Search the Dictionary

The official staff or wand of Hermes or Mercury, the messenger of the gods. It was originally said to be a herald's staff of olive wood, but was afterwards fabled to have two serpents coiled about it, and two wings at the top.

An early form of hand gun, variety of the arquebus; originally a gun having a regular size of bore. [Obs.] Shak.

A woven fabric originally made of camel's hair, now chiefly of goat's hair and silk, or of wool and cotton. [Sometimes written camelot and camblet.]

An annual plant of the genus Iberis, cultivated in gardens. The name was originally given to the I. umbellata, first, discovered in the island of Candia.

A walking stick; a staff; -- so called because originally made of one the species of cane. Stir the fire with your master's cane. Swift.

ion comprising choruses, solos, interludes, etc., arranged in a somewhat dramatic manner; originally, a composition for a single noise, consisting of both recitative and melody.

readths to be sewed together and nailed to the floor, as distinguished from a rug or mat; originally, also, a wrought cover for tables. Tables and beds covered with copes instead of carpets and coverlets. T. Fuller.

A portable bag for travelers; -- so called because originally made of carpet.

A rich stuff for shawls, acaris, etc., originally made in Cashmere from the soft wool found beneath the hair of the goats of Cashmere, Thibet, and the Himalayas. Some cashmere, of fine quality, is richly embroidered for sale to Europeans.

A brown pigment of varying permanence, consisting of impure lignite. It was found originally near Cassel (now Kassel), Germany.

; sing. Catawba. (Ethnol.) An appalachian tribe of Indians which originally inhabited the regions near the Catawba river and the head waters of the Santee.

Originally, a melody of simpler form than the aria; a song without a second part and a da capo; -- a term now variously and vaguely used.

osac through the tissue of the chalaza, instead of entering through the micropyle. It was originally discovered by Treub in Casuarina, and has since been found to occur regularly in the families Betulaceæ and Juglandaceæ. Partial chalazogamy is found in Ulmus, the tube here penetrating the nucleus midway between the ch…

A light wine, of several kinds, originally made in the province of Champagne, in France.

or its subject events or exploits of early French history, real or legendary, and written originally in assonant verse of ten or twelve syllables. The most famous one is the Chanson de Roland.

house, a tomb, vault, cemetery, or other place where the bones of the dead are deposited; originally, a place for the bones thrown up when digging new graves in old burial grounds.

A kind of cigar, originally brought from Mania, in the Philippine Islands; now often made of inferior or adulterated tabacco.

ny of several acts forbidding the immigration of Chinese laborers into the United States, originally from 1882 to 1892 by act of May 6, 1882, then from 1892 to 1902 by act May 5, 1892. By act of April 29, 1902, all existing legislation on the subject was reënacted and continued, and made applicable to the insular posse…

made by mixing chrome yellow with Prussian blue. -- Chrome red, a beautiful red pigment originally prepared from the basic chromate of lead, but now made from red oxide of lead. -- Chrome yellow, a brilliant yellow pigment, PbCrO4, used by painters.

A genus of trees including the orange, lemon, citron, etc., originally natives of southern Asia.