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A toy which imitates the sound of tearing cloth, -- used by drawing it across the back of unsuspecting persons. [Eng.]

voluminous residue which is expelled in a serpentine from. It is employed as a scientific toy. -- Serpent cucumber (Bot.), the long, slender, serpentine fruit of the cucurbitaceous plant Trichosanthes colubrina; also, the plant itself. -- Serpent eage (Zoöl.), any one of several species of raptorial birds of the gene…

That with which one plays, or which is driven about in play; a toy; a plaything; an object of mockery. Flitting leaves, the sport of every wind. Dryden. Never does man appear to greater disadvantage than when he is the sport of his own ungoverned pasions. John Clarke.

small articles of merchandise are exposed for sale. How peddlers' stalls with glittering toys are laid. Gay.

An optical toy similar to the phenakistoscope. See Phenakistoscope.

A Chinese toy made by cutting a square of thin wood, or other suitable material, into seven pieces, as shown in the cut, these pieces being capable of combination in various ways, so as to form a great number of different figures. It is now often used in primary schools as a means of instruction.

nus of wading birds comprising the wood ibises. Tantalus's cup (Physics), a philosophical toy, consisting of a cup, within which is the figure of a man, and within the figure a siphon, the longer arm of which passes down through the bottom of the cup, and allows the escape of any liquid that may be poured in, when it r…

A child's toy, somewhat resembling a top, and twirled by the fingers. The staggerings of the gentleman . . . were like those of a teetotum nearly spent. Dickens.

An optical instrument or toy for showing the presistence of an impression upon the eyes after the luminous object is withdrawn.

To strike gently; to pat. Stand not ticking and toying at the branches. Latimer.

A siliceous stone of a yellow color and chatoyant luster, obtained in South Africa and much used for ornament. It is an altered form of the mineral crocidolite. See Crocidolite.

also, a set or combination of bells or metal plates used as a musical instrument or as a toy.

A child's toy, commonly in the form of a conoid or pear, made to spin on its point, usually by drawing off a string wound round its surface or stem, the motion being sometimes continued by means of a whip.

A toy; a trifle; a plaything. [Obs.] Shak.

A thing of little value; a trifle; a toy.

use, which indicates changes in atmospheric conditions by the appearance or retirement of toy images. Peace to the artist whose ingenious thought Devised the weather house, that useful toy! Cowper. -- Weather molding, or Weather moulding (Arch.), a canopy or cornice over a door or a window, to throw off the rain. -- W…

A throwing toy, or implement, of the Australian aborigines, consisting of a cigar-shaped stick fastened at one end to a flexible twig. It weighs in all about two ounces, and is about two feet long.

A child's toy, spun or whirled around like a wheel upon an axis, or like a top. Johnson.

An optical toy, in which figures made to revolve on the inside of a cylinder, and viewed through slits in its circumference, appear like a single figure passing through a series of natural motions as if animated or mechanically moved.