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formerly coined in some countries of Europe. In Spain it was equivalent to a quarter doubloon, or about $3.90, and in Germany and Italy nearly the same. There was an old Italian pistole worth about $5.40.

the city hall, usually rented for use as a restaurant where beer is sold; hence, a beer saloon of the German type below the street level, where, usually, drinks are served only at tables and simple food may also be had; -- sometimes loosely used, in English, of what are essentially basement restaurants where liquors ar…

A cord by which the gas bag of a balloon may be ripped open for a limited distance to release the gas quickly and so cause immediate descent.

A long patch, on a balloon, to be ripped off, by the rip cord, at landing, in order to allow the immediate escape of gas and instant deflation of the bag.

cted breeches as an emblem peculiar to the upper classes or aristocracy, and adopted pantaloons.

ing on which a person sits; as, the seat of a chair or saddle; the seat of a pair of pantaloons.

ious senses of the transitive verb. The sixth age shifts Into the lean and slippered pantaloon. Shak. Here the Baillie shifted and fidgeted about in his seat. Sir W. Scott.

, the red-throated diver; -- so called from its fondness for sprats. See Diver. -- Sprat loon. (Zoöl.) (a) The young of the great northern diver. [Prov. Eng.] (b) The red-throated diver. See Diver. -- Sprat mew (Zoöl.), the kittiwake gull.

ingmen's resort conducted under religious influences as a counteractant to the drinking saloon. [Colloq. or Cant]

. The brilliant flowers of the tropics bloom from the windows of the greenhouse and the saloon. Bancroft.

To loose from the hand; to let go. Hold off! unhand me, gray beard loon! Eftsoons his hand dropped he. Coleridge.

To expose to hazard; to risk; to hazard; as, to venture one's person in a balloon. I am afraid; and yet I'll venture it. Shak.

by the impulse of waves, as of water or air; to bear along on a buoyant medium; as, a balloon was wafted over the channel. A gentle wafting to immortal life. Milton. Speed the soft intercourse from soul to soul, And waft a sigh from Indus to the pole. Pope.

band which encompasses the waist; esp., one on the upper part of breeches, trousers, pantaloons, skirts, or the like.

A dirigible balloon of the rigid type, consisting of a cylindrical trussed and covered frame supported by internal gas cells, and provided with means of propulsion and control. It was first successfully used by Ferdinand Count von Zeppelin.