Search the Dictionary

The arrangement or distribution of nerves, as in the leaves of a plant or the wings of an insect; nervation.

Disposition; distribution; management. South.

also fixed, establishment, or (in a manufacturing business) administration, selling, and distribution, charges, etc.

The doctrine of the widespread distribution of germs, from which under favorable circumstances bacteria, vibrios, etc., may develop.

Distribution; division into shares. [Obs.] Raleigh.

The act of parting or dividing; the state of being parted; separation; division; distribution; as, the partition of a kingdom. And good from bad find no partition. Shak.

falcon (Zoöl.), a courageous and swift falcon (Falco peregrinus), remarkable for its wide distribution over all the continents. The adult plumage is dark bluish ash on the back, nearly black on the head and cheeks, white beneath, barred with black below the throat. Called also peregrine hawk, duck hawk, game hawk, and…

The geographical distribution of plants.

One who has charge of a post office, and the distribution and forwarding of mails.

l, Chimmesyan, and other Indians of the northwestern coast of North America, a ceremonial distribution by a man of gifts to his own and neighboring tribesmen, often, formerly, to his own impoverishment. Feasting, dancing, and public ceremonies accompany it.

act of offering a book, pamphlet, engraving, etc., to the public by sale or by gratuitous distribution. The publication of these papers was not owing to our folly, but that of others. Swift.

s a book, newspaper, musical piece, or other printed work, either for sale or for general distribution; to print, and issue from the press.

A division or distribution by four, or into four parts; also, a taking the fourth part of any quantity or number.

sion central-valve engine, a small auxiliary engine for automatically adjusting the steam distribution to the load on the main engine. [Webster 1913 Suppl.]

A partition or distribution, especially of slaves; also, an assessment of taxes. W. Irving.

m which contemplates a complete reconstruction of society, with a more just and equitable distribution of property and labor. In popular usage, the term is often employed to indicate any lawless, revolutionary social scheme. See Communism, Fourierism, Saint-Simonianism, forms of socialism. [Socialism] was first applied…

To conjoin; to put together in distribution; to class. Shellfish have been, by some of the ancients, compared and sorted with insects. Bacon. She sorts things present with things past. Sir J. Davies.

A combination of spectroscope and bolometer for determining the distribution of energy in a spectrum. --Spec`tro*bo`lo*met"ric (#), a.

ikeness; similarity of structure; regularity in form and arrangement; orderly and similar distribution of parts, such that an animal may be divided into parts which are structurally symmetrical.

team Engine), the system of parts by which motion is given to the valve or valves for the distribution of steam in the cylinder. For an illustration of one form of valve gear, see Link motion. -- Valve seat. (Mach.) (a) The fixed surface on which a valve rests or against which it presses. (b) A part or piece on which…