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A digesting furnace, formerly used by alchemists. It was so constructed as to maintain uniform and durable heat. Chambers.

A supposed medium around various bodies; as, electrical atmosphere, a medium formerly supposed to surround electrical bodies. Franklin.

Of or pertaining to atra bilis or black bile, a fluid formerly supposed to be produced by the kidneys.

To subject (a person) to the legal condition formerly resulting from a sentence of death or outlawry, pronounced in respect of treason or felony; to affect by attainder. No person shall be attainted of high treason where corruption of blood is incurred, but by the oath of two witnesses. Stat. 7 & 8 Wm. III.…

cession to the goods of a stranger not naturalized. Littré. Droit d'aubaine (, the right, formerly possessed by the king of France, to all the personal property of which an alien died possessed. It was abolished in 1819. Bouvier.

See Algorism. [Obs.] Chaucer. Augrim stones, pebbles formerly used in numeration. -- Noumbres of Augrim, Arabic numerals. Chaucer.

A rude balance for weighing, and a kind of weight, formerly used in England. Halliwell.

Pertaining to, or resembling, the Aurantiaceæ, an order of plants (formerly considered natural), of which the orange is the type.

g under fixed conditions; -- esp. applied to machinery or devices in which certain things formerly or usually done by hand are done by the machine or device itself; as, the automatic feed of a lathe; automatic gas lighting; an automatic engine or switch; an automatic mouse.

the usual course of a voyage; such as port charges, common pilotage, and the like, which formerly were, and in some cases still are, borne partly by the ship and partly by the cargo. In the clause commonly found in bills of lading, "primage and average accustomed," average means a kind of composition established by us…

A reserved rent in corn, formerly paid to religious houses by their tenants or farmers. Kennet.

ut jute backing. It has a fine soft pile. So called from Axminster, England, where it was formerly (1755 -- 1835) made.

The first principle of metals, i. e., mercury, which was formerly supposed to exist in all metals, and to be extractable from them.

es, or "men", the movements of which from point to point are determined by throwing dice. Formerly called tables. Backgammon board , a board for playing backgammon, often made in the form of two rectangular trays hinged together, each tray containing two "tables".

An instrument formerly used for taking the altitude of the heavenly bodies, but now superseded by the quadrant and sextant; -- so called because the observer turned his back to the body observed.

The back and sides of a pig salted and smoked; formerly, the flesh of a pig salted or fresh. Bacon beetle (Zoöl.), a beetle (Dermestes lardarius) which, especially in the larval state, feeds upon bacon, woolens, furs, etc. See Dermestes. -- To save one's bacon, to save one's self or property from harm or less. [Colloq…

An itinerant licensed dealer in commodities used for food; a hawker; a huckster; -- formerly applied especially to one who bought grain in one place and sold it in another. [Now dialectic, Eng.]

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

An officer in Scotland, whose office formerly corresponded to that of sheriff, but now corresponds to that of an English alderman.

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