Search the Dictionary

harlequin of a puppet show. Punch and Judy, a puppet show in which a comical little hunchbacked Punch, with a large nose, engages in altercation with his wife Judy.

; a buffoon; originally, in a puppet show, a character represented as fat, short, and humpbacked. Spectator.

tto Etym: [It.], a direct stroke or hit. -- Punto reverso Etym: [It. riverso reverse], a backhanded stroke. Halliwell. "Ah, the immortal passado! the punto reverso!" Shak.

to Cerura, Harpyia, and allied genera, esp. Harpyia vinuli, of Europe. The larvæ are humpbacked, and have two caudal appendages.

ship. -- To put away. (a) To renounce; to discard; to expel. (b) To divorce. -- To put back. (a) To push or thrust backwards; hence, to hinder; to delay. (b) To refuse; to deny. Coming from thee, I could not put him back. Shak.

Situated in the region of the rump, or posterior end of the backbone; -- applied especially to the posterior median plates in the carapace of chelonians.

ing birds which includes the grebes, divers, auks, etc., in which the legs are placed far back.

opposite, a vessel's quarter. -- Quarter aspect. (Astrol.) Same as Quadrate. -- Quarter back (Football), the player who has position next behind center rush, and receives the ball on the snap back. -- Quarter badge (Naut.), an ornament on the side of a vessel near, the stern. Mar. Dict. -- Quarter bill (Naut.), a l…

A California sciænoid food fish (Seriphys politus). The back is bluish, and the sides and belly bright silvery. Called also kingfish.

nner; quickly; promptly; rapidly; with haste; speedily; without delay; as, run quick; get back quick. If we consider how very quick the actions of the mind are performed. Locke.

The mercury and foil on the back of a looking-glass.

A channel or guide along which a shuttle is driven back and forth, as in a loom, sewing machine, etc. Race cloth, a cloth worn by horses in racing, having pockets to hold the weights prescribed. -- Race course. (a) The path, generally circular or elliptical, over which a race is run. (b) Same as Race way, below. -- R…

The point in the heavens at which the apparent paths of shooting stars meet, when traced backward, or whence they appear to radiate.

mpant, but with the face turned to the front. -- Rampant regardant, rampant, but looking backward. -- Rampant vault (Arch.), a continuous wagon vault, or cradle vault, whose two abutments are located on an inclined planed plane, such as the vault supporting a stairway, or forming the ceiling of a stairway.…

t brace (Mech.), a boring brace, having a ratchet wheel and pawl for rotating the tool by back and forth movements of the brace handle. -- Ratchet drill, a portable machine for working a drill by hand, consisting of a hand lever carrying at one end a drill holder which is revolved by means of a ratchet wheel and pawl,…

A prefix signifying back, against, again, anew; as, recline, to lean back; recall, to call back; recede; remove; reclaim, to call out against; repugn, to fight against; recognition, a knowing again; rejoin, to join again; reiterate, reassure. Combinations containing the prefix re- are readily formed, and are for the mo…

Backward tendency or movement after revolution, reform, or great progress in any direction. The new king had, at the very moment at which his fame and fortune reached the highest point, predicted the coming reaction. Macaulay. Reaction time (Physiol.), in nerve physiology, the interval between the application of a stim…

The back or hindmost part; that which is behind, or last on order; -- opposed to Ant: front. Nipped with the lagging rear of winter's frost. Milton.

To assign back or again; to transfer back what has been assigned.

To beat to obtuseness; to deprive of keenness; to blunt; to turn back the point of, as a lance used for exercise. But doth rebate and blunt his natural edge. Shak.