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A short sound, syllable, or vowel. If we compare the nearest conventional shorts and longs in English, as in "bit" and "beat," "not" and "naught," we find that the short vowels are generally wide, the long narrow, besides being generally diphthongic as well. Hence, originally short vowels can be lengthened and yet kept…

The part of a sleeve nearest the hand; a cuff or wristband. [Obs.] Shak.

suitable to its spirituality. South. If this light be not spiritual, yet it approacheth nearest to spirituality. Sir W. Raleigh. Much of our spirituality and comfort in public worship depends on the state of mind in which we come. Bickersteth.

Right, in a mathematical sense; passing from one point to another by the nearest course; direct; not deviating or crooked; as, a straight line or course; a straight piece of timber. And the crooked shall be made straight. Isa. xl. 4. There are many several sorts of crooked lines, but there is only one which is straight…

Geom.), the line on a skew surface that cuts each generator in that point of it that is nearest to the succeeding generator.

The oar nearest the stern of a boat, by which the other oars are guided; -- called also stroke oar.

rojection in a lock to form a guide for a movable piece. Leg stump (Cricket), the stump nearest to the batsman. -- Off stump (Cricket), the stump farthest from the batsman. -- Stump tracery (Arch.), a term used to describe late German Gothic tracery, in which the molded bar seems to pass through itself in its convolu…

rt a friend or a party; to support the present administration. Wherefore, bold pleasant, Darest thou support a published traitor Shak.

That part of the side which is terminated by the flank prolonged, and the angle of the nearest bastion. Stocqueler. Caustic surface, Heating surface, etc. See under Caustic, Heating, etc. -- Surface condensation, Surface condenser. See under Condensation, and Condenser. -- Surface gauge (Mach.), an instrument consist…

t one end on the wall and the other on a girder; also, the space between a wall and the nearest girder of a floor. Cf. Case-bay.

A work thrown up at the end of a bridge nearest the enemy, for covering the communications across a river; a bridgehead.

To or into that place; thither. The rarest that e'er came there. Shak.

Feature; lineament; trait. Of many faces, eyes, and hearts, To have the touches dearest prized. Shak.

suite. The king's daughter with a lovely train. Addison. My train are men of choice and rarest parts. Shak.

rial of a victory raised on the field of battle, or, in case of a naval victory, on the nearest land. Sometimes trophies were erected in the chief city of the conquered people.

. The unicity we strive not to express, for that is impossible, but to designate by the nearest analogy. Coleridge.

ise; to elevate; as, to uplift the arm; to uplift a rock. Cowper. Satan, talking to his nearest mate, With head uplift above the wave, and eyes That sparkling blazed. Milton.

t towards the North Star. -- Ursa Minor Etym: [L.], the Little Bear, the constellation nearest the north pole. It contains the north star, or polestar, which is situated in the extremity of the tail.

Performed with valor or bravery; heroic. "Thou bearest the highest name for valiant acts." Milton. [The saints] have made such valiant confessions. J. H. Newman. -- Val"iant*ly, adv. -- Val"iant*ness, n.

dulation, as of light, sound, etc.; the distance from a point or phase in a wave to the nearest point at which the same phase occurs. -- Wave line (Shipbuilding), a line of a vessel's hull, shaped in accordance with the wave-line system. -- Wave-line system, Wave-line theory (Shipbuilding), a system or theory of desi…