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The special contagion, inappreciable to the senses and acting in exceedingly minute quantities, by which a disease is introduced into the organism and maintained there.

Special dispensation; communication of divine favor and goodness, or, more usually, of divine wrath and vengeance; retributive calamity; retribution; judgment. What will ye do in the day of visitation Isa. x. 3.

Pertaining to, or involving, vitalism, or the theory of a special vital principle.

A call; a summons; a citation; especially, a designation or appointment to a particular state, business, or profession. What can be urged for them who not having the vocation of poverty to scribble, out of mere wantonness make themselves ridiculous Dryden.

Sound uttered by the mouth, especially that uttered by human beings in speech or song; sound thus uttered considered as possessing some special quality or character; as, the human voice; a pleasant voice; a low voice. He with a manly voice saith his message. Chaucer. Her voice was ever soft, Gentle, and low; an excelle…

nus Ophiocephalus, some of which, as O. marulius, become over four feet long. They have a special cavity over the gills lined with a membrane adapted to retain moisture to aid in respiration, and are thus able to travel considerable distances over the land at night, whence the name. They construct a curious nest for th…

gunner, boatswain, etc., in the navy. -- Warrant to sue and defend. (a) (O. Eng. Law) A special warrant from the crown, authorizing a party to appoint an attorney to sue or defend for him. (b) A special authority given by a party to his attorney to commence a suit, or to appear and defend a suit in his behalf. This w…

Water confined in specially constructed compartments in a vessel's hold, to serve as ballast.

The body politic; the state; common wealth. [Obs.] The special watchmen of our English weal. Shak.

nds with the egg chambers in certain insects, as in the aphids. -- Yolk gland (Zoöl.), a special organ which secretes the yolk of the eggs in many turbellarians, and in some other invertebrates. See Illust. of Hermaphrodite in Appendix. -- Yolk sack (Anat.), the umbilical vesicle. See under Unbilical.…

. -- Zenith sector. (Astron.) See Sector, 3. -- Zenith telescope (Geodesy), a telescope specially designed for determining the latitude by means of any two stars which pass the meridian about the same time, and at nearly equal distances from the zenith, but on opposite sides of it. It turns both on a vertical and a h…