Search the Dictionary

Birds which are able to run about and obtain their own food as soon as hatched.

fall." Astronomically, it begins in the northern temperate zone at the autumnal equinox, about September 23, and ends at the winter solstice, about December 23; but in popular language, autumn, in America, comprises September, October, and November.

A particular time (as in Italy, at the ringing of the bells about half an hour after sunset, and also at early dawn), when the people repeat the Ave Maria. Ave Maria ! blessed be the hour ! Byron.

The pulpy fruit of Persea gratissima, a tree of tropical America. It is about the size and shape of a large pear; -- called also avocado pear, alligator pear, midshipman's butter.

nes in which the coördinate planes intersect each other. -- Axis of a balance, that line about which it turns. -- Axis of oscillation, of a pendulum, a right line passing through the center about which it vibrates, and perpendicular to the plane of vibration. -- Axis of polarization, the central line around which th…

The doctrine of a modern religious pantheistical sect in Persia, which was founded, about 1844, by Mirza Ali Mohammed ibn Rabhik (1820 -- 1850), who assumed the title of Bab-ed-Din (Per., Gate of the Faith). Babism is a mixture of Mohammedan, Christian, Jewish, and Parsi elements. This doctrine forbids concubinage and…

yes, the minute reflection which one sees of one's self in the eyes of another. She clung about his neck, gave him ten kisses, Toyed with his locks, looked babies in his eyes. Heywood.

Chemical decomposition brought about by bacteria without the addition of oxygen.

A sort of silken purse formerly tied about men's hair behind, by way of ornament. [Obs.]

pidopterous insects which construct, in the larval state, a baglike case which they carry about for protection. One species (Platoeceticus Gloveri) feeds on the orange tree. See Basket worm.

A small cooper coin formerly current in the Roman States, worth about a cent and a half.

To toss about, as from man to man; to agitate. Let not obvious and known truth be bandied about in a disputation. I. Watts.

To raise a mound or dike about; to inclose, defend, or fortify with a bank; to embank. "Banked well with earth." Holland.

mething pertaining to him, being the subject of the jesting; to rally; as, he bantered me about my credulity. Hag-ridden by my own fancy all night, and then bantered on my haggard looks the next day. W. Irving.

A member of the radical section of the Democratic party in New York, about the middle of the 19th century, which was hostile to extension of slavery, public debts, corporate privileges, etc., and supported Van Buren against Cass for president in 1848; --opposed to Hunker. [Political Cant, U. S.]

It is made in its simplest form by filling a graduated glass tube about 34 inches long with mercury and inverting it in a cup containing mercury. The column of mercury in the tube descends until balanced by the weight of the atmosphere, and its rise or fall under varying conditions is a measure of the change in the atm…

A Bartlett pear, a favorite kind of pear, which originated in England about 1770, and was called Williams' Bonchrétien. It was brought to America, and distributed by Mr. Enoch Bartlett, of Dorchester, Massachusetts.

often of velvet or brocade, but sometimes of mailed armor) which hung from the middle to about the knees, or lower. [Obs.]

enus Thyridopteryx and allied genera, esp. T. ephemeræformis. The larva makes and carries about a bag or basket-like case of silk and twigs, which it afterwards hangs up to shelter the pupa and wingless adult females.

To remove. [Obs.] About autumn bate the earth from about the roots of olives, and lay them bare. Holland.