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d a quarter, or the sixteenth of a yard. Nail ball (Ordnance), a round projectile with an iron bolt protruding to prevent it from turning in the gun. -- Nail plate, iron in plates from which cut nails are made. -- On the nail, in hand; on the spot; immediately; without delay or time of credit; as, to pay money on the…

steel which has been found where a burning coal seam had reduced and carbonized adjacent iron ore.

tural selection supposes that this has been brought about mainly by gradual changes of environment which have led to corresponding changes of structure, and that those forms which have become so modified as to be best adapted to the changed environment have tended to survive and leave similarly adapted descendants, whi…

Steel made by the direct refining of cast iron in a finery, or, as wootz, by a direct process from the ore.

intaining that the offspring inherits characters acquired by the parent from change of environment, use or disuse of parts, etc.; -- opposed of Neo-Darwinism (which see, above). -- Ne`o-La*marck"i*an, a. & n.

A bright silver-white metallic element. It is of the iron group, and is hard, malleable, and ductile. It occurs combined with sulphur in millerite, with arsenic in the mineral niccolite, and with arsenic and sulphur in nickel glance. Symbol Ni. Atomic weight 58.6.

Containing nickel; as, nickelferous iron.

Scales of hot iron from the forge. Knight.

A greenish yellow or green mineral, consisting chiefly of the hydrous silicate of iron.

A wooden bar, or iron pin. W. C. Russell.

To take in and retain; to absorb; -- said especially with respect to gases; as iron, platinum, and palladium occlude large volumes of hydrogen.

Chem. & Physics), the phenomenon of absorbing gases, as exhibited by platinum, palladium, iron, or charcoal; thus, palladium absorbs, or occludes, nearly a thousand times its own volume of hydrogen, and in this case a chemical compound seems to be formed.

A impure earthy ore of iron or a ferruginous clay, usually red (hematite) or yellow (limonite), -- used as a pigment in making paints, etc. The name is also applied to clays of other colors.

of water of crystallization; distinguished from common or prismatic borax. -- Octahedral iron ore (Min.), magnetite.

A fossil tooth colored a bright blue by phosphate of iron. It is used as an imitation of turquoise, and hence called bone turquoise.

Hematite or specular iron ore; -- prob. so called in allusion to its feeble magnetism, as compared with magnetite.

A meteorite characterized by the presence of but a small amount of metallic iron.

A sheet-iron cover for articles in a leer or annealing arch, to protect them from drafts. Omnibus bill, a legislative bill which provides for a number of miscellaneous enactments or appropriations. [Parliamentary Cant, U.S.] -- Omnibus box, a large box in a theater, on a level with the stage and having communication wi…

nufacturing steel. -- Open-hearth process (Steel Manuf.), a process by which melted cast iron is converted into steel by the addition of wrought iron, or iron ore and manganese, and by exposure to heat in an open-hearth furnace; -- also called the Siemens-Martin process, from the inventors. -- Open-hearth steel, stee…

The inspissated juice of an umbelliferous plant (the Opoponax Chironum), brought from Turkey and the East Indies in loose granules, or sometimes in larger masses, of a reddish yellow color, with specks of white. It has a strong smell and acrid taste, and was formerly used in medicine as an emmenagogue and antispasmodic…