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The amount of degree of bending of a mathematical curve, or the tendency at any point to depart from a tangent drawn to the curve at that point. Aberrancy of curvature (Geom.), the deviation of a curve from a curcular form. -Absolute curvature. See under Absolute. -- Angle of curvature (Geom.), one that expresses the…

And teach customs which are not lawful. Acts xvi. 21. Moved beyong his custom, Gama said. Tennyson. A custom More honored in the breach than the observance. Shak.

ional; habitual. Even now I met him With customary compliment. Shak. A formal customary attendance upon the offices. South.

A cephalopod of the genus Sepia, having an internal shell, large eyes, and ten arms furnished with denticulated suckers, by means of which it secures its prey. The name is sometimes applied to dibranchiate cephalopods generally.

t not into the opposing color. Red and pure white are more common among flowers of cyanic tendency than in those of the other class.

lorless, inflammable, poisonous gas, C2N2, with a peach- blossom odor, so called from its tendency to form blue compounds; obtained by heating ammonium oxalate, mercuric cyanide, etc. It is obtained in combination, forming an alkaline cyanide when nitrogen or a nitrogenous compound is strongly ignited with carbon and s…

An age; a long period of time. Better fifty years of Europe than a cycle of Cathay. Tennyson.

A kind of zooid of Siphonophora which has an elongated or even vermiform body, with one tentacle, but no mouth. See Siphonophora.

ngcups, and loved lilies. Spenser. A college gown That clad her like an April Daffodilly. Tennyson And chance-sown daffodil. Whittier.

Nice; delicate;elegant, in form, manner, or breeding; well-formed; neat; tender. Those dainty limbs which nature lent For gentle usage and soft delicacy. Milton. Iwould be the girdle. About her dainty, dainty waist. Tennyson.

A measure of certain commodities by number, usually ten or twelve, but sometimes twenty; as, a daker of hides consisted of ten skins; a daker of gloves of ten pairs. Burrill.

th damaskeening; -- formerly much valued for sword blades, from its great flexibility and tenacity.

Tendency to bring damnation. "The damningness of them [sins]." Hammond.

Fire damp, a damp consisting chiefly of light carbureted hydrogen; -- so called from its tendence to explode when mixed with atmospheric air and brought into contact with flame.

at to shum. Dryden. Sometimes a troop of damsels glad, . . . Goes by to towered Cameleot. Tennyson.

his dear delight, to wrangle. Hudibras. From her lifted hand Dangled a length of ribbon. Tennyson. To dangle about or after, to hang upon importunately; to court the favor of; to beset. The Presbyterians, and other fanatics that dangle after them, are well inclined to pull down the present establishment. Swift.…

Not clear to the understanding; not easily The dark problems of existence. Shairp. What may seem dark at the first, will afterward be found more plain. Hooker. What's your dark meaning, mouse, of this light word Shak.

Dearly beloved; regarded with especial kindness and tenderness; favorite. "Some darling science." I. Watts. "Darling sin." Macaulay.

n or thread by means of a needle; to sew together with yarn or thread. He spent every day ten hours in his closet, in darning his stockins. Swift. Darning last. See under Last. -- Darning needle. (a) A long, strong needle for mending holes or rents, especially in stockings. (b) (Zoöl.) Any species of dragon fly, havin…

To throw with violence or haste; to cause to strike violently or hastily; -- often used with against. If you dash a stone against a stone in the botton of the water, it maketh a sound. Bacon.