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pert. to, any of various steels that harden when heated to above a red heat and cooled in air, usually in a blast of cold air with moderate rapidity, without quenching. Such steels are alloys of iron and carbon with manganese, tungsten and manganese, chromium, molybdenum and manganese, etc. They are chiefly used as hig…

A mechanism (usually one operated by electricity, compressed air, a spring, or an explosive gas), attached to an internal- combustion engine, as on an automobile, and used as a means of starting the engine without cranking it by hand.

old; decaying with the lapse of time. "The night was senescent." Poe. "With too senescent air." Lowell.

mind; making an impression upon the sense, reason, or understanding; sensible resistance. Air is sensible to the touch by its motion. Arbuthnot. The disgrace was more sensible than the pain. Sir W. Temple. Any very sensible effect upon the prices of things. A. Smith.

Music sung or performed in the open air at nights; -- usually applied to musical entertainments given in the open air at night, especially by gentlemen, in a spirit of gallantry, under the windows of ladies.

Evening air; night chill. [Obs.] "Some serene blast me." B. Jonson.

A species of firework having a serpentine motion as it passess through the air or along the ground.

In a Whitehead torpedo, a compressed-air motor, for moving the rudders so as to correct deviations from the course.

(b) To adorn; to decorate; to embellish. They . . . set off the worst faces with the best airs. Addison.

or the direct rays of the sun; hence, also, that which protects from heat or currents of air; a screen; protection; shelter; cover; as, a lamp shade. The Lord is thy shade upon thy right hand. Ps. cxxi. 5. Sleep under a fresh tree's shade. Shak. Let the arched knife well sharpened now assail the spreading shades of ve…

A long passage for the admission or outlet of air; an air shaft.

ierching; keen; severe; painful; distressing; as, sharp pain, weather; a sharp and frosty air. Sharp misery had worn him to the bones. Shak. The morning sharp and clear. Cowper. In sharpest perils faithful proved. Keble.

To render more quick or acute in perception; to make more ready or ingenious. The air . . . sharpened his visual ray To objects distant far. Milton. He that wrestles with us strengthens our nerves and sharpens our skill. Burke.

he place of a thing; change; substitution. My going to Oxford was not merely for shift of air. Sir H. Wotton.

she shined in her princely state." Spenser. Once brightest shined this child of heat and air. Pope.

That which resembles a shower in falling or passing through the air copiously and rapidly. With showers of stones he drives them far away. Pope.

To inhale a larger quantity of air than usual, and immediately expel it; to make a deep single audible respiration, especially as the result or involuntary expression of fatigue, exhaustion, grief, sorrow, or the like.

That can not be seen; invisible. [Obs.] The sightless couriers of the air. Shak.

A pit or vat for packing away green fodder for winter use so as to exclude air and outside moisture. See Ensilage.

To make a small, shrill sound; as, the air sings in passing through a crevice. O'er his head the flying spear Sang innocent, and spent its force in air. Pope.