Search the Dictionary

To press hard or squeeze between the ends of the fingers, between teeth or claws, or between the jaws of an instrument; to squeeze or compress, as between any two hard bodies.

They strongly resemble the true larks in habits, colors, and the great length of the hind claw. They are, therefore, often called titlarks, and pipit larks.

The claw or talon of a bird of prey. Spenser. Burke.

Furnished with claws or talons; as, the pounced young of the eagle. Thomson.

To extend; to protrude; as, the cat can protract its claws; -- opposed to retract.

An order of Arachnoidea having the palpi terminated by large claws, as in the scorpions, but destitute of a caudal sting; the false scorpions. Called also Pseudoscorpii, and Pseudoscorpionina. See Illust. of Book scorpion, under Book.

twenty pounds or more, and are very strong, being able to crack cocoanuts with the large claw. They chiefly inhabit the tropical islands of the Pacific and Indian Oceans, living in holes and feeding upon fruit. Called also palm crab. -- Purse net, a fishing net, the mouth of which may be closed or drawn together like…

Adapted for seizing prey; -- said of the legs, claws, etc., of insects, birds, and other animals.

olence; plunder; prey; raven. "Fowls of ravyne." Chaucer. Though Nature, red in tooth and claw With ravine, shrieked against his creed. Tennyson.

teristic of a many of the lower animals; as, the regeneration of lost feelers, limbs, and claws by spiders and crabs.

To draw back; to draw up or shorten; as, the cat can retract its claws; to retract a muscle.

CApable of retraction; capable of being drawn back or up; as, the claws of a cat are retractile.

retracting, or drawing back; the state of being retracted; as, the retraction of a cat's claws.

ecies of large spinose lobsters of the genera Panulirus and Palinurus. They have no large claws. Called also spiny lobster, and sea crayfish. -- Rock meal (Min.), a light powdery variety of calcite occuring as an efflorescence. -- Rock milk. (Min.) See Agaric mineral, under Agaric. -- Rock moss, a kind of lichen; th…

s species of pulmonate arachnids of the order scorpiones, having a suctorial mouth, large claw-bearing palpi, and a caudal sting.

To scrape, paw, or scratch with the hands; to proceed by clawing with the hands and feet; to scramble; as, to scrabble up a cliff or a tree. Now after a while Little-faith came to himself, and getting up made shift to scrabble on his way. Bunyan.

o scrape, roughen, or wound slightly by drawing something pointed or rough across, as the claws, the nails, a pin, or the like. Small sand-colored stones, so hard as to scratch glass.Grew. Be mindful, when invention fails., To scratch your head, and bite your nails.Swift.

To fasten; to fix. [Obs.] As when a bear hath seized her cruel claws Upon the carcass of some beast too weak. Spenser.

Claw; talon. [Obs.] Chapman.

bard; to inclose or cover with, or as with, a sheath or case. The leopard . . . keeps the claws of his fore feet turned up from the ground, and sheathed in the skin of his toes. Grew. 'T is in my breast she sheathes her dagger now. Dryden.