Search the Dictionary

Webster’s Dictionary (1828)



178 words match “CONTRIVANCE”

FLABELLATION n.
The act of keeping fractured limbs cool by the use of a fan or some other contrivance. Dunglison.
FLOAT n.
A contrivance for affording a copious stream of water to the heated surface of an object of large bulk, as an anvil or die. Knight.
FOG n.
of mental confusion. Fog alarm, Fog bell, Fog horn, etc., a bell, horn, whistle or other contrivance that sounds an alarm, often automatically, near places of danger where visible signals would be hidden in thick weather. -- Fog bank, a mass of fog resting upon the sea, and resembling distant land. -- Fog ring, a ba…
FOOL-HAPPY a.
Lucky, without judgment or contrivance. [Obs.] Spenser.
FOR prep.
te supervene. Dr. H. More. For anything that legally appears to the contrary, it may be a contrivance to fright us. Swift.
FORECAST n.
Previous contrivance or determination; predetermination. He makes this difference to arise from the forecast and predetermination of the gods themselves. Addison.
FRAME n.
Contrivance; the act of devising or scheming. [Obs.] John the bastard Whose spirits toil in frame of villainies. Shak. Balloon frame, Cant frames, etc. See under Balloon, Cant, etc. -- Frame building or house, a building of which the form and support is made of framed timbers. [U.S.] -- Frame level, a mason's level.…
GAUGE n.
the quantity of rain at any given place. -- Salt gauge, or Brine gauge, an instrument or contrivance for indicating the degree of saltness of water from its specific gravity, as in the boilers of ocean steamers. -- Sea gauge, an instrument for finding the depth of the sea. -- Siphon gauge, a glass siphon tube, partl…
GET n.
Artifice; contrivance. [Obs.] Chaucer.
GIMBAL; GIMBALS n.
A contrivance for permitting a body to incline freely in all directions, or for suspending anything, as a barometer, ship's compass, chronometer, etc., so that it will remain plumb, or level, when its support is tipped, as by the rolling of a ship. It consists of a ring in which the body can turn on an axis through a d…
GIMMER; GIMMOR n.
A piece of mechanism; mechanical device or contrivance; a gimcrack. [Obs.] Bp. Hall. Shak.
GIN n.
Contrivance; artifice; a trap; a snare. Chaucer. Spenser.
GOVERNOR n.
A contrivance applied to steam engines, water wheels, and other machinery, to maintain nearly uniform speed when the resistances and motive force are variable.
GUIDE n.
Any contrivance, especially one having a directing edge, surface, or channel, for giving direction to the motion of anything, as water, an instrument, or part of a machine, or for directing the hand or eye, as of an operator; as:
HANDSEL v.
or the first time, esp. so as to make fortunate or unfortunate; to try experimentally. No contrivance of our body, but some good man in Scripture hath handseled it with prayer. Fuller.
HAYFORK n.
A fork for pitching and tedding hay. Horse hayfork, a contrivance for unloading hay from the cart and depositing it in the loft, or on a mow, by horse power.
HEATER n.
Any contrivance or implement, as a furnace, stove, or other heated body or vessel, etc., used to impart heat to something, or to contain something to be heated. Feed heater. See under Feed.
HECK n.
A latticework contrivance for catching fish.
HECTOGRAPH n.
A contrivance for multiple copying, by means of a surface of gelatin softened with glycerin. [Written also hectograph.]
HOPPER n.
waste, garbage, etc., out to sea, so constructed as to discharge its load by a mechanical contrivance; -- called also dumping scow. Bell and hopper (Metal.), the apparatus at the top of a blast furnace, through which the charge is introduced, while the gases are retained. -- Hopper boy, a rake in a mill, moving in a c…
← Previous Page 4 of 9 Next →