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nd is used as priming for heavy mortars, fireworks, etc. -- Slow match, slightly twisted hempen rope soaked in a solution of limewater and saltpeter or washed in a lye of water and wood ashes. It burns at the rate of four or five inches an hour, and is used for firing cannon, fireworks, etc.

ies), the Abyssinian (M. Ensete), the Philippine Island (M. textilis, which yields Manila hemp), and about eighteen other species. See Illust. of Banana and Plantain.

The hemp; -- so called as furnishing ropes for hanging criminals. Dr. prior.

Made of hemp; hence, hard; rough; harsh. [Obs.] Johnson.

The material obtained by untwisting and picking into loose fiber old hemp ropes; -- used for calking the seams of ships, stopping leaks, etc.

A kind of empyreumatic oil produced by the combustion of textures of hemp, linen, or cotton in a copper vessel, -- formerly used as a remedial agent. Dunglison.

A coarse cloth made of hemp, and used for packing goods, etc. [Written also sarpelere.] Tyrwhitt.

To separate the woody fiber from (flax, hemp, etc.) by beating; to swingle.

An implement or machine for scutching hemp, flax, or cotton; etc.; a scutch; a scutching machine.

Short, inferior hemp.

ength of the cables thus united. -- Shot prop (Naut.), a wooden prop covered with tarred hemp, to stop a hole made by the shot of an enemy in a ship's side. -- Shot tower, a lofty tower for making shot, by dropping from its summit melted lead in slender streams. The lead forms spherical drops which cool in the descen…

are mucilaginous, and some have tough ligneous fibers which are used as a substitute for hemp and flax. Balfour (Cyc. of India).

stem or main axis of a plant; as, a stalk of wheat, rye, or oats; the stalks of maize or hemp.

To choke or kill by stopping respiration; to stifle; to smother. Let not hemp his windpipe suffocate. Shak.

East Indian leguminous plant (Crotalaria juncea) and its fiber, which is also called sunn hemp. [Written also sun.]

To prepare or dress, as hemp, by beating; to tew; hence, to beat; to scourge. [Obs.] Beau. & Fl.

To prepare by beating or working, as leather or hemp; to taw.

To beat; to break, as flax or hemp. [Obs.] Mortimer.

That which comes from hemp in the process of hatcheling. Topping lift (Naut.), a large, strong tackle employed to raise or top the end of a gaff, or of a boom.

The coarse and broken part of flax or hemp, separated from the finer part by the hatchel or swingle.