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d orbit, approaching very near to the sun in its perihelion, and receding to a very great distance from it at its aphelion. A comet commonly consists of three parts: the nucleus, the envelope, or coma, and the tail; but one or more of these parts is frequently wanting. See Illustration in Appendix.

cer on the bishop, who exercises ecclesiastical jurisdiction in parts of the diocese at a distance from the residence of the bishop. Ayliffe.

d as a condenser. -- Bull's-eye condenser, or Bull's-eye (Optics), a lens of short focal distance used for concentrating rays of light. -- Injection condenser, a vessel in which steam is condensed by the direct contact of water. -- Surface condenser, an apparatus for condensing steam, especially the exhaust of a ste…

A fissure or fracture on the side opposite to that which received the blow, or at some distance from it. Coxe.

ne who carries on commercial intercourse by letter or telegram with a person or firm at a distance.

Carrying on intercourse by letters. Corresponding member of a society, one residing at a distance, who has been invited to correspond with the society, and aid in carrying out its designs without taking part in its management.

A Hindoo measure of distance, varying from one and a half to two English miles. Whitworth.

A measure of length; the distance from the elbow to the end of the middle finger; a cubit.

is directly proportional to the product of the charges and inversely to the square of the distance between them.

(a female); to serve; as. a horse covers a mare; -- said of the male. To cover ground or distance, to pass over; as, the rider covered the ground in an hour. -- To cover one's short contracts (Stock Exchange), to buy stock when the market rises, as a dealer who has sold short does in order to protect himself. -- Cov…

y weights, and, while holding them suspended, transporting them through a limited lateral distance. In one form it consists of a projecting arm or jib of timber or iron, a rotating post or base, and the necessary tackle, windlass, etc.; -- so called from a fancied similarity between its arm and the neck of a crane See…

The cracklling noise made by block tin when it is bent back and forth. A far cry, a long distance; -- in allusion to the sending of criers or messengers through the territory of a Scottish clan with an announcement or summons.

A measure of length, being the distance from the elbow to the extremity of the middle finger.

Shortened or reduced; -- said of the distance of a planet from the sun or earth, as measured in the plane of the ecliptic, or the distance from the sun or earth to that point where a perpendicular, let fall from the planet upon the plane of the ecliptic, meets the ecliptic. Curtate cycloid. (Math.) See Cycloid.…

The interval by which the curtate distance of a planet is less than the true distance.

the place of a ship from a record kept of the courses sailed as given by compass, and the distance made on each course as found by log, with allowance for leeway, etc., without the aid of celestial observations. -- Dead rise, the transverse upward curvature of a vessel's floor. -- Dead rising, an elliptical line draw…

The angular distance of any object from the celestial equator, either northward or southward.

A certain distance or remove in the line of descent, determining the proximity of blood; one remove in the chain of relationship; as, a relation in the third or fourth degree. In the 11th century an opinion began to gain ground in Italy, that third cousins might marry, being in the seventh degree according to the civil…

All sorts of outworks in general, at a distance from the main works; any advanced works for protection or cover. Farrow.

A perambulator which records distances and delineates a profile, as of a road.