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An ideal straight line joining the center of an attracting body with that of a body describing an orbit around it, as a line joining the sun and a planet or comet, or a planet and its satellite.

each side for clearing the rail obstructions. (b) A guard rail. See under Guard. -- Rail joint (Railroad), a splice connecting the adjacent ends of rails, in distinction from a chair, which is merely a seat. The two devices are sometimes united. Among several hundred varieties, the fish joint is standard. See Fish joi…

Loose; disjointed; falling to pieces; out of repair. There came . . . my lord the cardinal, in his ramshackle coach. Thackeray.

an army; -- usually, reflexively and figuratively, (in the sense) to espouse a cause, to join a party, etc. It would be absurd in me to range myself on the side of the Duke of Bedford and the corresponding society. Burke.

ermany. It was so called because supposed to be caused by eating corn with which seeds of jointed charlock (Raphanus raphanistrum) had been mixed, but the condition is now known to be a form of ergotism.

the genera Crotalus and Caudisona, or Sistrurus. They have a series of horny interlocking joints at the end of the tail which make a sharp ratting sound when shaken. The common rattlesnake of the Northern United States (Crotalus horridus), and the diamond rattlesnake of the south (C. adamanteus), are the best known. Se…

; 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 most part of obvious signification.

To make, or put in, an answer, as to a plaintiff's surrejoinder. The plaintiff may answer the rejoinder by a surrejoinder; on which the defendant. Blackstone.

The answer of a defendant in matter of fact to a plaintiff's surrejoinder.

To compact or join anew. "Recompact my scattered body." Donne.

name given to many tall and coarse grasses or grasslike plants, and their slender, often jointed, stems, such as the various kinds of bamboo, and especially the common reed of Europe and North America (Phragmites communis).

o open; as, to relax a rope or cord; to relax the muscles or sinews. Horror . . . all his joints relaxed. Milton. Nor served it to relax their serried files. Milton.

Strictness of fidelity in conforming to any practice, as if it were an enjoined rule of conduct. [R.] Those parts of pleading which in ancient times might perhaps be material, but at this time are become only mere styles and forms, are still continued with much religion. Sir M. Hale.

ition or contest; a combat, action, or engagement. The justling chiefs in rude rencounter join. Granville.

To make a report, or response, in respect of a matter inquired of, a duty enjoined, or information expected; as, the committee will report at twelve o'clock.

ions; backwardness; caution in personal behavior. My soul, surprised, and from her sex disjoined, Left all reserve, and all the sex, behind. Prior. The clergyman's shy and sensitive reserve had balked this scheme. Hawthorne.

nant into a consonant chord by the rising or falling of the note which makes the discord. Joint resolution. See under Joint, a. -- Resolution of a force or motion (Mech.), the separation of a single force or motion into two or more which have different directions, and, taken together, are an equivalent for the single…

One who makes a resolution; one who joins with others in a declaration or resolution; specifically, one of a party in the Scottish Church in the 17th century. He was sequestrated afterwards as a Resolutioner. Sir W. Scott.

ourse; as, a place of popular resort; -- often figuratively; as, to have resort to force. Join with me to forbid him her resort. Shak.

tant force or motion (Mech.), a force which is the result of two or more forces acting conjointly, or a motion which is the result of two or more motions combined. See Composition of forces, under Composition.