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A form of diarthrodial articulation in which the articular surfaces are nearly flat, so that they form only an imperfect ball and socket.

To make rough or uneven. The asperated part of its surface. Boyle.

Roughness of surface; unevenness; -- opposed to smoothness. "The asperities of dry bodies." Boyle.

Having an indefinite number of small charges scattered or strewed over the surface. Cussans.

or compact native bitumen. It is brittle, of a black or brown color and high luster on a surface of fracture; it melts and burns when heated, leaving no residue. It occurs on the surface and shores of the Dead Sea, which is therefore called Asphaltites, or the Asphaltic Lake. It is found also in many parts of Asia, Eu…

or is said to be astay, in heaving it, an acute angle is formed between the cable and the surface of the water.

A convex molding of rounded surface, generally from half to three quarters of a circle.

An old astronomical instrument, formed of two cones, on whose surface the constellations were delineated.

A genus of small glassy heteropod mollusks found swimming at the surface in mid ocean. See Heteropod.

An instrument for measuring the rate of evaporation from a moist surface; an evaporometer. Huxley.

The pressure or weight of the air at the sea level, on a unit of surface, or about 14.7 Ibs. to the sq. inch. Hydrogen was liquefied under a pressure of 650 atmospheres. Lubbock.

A substance which, by irritating the surface, excites action in the part to which it is applied, as a blister, an epispastic, a sinapism.

; -- said of a rock or strip of shore, or (Naut.) of an anchor, etc., when flush with the surface of the water, so that the waves break over it.

Feathers connecting the under surface of the wing and the body, and concealed by the closed wing.

-- Axis of a lens, the straight line passing through its center and perpendicular to its surfaces. -- Axis of a telescope or microscope, the straight line with which coincide the axes of the several lenses which compose it. -- Axes of coördinates in a plane, to straight lines intersecting each other, to which points…

lptors, builders, and workers in wood or stone, to fill holes, cover defects, or finish a surface.

cates, by weights suspended from one arm, the mutual attraction of oppositely electrified surfaces. Knight. -- Balance fish. (Zoöl) See Hammerhead. -- Balance knife, a carving or table knife the handle of which overbalances the blade, and so keeps it from contact with the table. -- Balance of power. (Politics), such…

Surface; body; substance. [R.] You have touched the very bare of naked truth. Marston.

The line or surface constituting that part of a figure on which it is supposed to stand.

A circular or oval valley, or depression of the surface of the ground, the lowest part of which is generally occupied by a lake, or traversed by a river.