarily, a square; hence, a square body of troops; a body of troops drawn up in a square. [R.] Those half-rounding quards Just met, and, closing, stood in squadron joined. Milton.

Bot.), a pestiferous grass (Hordeum murinum) related to barley. In California the stiffly awned spiklets work into the wool of sheep, and into the throat, flesh, and eyes of animals, sometimes even producing death. -- Squirrel hake (Zoöl.), a common American hake (Phycis tenuis); -- called also white hake. -- Squirre…

Any upright post or beam used as a support, as for the deck, the quarter rails, awnings, etc.

The arm, or level, of a gin, drawn around by a horse.