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Webster’s Dictionary (1828)



92 words match “TAPER”

SHOOTING a.
American cowslip (Dodecatheon Meadia). See under Cowslip. -- Shooting stick (Print.), a tapering piece of wood or iron, used by printers to drive up the quoins in the chase. Hansard.
SPINDLE-SHAPED a.
Thickest in the middle, and tapering to both ends; fusiform; -- applied chiefly to roots.
SPINESCENT a.
Becoming hard and thorny; tapering gradually to a rigid, leafless point; armed with spines. Gray.
SPIRE n.
A tapering body that shoots up or out to a point in a conical or pyramidal form. Specifically (Arch.), the roof of a tower when of a pyramidal form and high in proportion to its width; also, the pyramidal or aspiring termination of a tower which can not be said to have a roof, such as that of Strasburg cathedral; the t…
SPIRY a.
Of or pertaining to a spire; like a spire, tall, slender, and tapering; abounding in spires; as, spiry turrets. "Spiry towns." Thomson.
SQUID n.
Any one of numerous species of ten-armed cephalopods having a long, tapered body, and a caudal fin on each side; especially, any species of Loligo, Ommastrephes, and related genera. See Calamary, Decacerata, Dibranchiata.
STAKTOMETER n.
A drop measurer; a glass tube tapering to a small orifice at the point, and having a bulb in the middle, used for finding the number of drops in equal quantities of different liquids. See Pipette. Sir D. Brewster.
SUBULATE; SUBULATED a.
Very narrow, and tapering gradually to a fine point from a broadish base; awl-shaped; linear.
SURGE n.
The tapered part of a windlass barrel or a capstan, upon which the cable surges, or slips.
SWALLOW-TAILED a.
ng a tail like that of a swallow; hence, like a swallow's tail in form; having narrow and tapering or pointed skirts; as, a swallow- tailed coat.
TAP n.
ith a tap; as, a barrel on tap. -- Plug tap (Mech.), a screw-cutting tap with a slightly tapering end. -- Tap bolt, a bolt with a head on one end and a thread on the other end, to be screwed into some fixed part, instead of passing through the part and receiving a nut. See Illust. under Bolt. -- Tap cinder (Metal.),…
TATOUAY n.
e bands composed of small, nearly square, scales. The head is long; the tail is round and tapered, and nearly destitute of scales; the claws of the fore feet are very large. Called also tatouary, and broad-banded armadillo.
TEREBRA n.
A genus of marine gastropods having a long, tapering spire. They belong to the Toxoglossa. Called also auger shell.
TERETE a.
Cylindrical and slightly tapering; columnar, as some stems of plants.
TOBIE n.
A kind of inferior cigar of a long slender shape, tapered at one end. [Local, U. S.]
TOGGLE n.
A wooden pin tapering toward both ends with a groove around its middle, fixed transversely in the eye of a rope to be secured to any other loop or bight or ring; a kind of button or frog capable of being readily engaged and disengaged for temporary purposes.
TORCHWORT n.
stalks of which, dipped in suet, anciently served for torches. Called also torch, and hig-taper.
TOUCH n.
and but (see Top and but, under Top, n.), or of one worked anchor-stock fashion (that is, tapered from the middle to both ends); also, the angles of the stern timbers at the counters. J. Knowles.
TRIBLET; TRIBOLET n.
A tapering mandrel.
TRUMPET n.
the large speaking trumpet used on board Italian vessels, which is of the same length and tapering shape." Grove. -- Trumpet shell (Zoöl.), any species of large marine univalve shells belonging to Triton and allied genera. See Triton, 2. -- Trumpet tree. (Bot.) See Trumpetwood.
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