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Contraction into few words; conciseness. Brevity is the soul of wit. Shak. This argument is stated by St. John with his usual elegant brevity and simplicity. Bp. Porteus.

rown stout, a strong kind of proter or malt liquor. -- Brown study, a state of mental abstraction or serious reverie. W. Irving.

venenosum), a native of tropical Africa. It is highly poisonous. It is used to produce contraction of the pupil of the eye; also in tetanus, neuralgia, and rheumatic diseases; -- called also ordeal bean, being used by the negroes in trials for witchcraft.

ously made or reported, to the injury of another; malicious misrepresentation; slander; detraction. "Infamouse calumnies." Motley. Be thou as chaste as ice, as pure as snow, thou shalt not escape calumny. Shak.

A colloquial contraction for can not.

s in contact with a solid (as in a capillary tube), is elevated or depressed; capillary attraction.

Pertaining to capillary tubes or vessels; as, capillary action. Capillary attraction, Capillary repulsion, the apparent attraction or repulsion between a soild and liquid caused bycapillarity. See Capillarity, and Attraction. -- Capillarity tubes. See the Note under Capillarity.

, especially on shipboard, for moving or raising heavy weights or exerting great power by traction upon a rope or cable, passing around the drum. It is operated either by steam power or by a number of men walking around the capstan, each pushing on the end of a lever fixed in its socket. [Sometimes spelt Capstern, but…

A courting of favor or applause, by flattery or address; a captivating quality; an attraction. [Obs.] Without any of those dresses, or popular captations, which some men use in their speeches. Eikon Basilike.

To acquire ascendancy over by reason of some art or attraction; to fascinate; to charm; as, Cleopatra captivated Antony; the orator captivated all hearts. Small landscapes of captivating loveliness. W. Irving.

The securing of an object of strife or desire, as by the power of some attraction.

he like; as, to put a card in the newspapers. Also, a printed programme, and (fig.), an attraction or inducement; as, this will be a good card for the last day of the fair.

circuit of the latter being connected to the source of supply; also, a system of electric traction in which motors so connected are employed. The cascade system is also called tandem, or concatenated, system; the connection a cascade, tandem, or concatenated, connection, or a concatenation; and the control of the motor…

A contraction for Violoncello.

aster from which the rays extend and within which the centrosome lies when present; the attraction sphere. The name has been used both as excluding and including the centrosome, and also to designate a modified mass of protoplasm about a centrosome whether aster rays are developed or not.

A nonphosphorized, nitrogenous substance, obtained from brain and nerve tissue by extraction with boiling alcohol. It is uncertain whether it exists as such in nerve tissue, or is a product of the decomposition of some more complex substance.

d in the processes of chemistry; as, chemical changes; chemical comnbinations. Chemical attraction or affinity. See under Attraction.

process of subjecting anything to the action of chlorine; especially, a process for the extraction of gold by exposure of the auriferous material to chlorine gas.

bstances of splitting readily in one or more definite directions, in which the cohesive attraction is a minimum, affording more or less smooth surfaces; the direction of the dividing plane; a fragment obtained by cleaving, as of a diamond. See Parting.

A series of muscular contractions due to sudden stretching of the muscle, -- a sign of certain neuropathies.