Search the Dictionary

plant (Citrullus vulgaris) of many varieties; also, the plant itself. The fruit sometimes weighs many pounds; its pulp is usually pink in color, and full of a sweet watery juice. It is a native of tropical Africa, but is now cultivated in many countries. See Illust. of Melon.

Not able to sustain a great weight, pressure, or strain; as, a weak timber; a weak rope.

aborigines, consisting of a cigar-shaped stick fastened at one end to a flexible twig. It weighs in all about two ounces, and is about two feet long.

A cavity which receives a counterbalancing weight in certain mechanical contrivances, and is adapted also for other purposes. W. M. Buchanan.

Of, pertaining to, or designating, the most heavily weighted race in a meeting; as, a welter race; the welter stakes.

To weigh. [Obs.] Chaucer.

or mechanical powers, consisting of a wheel fixed to an axle, and used for raising great weights, by applying the power to the circumference of the wheel, and attaching the weight, by a rope or chain, to that of the axle. Called also axis in peritrochio, and perpetual lever, -- the principle of equilibrium involved be…

ly, as if with water; to immerse; to overcome; as, to whelm one in sorrows. "The whelming weight of crime." J. H. Newman.

hirling table. (a) (Physics) An apparatus provided with one or more revolving disks, with weights, pulleys, and other attachments, for illustrating the phenomena and laws of centrifugal force, and the like. (b) A potter's wheel.

Weight. [Obs.]

An axle or drum turned by a crank with a handle, or by power, for raising weights, as from the hold of a ship, from mines, etc.; a windlass.

inued motion, as a clock, a watch, etc., by winding the spring, or that which carries the weight; hence, to prepare for continued movement or action; to put in order anew. "Fate seemed to wind him up for fourscore years." Dryden. "Thus they wound up his temper to a pitch." Atterbury. (d) To tighten (the strings) of a m…

A machine for raising weights, consisting of a horizontal cylinder or roller moving on its axis, and turned by a crank, lever, or similar means, so as to wind up a rope or chain attached to the weight. In vessels the windlass is often used instead of the capstan for raising the anchor. It is usually set upon the foreca…

ose of raising stampers, lifting rods, or the like, and leaving them to fall by their own weight; a kind of cam.

A pack or bag of wool weighing two hundred and forty pounds.

ing at -109º C., and to a solid which volatilizes without melting. Symbol Xe or X; atomic weight 130.2.

the genus Seriola; especially, the large California species (S. dorsalis) which sometimes weighs thirty or forty pounds, and is highly esteemed as a food fish; -- called also cavasina, and white salmon.

A Chinese weight of 2

m or other related elements, as in euxenite and gadolinite. Symbol Yb; provisional atomic weight 173.2. Cf. Yttrium.

gadolinite and other rare minerals, and extracted as a dark gray powder. Symbol Y. Atomic weight, 89. [Written also ittrium.]