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Spurge. [Obs.]

Of or pertaining to Clement, esp. to St.Clement of Rome and the spurious homilies attributed to him, or to Pope Clement V. and his compilations of canon law.

the position of attack; to place in rest. He stooped his head, and couched his spear, And spurred his steed to full career. Sir W. Scott. To couch malt, to spread malt on a floor. Mortimer.

Assuming the appearance of something; false; spurious; deceitful; hypocritical; as, a counterfeit philanthropist. "An arrant counterfeit rascal." Shak.

A spur or projection of a mountain. Imp. Dict.

A spurlike device strapped to the boot, which enables one to climb a tree or pole; -- called often telegraph creepers.

esenting a crown; as, the paper is stamped with a crown. Crown of aberration (Astron.), a spurious circle around the true circle of the sun. -- Crown antler (Zoöl.), the topmost branch or tine of an antler; also, an antler having a cuplike top, with tines springing from the rim. -- Crown bar, one of the bars which su…

trol his angry jaws. Drayton. By these men, religion,that should be The curb, is made the spur of tyranny. Denham.

Pertaining to, or derived from, the larkspur; specifically, relating to the stavesacre (Delphinium staphisagria).

A genus of herbaceous plants, with racemes of two-spurred or heart-shaped flowers, including the Dutchman's breeches, and the more showy Bleeding heart (D. spectabilis). [Corruptly written dielytra.]

's breeches (Bot.), a perennial American herb (Dicentra cucullaria), with peculiar double-spurred flowers. See Illust. of Dicentra. -- Dutchman's laudanum (Bot.), a West Indian passion flower (Passiflora Murucuja); also, its fruit. -- Dutchman's pipe (Bot.), an American twining shrub (Aristolochia Sipho). Its flowers…

Without a tail or spur.

ain (Mach.), a train of mechanism in which epicyclic motion is involved; esp., a train of spur wheels, bevel wheels, or belt pulleys, in which an arm, carrying one or more of the wheels, sweeps around a center lying in an axis common to the other wheels.

diseased condition of rye and other cereals, in which the grains become black, and often spur-shaped. It is caused by a parasitic fungus, Claviceps purpurea.

Spurge, or bastard spurge, a genus of plants of many species, mostly shrubby, herbaceous succulents, affording an acrid, milky juice. Some of them are armed with thorns. Most of them yield powerful emetic and cathartic products.

Composed, performed, or uttered on the spur of the moment, or without previous study; unpremeditated; off-hand; extempore; extemporary; as, an extemporaneous address or production. -- Ex*tem`po*ra"ne*ous*ly, adv. -- Ex*tem`po*ra"ne*ous*ness,n.

Without previous study or meditation; without preparation; on the spur of the moment; suddenly; extemporaneously; as, to write or speak extempore. Shak. -- a.

The spur-winged goose; -- so called from the red circle around the eyes.

(a) A juggler who pretends to eat fire. (b) A quarrelsome person who seeks affrays; a hotspur. [Colloq.] -- Fire engine, a portable forcing pump, usually on wheels, for throwing water to extinguish fire. -- Fire escape, a contrivance for facilitating escape from burning buildings. -- Fire gilding (Fine Arts), a mode…

t surreptitiously, wrongfully, or without warrant; to interpolate; to pass off (something spurious or counterfeit) as genuine, true, or worthy; -- usually followed by in. Lest negligence or partiality might admit or fois in abuses corruption. R. Carew. When a scripture has been corrupted . . . by a supposititious foist…