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A small opening; esp., one of the apertures, closed by membranes, between the tympanum and internal ear.

A casement or window sash, closed with cloth or paper instead of glass. Weale.

ovule fertile, or an analogous process in flowerless plants; fecundation; impregnation. Close fertilization (Bot.), the fertilization of pistils by pollen derived from the stamens of the same blossom. -- Cross fertilization, fertilization by pollen from some other blossom. See under Cross, a.

To set close; to fix in rest, as a spear. Spenser.

A piece of land of considerable size; esp., a piece inclosed for tillage or pasture. Fields which promise corn and wine. Byron.

; to contend; to strive; to make resistance. To fight shy, to avoid meeting fairly or at close quarters; to keep out of reach.

to represent a magnitude or the relation of two or more magnitudes; a surface or space inclosed on all sides; -- called superficial when inclosed by lines, and solid when inclosed by surface; any arrangement made up of points, lines, angles, surfaces, etc.

iers, not abreast, but one after another; -- generally with off. To file with, to follow closely, as one soldier after another in file; to keep pace. My endeavors Have ever come too short of my desires, Yet filed with my abilities. Shak.

- mostly used adjectively in English to signify: belonging to, or characteristic of, the close of the 19th century; modern; "up-to-date;" as, fin-de-siècle ideas.

d generally made of metal. Its use is to ballast the boat and also to enable her to sail close to the wind and to make the least possible leeway by offering great resistance to lateral motion through the water.

Close; termination; as:

Any of the players who meet in the final round of a tournament in which the losers in any round do not play again.

A chimney board or screen to close a fireplace when not in use.

Fixed; hence, closely compressed; compact; substantial; hard; solid; -- applied to the matter of bodies; as, firm flesh; firm muscles, firm wood.

The hand with the fingers doubled into the palm; the closed hand, especially as clinched tightly for the purpose of striking a blow. Who grasp the earth and heaven with my fist. Herbert.

Hollow, like a pipe or reed; fistulose. Lindley.

from the volatile alkali ammonia. -- Fixed ammunition (Mil.), a projectile and powder inclosed together in a case ready for loading. -- Fixed battery (Mil.), a battery which contains heavy guns and mortars intended to remain stationary; -- distinguished from movable battery. -- Fixed bodies, those which can not be v…

To droop; to grow spiritless; to lose vigor; to languish; as, the spirits flag; the streugth flags. The pleasures of the town begin to flag. Swift.

or spring with violence or haste. And crop-full, out of doors he flings. Milton. I flung closer to his breast, As sword that, after battle, flings to sheath. Mrs. Browning. To fling out, to become ugly and intractable; to utter sneers and insinuations.

Free or lose from the usual attachment; as, the floating ribs in man and some other animals.