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A species of fictitious writing, originally composed in meter in the Romance dialects, and afterward in prose, such as the tales of the court of Arthur, and of Amadis of Gaul; hence, any fictitious and wonderful tale; a sort of novel, especially one which treats of surprising adventures usually befalling a hero or a he…

rder often faced with rubber, used as a cushion in bank shots. The balls are 3¼ in. in diameter, the cage (center arches or wickets) 3 3/8 in. wide, the other arches 3½ in. wide.

the tropical myrtaceous tree Eugenia Jambos. It is an edible berry an inch or more in diameter, and is said to have a very strong roselike perfume. -- Rose beetle. (Zoöl.) (a) A small yellowish or buff longlegged beetle (Macrodactylus subspinosus), which eats the leaves of various plants, and is often very injurious…

A small circular shield, sometimes not more than a foot in diameter, used by soldiers in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries.

A bicycle with equal or nearly equal wheels, usually 28 inches diameter, driven by pedals connected to the rear (driving) wheel by a multiplying gear.

ear the seashore. -- Salt gauge, an instrument used to test the strength of brine; a salimeter. -- Salt horse, salted beef. [Slang] -- Salt junk, hard salt beef for use at sea. [Slang] -- Salt lick. See Lick, n. -- Salt marsh, grass land subject to the overflow of salt water. -- Salt-marsh caterpillar (Zoöl.), an A…

s of the solar system, next in magnitude to Jupiter, but more remote from the sun. Its diameter is seventy thousand miles, its mean distance from the sun nearly eight hundred and eighty millions of miles, and its year, or periodical revolution round the sun, nearly twenty-nine years and a half. It is surrounded by a re…

Of or pertaining to the planet Saturn; as, the Saturnian year. Saturnian verse (Pros.), a meter employed by early Roman satirists, consisting of three iambics and an extra syllable followed by three trochees, as in the line: --Thê queen | wâs isn | thê kistch | ên eatîng | bread ând | honêy.

e convex side, -- in use among Mohammedans, esp., the Arabs and persians. [Written also cimeter, and scymetar.]

een the teeth of the wheel; -- called also a worm. -- Lag screw. See under Lag. -- Micrometer screw, a screw with fine threads, used for the measurement of very small spaces. -- Right and left screw, a screw having threads upon the opposite ends which wind in opposite directions. -- Screw alley. See Shaft alley, un…

circle, used for measuring differences of declination too great for the compass of a micrometer. When it is used for measuring zenith distances of stars, it is called a zenith sector. Dip sector, an instrument used for measuring the dip of the horizon. -- Sector of a sphere, or Spherical sector, the solid generated by…

Of or pertaining to seismometry, or seismometer; as, seismometric instruments; seismometric measurements.

A seismometer.

r at stated times, as at the maxima and minima of variations; as, a self-registering anemometer or barometer.

The half of a circle; the part of a circle bounded by its diameter and half of its circumference.

ry slight changes of condition; delicacy; as, the sensibility of a balance, or of a thermometer.

sitive; also, readily moved or affected by natural agents; delicate; as, a sensible thermometer. "With affection wondrous sensible." Shak.

e point; of a nature to cut or pierce easily; not blunt or dull; keen. He dies upon my scimeter's sharp point. Shak.

ledges round the hatchways of a ship. -- Shot gauge, an instrument for measuring the diameter of round shot. Totten. -- shot hole, a hole made by a shot or bullet discharged. -- Shot locker (Naut.), a strongly framed compartment in the hold of a vessel, for containing shot. -- Shot of a cable (Naut.), the splicing…

To provide with a shunt; as, to shunt a galvanometer.