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ously constructed, for raising or transferring fluids, consisting essentially of a moving piece or piston working in a hollow cylinder or other cavity, with valves properly placed for admitting or retaining the fluid as it is drawn or driven through them by the action of the piston.

An extension piece applied to the top of a pile; a dolly.

A short, upright piece of timber in framing; a short post; an intermediate stud. Oxf. Gloss.

A piece of armor for the breast; often, an addition to, or reënforcement of. the breastplate; -- called also pesane.

One of the short pieces of timber on which the planks forming the floor of a scaffold are laid, -- one end resting on the ledger of the scaffold, and the other in a hole left in the wall temporarily for the purpose. Oxf. Gloss.

A square piece of turf or peat. [Prov. Eng.]

A small piece of money, in value about a farthing, or a half cent. [Obs.]

Quarter boat (Naut.), a boat hung at a vessel's quarter. -- Quarter cloths (Naut.), long pieces of painted canvas, used to cover the quarter netting. -- Quarter day, a day regarded as terminating a quarter of the year; hence, one on which any payment, especially rent, becomes due. In matters influenced by United Stat…

The set of four person who perform a piece of music in four parts.

To beat down, or beat in pieces; to dash forcibly; to crush. The whales Against sharp rocks, like reeling vessels, quashed, Though huge as mountains, are in pieces dashed. Waller.

The most powerful, and except the king the most important, piece in a set of chessmen.

A piece of ground taken out of any regular ground plot or floor, so as to make a court, yard, etc.; -- sometimes written quink. Gwilt.

Originally, a solid exterior angle, as of a building; now, commonly, one of the selected pieces of material by which the corner is marked.

A flattened ring-shaped piece of iron, to be pitched at a fixed object in play; hence, any heavy flat missile used for the same purpose, as a stone, piece of iron, etc. (b) pl.

A piece of hollow type metal, lower than type, and measuring two or more pica ems in length and breadth, used in the blank spaces at the beginning and end of chapters, etc. Quotation marks (Print.), two inverted commas placed at the beginning, and two apostrophes at the end, of a passage quoted from an author in his ow…

, a bar pivoted at one end, about which it swings, and having its other end attached to a piece which it causes to move in a circular arc. -- Radius of curvature. See under Curvature.

A collection of logs, boards, pieces of timber, or the like, fastened, together, either for their own collective conveyance on the water, or to serve as a support in conveying other things; a float.

Originally, any rough and somewhat heavy piece of timber. Now, commonly, one of the timbers of a roof which are put on sloping, according to the inclination of the roof. See Illust. of Queen-post. [Courtesy] oft is sooner found in lowly sheds, With smoky rafters, than in tapestry halls. Milton.

A piece of cloth torn off; a tattered piece of cloth; a shred; a tatter; a fragment. Cowls, hoods, and habits, with their wearers, tossed, And fluttered into rags. Milton. Not having otherwise any rag of legality to cover the shame of their cruelty. Fuller.

A dish made of pieces of meat, stewed, and highly seasoned; as, a ragout of mutton.