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A zodiacal constellation, including the first point of Aries, which is the vernal equinoctial point; the Fish.

Ordinal relation; position in the order of proceeding; as, he said in the first place.

The first antiphon of the vespers for the dead.

A stalk or shoot of sugar cane of the first growth from the cutting. The growth of the second and following years is of inferior quality, and is called rattoon.

A colonist in a new or uncultivated territory; as, the first planters in Virginia.

The laying of the first courses of stone in a foundation. [Eng.]

To put in action or motion; as, to play cannon upon a fortification; to play a trump. First Peace and Silence all disputes control, Then Order plays the soul. Herbert.

A vote by universal male suffrage; especially, in France, a popular vote, as first sanctioned by the National Constitution of

To invite another to drink, by drinking of the cup first, and then handing it to him, as a pledge of good will; hence, to drink the health of; to toast. Pledge me, my friend, and drink till thou be'st wise. Cowley.

The first bud, or gemmule, of a young plant; the bud, or growing point, of the embryo, above the cotyledons. See Illust. of Radicle. Gray.

The members of a religious sect which first appeared at Plymouth, England, about 1830. They protest against sectarianism, and reject all official ministry or clergy. Also called Brethren, Christian Brethren, Plymouthists, etc. The Darbyites are a division of the Brethren.

An indivisible portion of time; a moment; an instant; hence, the verge. When time's first point begun Made he all souls. Sir J. Davies.

With artillery, the point where the projectile first strikes the horizontal plane on which the gun stands, the axis of the piece being horizontal.

The rubbing off of the point of the wheat grain in the first process of high milling.

A game at cards derived from brag, and first played about 1835 in the Southwestern United States. Johnson's Cyc.

ation of ordinary ova two polar bodies are formed, but in parthogenetic ova only one. The first polar body formed is usually larger than the second one, and often divides into two after its separation from the ovum. Each of the polar bodies removes maternal chromatin from the ovum to make room for the chromatin of the…

up the nose during the act of swallowing; -- so called from Prof. Politzer of Vienna, who first practiced it.

The first, or preaxial, digit of the fore limb, corresponding to the hallux in the hind limb; the thumb. In birds, the pollex is the joint which bears the bastard wing.

ter; as, the pools of Solomon. Wyclif. Charity will hardly water the ground where it must first fill a pool. Bacon. The sleepy pool above the dam. Tennyson.

A fine translucent or semitransculent kind of earthenware, made first in China and Japan, but now also in Europe and America; -- called also China, or China ware. Porcelain, by being pure, is apt to break. Dryden. Ivory porcelain, porcelain with a surface like ivory, produced by depolishing. See Depolishing. -- Porcel…