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Of little breadth; not wide or broad; having little distance from side to side; as, a narrow board; a narrow street; a narrow hem. Hath passed in safety through the narrow seas. Shak.

The act of contracting, or of making or becoming less in breadth or extent.

With little breadth; in a narrow manner.

Having greater length than breadth, esp. when rectangular.

. [Colloq.] -- Out to out, from one extreme limit to another, including the whole length, breadth, or thickness; -- applied to measurements. -- Out West, in or towards, the West; specifically, in some Western State or Territory. [U. S.] -- To come out, To cut out, To fall out, etc. See under Come, Cut, Fall, etc. --…

and curvilinear, with one end broader than the other, or with both ends of about the same breadth; in popular usage, elliptical.

A perpendicular band upon an escutcheon, one half the breadth of the pale.

A lineal measure equal either to the breadth of the hand or to its length from the wrist to the ends of the fingers; a hand; -- used in measuring a horse's height.

t which has neither parts nor magnitude; that which has position, but has neither length, breadth, nor thickness, -- sometimes conceived of as the limit of a line; that by the motion of which a line is conceived to be produced.

e of hollow type metal, lower than type, and measuring two or more pica ems in length and breadth, used in the blank spaces at the beginning and end of chapters, etc. Quotation marks (Print.), two inverted commas placed at the beginning, and two apostrophes at the end, of a passage quoted from an author in his own word…

The dimensions of a piece of timber with regard to its breadth and thickness; hence, the measure or dimensions of anything.

An escape. [Obs.] I spake of most disastrous chances, . . . Of hairbreadth scapes in the imminent, deadly breach. Shak.

even, or bring to a required condition or form, by moving the sharp edge of an instrument breadthwise over the surface with pressure, cutting away excesses and superfluous parts; to make smooth or clean; as, to scrape a bone with a knife; to scrape a metal plate to an even surface.

bar, a device used in connection with a calico printing machine for stretching the fabric breadthwise so that it may be smooth for printing. Knight.

d from the bottom upon the ground, even to the lower settle, shall be two cubits, and the breadth one cubit. Ezek. xliii. 14. Settle bed, a bed convertible into a seat. [Eng.]

To throw with a sling. "Every one could sling stones at an hairbreadth, and not miss." Judg. xx. 16.

readily shifted. The sloop usually carries a centerboard, and depends for stability upon breadth of beam rather than depth of keel. The two types have rapidly approximated since 1880. One radical distinction is that a slop may carry a centerboard. See Cutter, and Illustration in Appendix. Sloop of war, formerly, a ves…

A magnitude which has length, breadth, and thickness; a part of space bounded on all sides. Solid of revolution. (Geom.) See Revolution, n., 5.

To extend in length and breadth, or in breadth only; to stretch or expand to a broad or broader surface or extent; to open; to unfurl; as, to spread a carpet; to spread a tent or a sail. He bought a parcel of a field where he had spread his tent. Gen. xxxiii. 19. Here the Rhone Hath spread himself a couch. Byron.…

f rests, for the foot in ascending or descending, as a stair, or a round of a ladder. The breadth of every single step or stair should be never less than one foot. Sir H. Wotton.