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One who, or that which cards wool flax, etc. Shak.

k; the bark of the California buckthorn (Rhamnus Purshianus), used as a mild cathartic or laxative.

e or double flowers; Indian pink. -- China root (Med.), the rootstock of a species of Smilax (S. China, from the East Indies; -- formerly much esteemed for the purposes that sarsaparilla is now used for. Also the galanga root (from Alpinia Gallanga and Alpinia officinarum). -- China rose. (Bot.) (a) A popular name fo…

a leaf, as in the apparent foliage of the broom (Ruscus) and of the common cultivated smilax (Myrsiphillum).

The coarse tow of flax and hemp. McElrath.

A toothed instrument used for separating and cleansing wool, flax, hair, etc.

One who combs; one whose occupation it is to comb wool, flax, etc. Also, a machine for combing wool, flax, etc.

See Coamings. Combing machine (Textile Manuf.), a machine for combing wool, flax, cotton, etc., and separating the longer and more valuable fiber from the shorter. See also Carding machine, under Carding.

A strong white fabric with warp of hemp and welt of flax.

Evincing blaxk or foul traits of character; vile; wicked; atrocious; as, a dark villain; a dark deed. Left him at large to his own dark designs. Milton.

To ascertain the presence, quantity, or amount of; as, to determine the parallax; to determine the salt in sea water.

Dewrotting; the process of decomposing the gummy matter of flax and hemp and setting the fibrous part, by exposure on a sward to dew, rain, and sunshine.

To rot, as flax or hemp, by exposure to rain, dew, and sun. See Dewretting.

The relaxation of a law in a particular case; permission to do something forbidden, or to omit doing something enjoined; specifically, in the Roman Catholic Church, exemption from some ecclesiastical law or obligation to God which a man has incurred of his own free will (oaths, vows, etc.). A dispensation was obtained…

lace. Unnecessary displacement of funds. A. Hamilton. The displacement of the sun by parallax. Whewell.

To relax by pleasure; to make powerless. Angels dissolved in hallelujahs lie. Dryden.

The staff for holding a bunch of flax, tow, or wool, from which the thread is drawn in spinning by hand. I will the distaff hold; come thou and spin. Fairfax.

easure of a day; as, a diurnal fever; a diurnal task; diurnal aberration, or diurnal parallax; the diurnal revolution of the earth. Ere twice the horses of the sun shall bring Their fiery torcher his diurnal ring. Shak.

That which diverts; that which turns or draws the mind from care or study, and thus relaxes and amuses; sport; play; pastime; as, the diversions of youth. "Public diversions." V. Knox. Such productions of wit and humor as expose vice and folly, furnish useful diversion to readers. Addison.

ical vine with yellowish threadlike stems. It attaches itself to some other plant, as to flax, goldenrod, etc., and decaying at the root. is nourished by the plant that supports it.