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An infusorian of the family Vorticellidæ, common in fresh-water ponds.

(Min.) An earthy substance, resembling fine flour. It is composed of the shells of infusoria, and in Lapland and Sweden is sometimes eaten, mixed with flour or ground birch bark, in times of scarcity. This name is also given to a white powdery variety of calcite.

Attributing blame or fault; implying or conveying censure; faultfinding; censorious. Chaucer. -- Blame"ful*ly, adv. -- Blame"ful*ness, n.

laginous tasteless substance obtained from the marigold or calendula, and analogous to bassorin.

Fault-finding; censorious caviling. See Captious. -- Carp"ing*ly, adv.

A gummy mucilaginous substance; -- called also bassorin, tragacanthin, etc.

le or a part of the exterior. They are also found on some vegetable organisms. In the Infusoria, and many larval forms, they are locomotive organs.

One of the orders of Infusoria, characterized by having cilia. In some species the cilia cover the body generally, in others they form a band around the mouth.

between glass plates an object to be examined with the microscope; -- called also compressorium.

One taken by lot, or compulsorily enrolled, to serve as a soldier or sailor.

Such an arrangement of accessories, as in a picture, statue, poem, or play, as is appropriate to the time, place, or other circumstances represented or described. I began last night to read Walter Scott's Lay of the Last Minstrel . . . .I was extremely delighted with the poetical beauty of some parts . . . .The costume…

A grallatorial bird of Europe (Cursorius cursor), remarkable for its speed in running. Sometimes, in a wider sense, applied to running birds of the Ostrich family.

Inclined to criticise or find fault; fastidious; captious; censorious; exacting. O gentle lady, do not put me to 't, For I am nothing, if not critical. Shak.

of the system predisposing to the development of certain skin deseases, such as eczema, psoriasis, and pityriasis. Also called rheumic diathesis, and hipretism. Piffard.

One who, or that which, digs. Digger wasp (Zoöl.), any one of the fossorial Hymenoptera.

To enter slightly or cursorily; to engage one's self desultorily or by the way; to partake limitedly; -- followed by in or into. "Dipped into a multitude of books." Macaulay.

suasive. [R.] This virtuous and reasonable person, however, has ill luck in all his dissuasories. Jeffrey.

An absorbent material; esp., in high explosives, the sawdust, infusorial earth, mica, etc., mixed with nitroglycerin to make a damp powder (dynamite, etc.) less dangerous to transport, and ordinarily explosive only by suitable fulminating caps.

To divide into two by natural growth or spontaneous action; as, infusoria duplicate themselves.

losive substance consisting of nitroglycerin absorbed by some inert, porous solid, as infusorial earth, sawdust, etc. It is safer than nitroglycerin, being less liable to explosion from moderate shocks, or from spontaneous decomposition.