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Upright, or having a vertical position; not inverted; not leaning or bent; not prone; as, to stand erect. Two of far nobler shape, erect and tall. Milton. Among the Greek colonies and churches of Asia, Philadelphia is still erect -- a column of ruins. Gibbon.

declivity; steep face or edge of a ridge; ground about a fortified place, cut away nearly vertically to prevent hostile approach. See Scarp.

g windows or inclosing rooms. -- False bearing, any bearing which is not directly upon a vertical support; thus, the weight carried by a corbel has a false bearing. -- False cadence, an imperfect or interrupted cadence. -- False conception (Med.), an abnormal conception in which a mole, or misshapen fleshy mass, is…

The act of turning the blade of the oar, as it rises from the water in rowing, from a vertical to a horizontal position. See To feather an oar, under Feather, v. t.

A channel of curved section; -- usually applied to one of a vertical series of such channels used to decorate columns and pilasters in classical architecture. See Illust. under Base, n.

The vertical triangular portion of the end of a building, from the level of the cornice or eaves to the ridge of the roof. Also, a similar end when not triangular in shape, as of a gambrel roof and the like. Hence:

ckonidæ. The geckoes are small, carnivorous, mostly nocturnal animals with large eyes and vertical, elliptical pupils. Their toes are generally expanded, and furnished with adhesive disks, by which they can run over walls and ceilings. They are numerous in warm countries, and a few species are found in Europe and the U…

A sunken channel or groove, usually vertical. See Triglyph.

utus. -- Ground line (Descriptive Geom.), the line of intersection of the horizontal and vertical planes of projection. -- Ground liverwort (Bot.), a flowerless plant with a broad flat forking thallus and the fruit raised on peduncled and radiated receptacles (Marchantia polymorpha). -- Ground mail, in Scotland, the…

(Dredging, Pile Driving, etc.) A pointed timber attached to a boat and sliding vertically, to thrust into the ground as a means of anchorage.

A machine for beheading a person by one stroke of a heavy ax or blade, which slides in vertical guides, is raised by a cord, and let fall upon the neck of the victim.

The tincture red, indicated in seals and engraved figures of escutcheons by parallel vertical lines. Hence, used poetically for a red color or that which is red. His sev'n-fold targe a field of gules did stain In which two swords he bore; his word, "Divide and reign." P. Fletcher. Follow thy drum; With man's blood pain…

Having the planes arranged spirally, so that they incline all to the right (or left) of a vertical line; -- said of certain hemihedral forms.

The inclination or deviation from the vertical of any mineral vein.

A plane passing through the eye of the spectator and at right angles to the vertical at a given place; a plane tangent to the earth's surface at that place; called distinctively the sensible horizon.

passes through the point of sight, and is the chief line in the projection upon which all verticals are fixed, and upon which all vanishing points are found. -- Horizontal parallax. See under Parallax. -- Horizontal plane (Descriptive Geometry), a plane parallel to the horizon, upon which it is assumed that objects a…

e gun of oil-tempered steel, having a rectangular breechblock which moves horizontally or vertically in a mortise cut completely through the jacket. It is made in France.

The division of a shield palewise, or by a vertical line, esp. for the purpose of putting side by side the arms of husband and wife. See Impale, 3.

A direction or tendency from the true vertical or horizontal direction; as, the inclination of a column, or of a road bed.

d in converging polarized light; thus, a section of a uniaxial crystal, cut normal to the vertical axis, shows a series of concentric colored rings with a single black cross; -- so called because produced by the interference of luminous waves. -- Interference fringe. (Optics) See Fringe.