Search the Dictionary

hort grass of lawns. -- Lawn tennis, a variety of the game of tennis, played in the open air, sometimes upon a lawn, instead of in a tennis court. See Tennis.

Of or pertaining to the laity, as distinct from the clergy; as, a lay person; a lay preacher; a lay brother.

ced with water in a basin, by throwing three stones into it, and invoking the demon whose aid was sought.

a plant, from which the underlying tissues may protrude or roots may issue, either in the air, or more commonly when the stem or branch is covered with water or earth.

iterature. " Are you not lettered" Shak. The unlettered barbarians willingly accepted the aid of the lettered clergy, still chiefly of Roman birth, to reduce to writing the institutes of their forefathers. Milman.

A horizontal line or plane; that is, a straight line or a plane which is tangent to a true level at a given point and hence parallel to the horizon at that point; -- this is the apparent level at the given point.

To make buoyant; to cause to float in the air; as, to levitate a table. [Cant]

metimes erect or pendulous and variously branched. They derive their nourishment from the air, and generate by means of spores. The species are very widely distributed, and form irregular spots or patches, usually of a greenish or yellowish color, upon rocks, trees, and various bodies, to which they adhere with great t…

a window made by a mullion or mullions. There were windows in three rows, and light was against light in three ranks. I Kings vii.4.

Swiftly; nimbly; with agility. So mikle was that barge, it might not lightly sail. R. of Brunne. Watch what thou seest and lightly bring me word. Tennyson.

Gay; airy; cheering; exhilarating. That lightsome affection of joy. Hooker. -- Light"some*ly, adv. -- Light"some*ness, n. Happiness may walk soberly in dark attire, as well as dance lightsomely in a gala dress. Hawthorne.

A trade name applied somewhat indefinitely to some of the volatile products obtained in refining crude petroleum. It is a complex and variable mixture of several hydrocarbons, generally boils below 170º Fahr., and is more inflammable than safe kerosene. It is used as a solvent, as a carburetant for air gas, and for ill…

A genus of airbreathing mollusks, including the common garden slugs. They have a small rudimentary shell. The breathing pore is on the right side of the neck. Several species are troublesome in gardens. See Slug.

A genus of fresh-water air-breathing mollusks, abundant in ponds and streams; -- called also pond snail. [Written also Lymnæa.]

A ball which, when struck, flies through the air in a nearly straight line not far from the ground.

An articulation pronounced by the aid or use of the tongue and teeth.

Of or pertaining to the tongue; uttered by the aid of the tongue; glossal; as, the lingual nerves; a lingual letter. Lingual ribbon. (Zoöl.) See Odontophore.

rought to various degrees of hardness by some oxidizing process, as by exposure to heated air, or by treatment with chloride of sulphur. In this condition it is used for many of the purposes to which India rubber has been applied.

Fluid and transparent; as, the liquid air.

r, consisting of a mixture of liquefied oxygen and nitrogen. It is prepared by subjecting air to great pressure and then cooling it by its own expansion to a temperature below the boiling point of its constituents (N -194º C; O -183º C.).