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r over several consula. -- Vice consul, a consular officer holding the place of a consul during the consul's absence or after he has been relieved.

A negro slave, during the Civil War, escaped to, or was brought within, the Union lines. Such slave was considered contraband of war. [U.S.] Contraband of war, that which, according to international law, cannot be supplied to a hostile belligerent except at the risk of seizure and condemnation by the aggrieved belliger…

Alone by a senior officer present during evolutions or drills, when it commands "Silence."

A nickname applied to a person in the Northern States who sympathized with the South during the Civil War. [U.S.]

Of or pertaining to a corona (in any of the senses). The coronal light during the eclipse is faint. Abney.

ndish or somewhat oblong nebulous light near the ecliptic and opposite the sun, best seen during September and October, when in the constellations Sagittarius and Pisces. Its cause is not yet understood. Called also Gegenschein.

atter of course; in regular or natural order. -- In the course of, at same time or times during. "In the course of human events." T. Jefferson.

The condition of a woman during marriage, because she is considered under the cover, influence, power, and protection of her husband, and therefore called a feme covert, or femme couverte.

A public nursery, where the young children of poor women are cared for during the day, while their mothers are at work.

A wooden rattle sometimes used as a substitute for a bell, in the Roman Catholic church, during the latter part of Holy Week, or the last week of Lent.

r Geology. -- Cretaceous period (Geol.), the time in the latter part of the Mesozoic age during which the Cretaceous formation was deposited.

m. Of the diseases of the mind there is no criterion. Donne. Inferences founded on such enduring criteria. Sir G. C. Lewis.

large room in a theater, opera house, etc., where the audience may promenade or converse during the intermissions; a foyer. Politics leave very little time for the bow window at White's in the day, or for the crush room of the opera at night. Macualay.

, etc., usually at the ground. Some kinds ascend fruit trees and eat off the flower buds. During the day, they conceal themselves in the earth. The common cutworms are the larvæ of various species of Agrotis and related genera of noctuid moths.

sons, or of the year. Wages . . . bear a full proportion . . . to the medium of provision during the last bad cycle of twenty years. Burke.

in a small way; to tamper; to meddle. "Dabbling here and there with the text." Atterbury. During the ferst year at Dumfries, Burns for the ferst time began to dabble in politics. J. C. Shairp.

A kind of incubus which occurs during wakefulness, attended by the peculiar pressure on the chest which characterizes nightmare. Dunglison.

The time during which there is daylight, as distinguished from the night.

of years or days; a decade of soldiers; the second decade of Livy. [Written also decad.] During this notable decade of years. Gladstone.

The twelfth and last month of the year, containing thirty-one days. During this month occurs the winter solstice.