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To loosen and dress the fiber of (cotton or silk) by beating; to free (fibrous substances) from dust by beating and blowing. Scutching machine, a machine used to scutch cotton, silk, or flax; -- called also batting machine.

A kind of muscovite occuring in silky scales having a fibrous structure. It is characteristic of sericite schist.

The fibrous aromatic root of the Virginia snakeroot (Aristolochia Serpentaria).

A fibrous material obtained by "deviling," or tearing into fibers, refuse woolen goods, old stockings, rags, druggets, etc. See Mungo.

a; travertine. -- Ceraunian sinter, fulgurite. -- Siliceous sinter, a light cellular or fibrous opal; especially, geyserite (see Geyserite). It has often a pearly luster, and is then called pearl sinter.

- Skeleton leaf, a leaf from which the pulpy part has been removed by chemical means, the fibrous part alone remaining. -- Skeleton proof, a proof of a print or engraving, with the inscription outlined in hair strokes only, such proofs being taken before the engraving is finished. -- Skeleton regiment, a regiment whi…

or table, salt, NaCl. -- Sodium hydroxide, a white opaque brittle solid, NaOH, having a fibrous structure, produced by the action of quicklime, or of calcium hydrate (milk of lime), on sodium carbonate. It is a strong alkali, and is used in the manufacture of soap, in making wood pulp for paper, etc. Called also sodi…

The white fibrous matter forming the matrix from which fungi. Spawn eater (Zoöl.), a small American cyprinoid fish (Notropis Hudsonius) allied to the dace.

spin wool, cotton, or flax; to spin goat's hair; to produce by drawing out and twisting a fibrous material. All the yarn she [Penelope] spun in Ulysses' absence did but fill Ithaca full of moths. Shak.

The elastic fibrous skeleton of many species of horny Spongiæ (keratosa), used for many purposes, especially the varieties of the genus Spongia. The most valuable sponges are found in the Mediterranean and the Red Sea, and on the coasts of Florida and the West Indies.

A fiber, as of a plant; a little, fibrous root. Duckweed putteth forth a little string into the water, from the bottom. Bacon.

Consisting of strings, or small threads; fibrous; filamentous; as, a stringy root.

ntium carbonate, a mineral of a white, greenish, or yellowish color, usually occurring in fibrous massive forms, but sometimes in prismatic crystals.

A fibrous brown coal or bituminous wood.

The suet or fat of animals of the sheep and ox kinds, separated from membranous and fibrous matter by melting.

A tough insensible cord, bundle, or band of fibrous connective tissue uniting a muscle with some other part; a sinew. Tendon reflex (Physiol.), a kind of reflex act in which a muscle is made to contract by a blow upon its tendon. Its absence is generally a sign of disease. See Knee jerk, under Knee.…

A very small twist of flax, wool, cotton, silk, or other fibrous substance, drawn out to considerable length; a compound cord consisting of two or more single yarns doubled, or joined together, and twisted.

of temperate regions. Many species are planted as ornamental shade trees, and the tough fibrous inner bark is a valuable article of commerce. Also, a plant of this genus.

it of the cucurbitaceous plant Luffa Ægyptiaca; also, the plant itself. The fruit is very fibrous, and, when separated from its rind and seeds, is used as a sponge or towel. Called also Egyptian bath sponge, and dishcloth.

variety of amphibole, or hornblende, occurring in long, bladelike crystals, and coarsely fibrous masses.