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The staff for holding a bunch of flax, tow, or wool, from which the thread is drawn in spinning by hand. I will the distaff hold; come thou and spin. Fairfax.

A game of cards in which the suits are played in sequence, beginning with a 5 or 9, the player who gets rid of his cards first being the winner.

or other facts concerning them which may be of assistance in judging of their chances of winning future races; sometimes, similar information concerning other sports. [Sporting Slang]

the reality of an event, or the truth of an assertion, etc.; hesitation. Doubt is the beginning and the end of our efforts to know. Sir W. Hamilton. Doubt, in order to be operative in requiring an acquittal, is not the want of perfect certainty (which can never exist in any question of fact) but a defect of proof prev…

The soft hair of the face when beginning to appear. And the first down begins to shade his face. Dryden.

elongating the sliver from the carding machine, by revolving rollers, to prepare it for spinning.

The elision of a final m, with the preceding vowel, before a word beginning with a vowel.

The border or part adjacent to the line of division; the beginning or early part; as, in the edge of evening. "On the edge of winter." Milton. Edge joint (Carp.), a joint formed by two edges making a corner. -- Edge mill, a crushing or grinding mill in which stones roll around on their edges, on a level circular bed;…

That degree of softness in a body beginning to melt which alters its shape; the first or lowest degree of fusibility.

pole, road; the end of a year, of a discourse; put an end to pain; -- opposed to Ant: beginning, when used of anything having a first part. Better is the end of a thing than the beginning thereof. Eccl. vii. 8.

A twist or spinning motion given to a ball in striking it that influences the direction it will take after touching a cushion or another ball. The King's, or Queen's, English. See under King.

One who makes an entrance or beginning. A. Seward.

The entering upon; the beginning, or that with which the beginning is made; the commencement; initiation; as, a difficult entrance into business. "Beware of entrance to a quarrel." Shak. St. Augustine, in the entrance of one of his discourses, makes a kind of apology. Hakewill.

In French usage, a dish served at the beginning of dinner to give zest to the appetite; in English usage, a side dish, served with a joint, or between the courses, as a cutlet, scalloped oysters, etc.

The act of entering or passing into or upon; entrance; ingress; hence, beginnings or first attempts; as, the entry of a person into a house or city; the entry of a river into the sea; the entry of air into the blood; an entry upon an undertaking.

The moon's age at the beginning of the calendar year, or the number of days by which the last new moon has preceded the beginning of the year. Annual epact, the excess of the solar year over the lunar year, -- being eleven days. -- Menstrual epact, or Monthly epact, the excess of a calendar month over a lunar.…

A figure by which the same word is used both at the beginning and at the end of a sentence; as, "Rejoice in the Lord always: and again I say, Rejoice." Phil. iv. 4.

Beginning and ending in a day; existing only, or no longer than, a day; diurnal; as, an ephemeral flower.

A citation from some author, or a sentence framed for the purpose, placed at the beginning of a work or of its separate divisions; a motto.

Promoting the skinning over or healing of sores; as, an epulotic ointment. -- n.