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from anything that pains or troubles; as: (a) Relief from labor or effort; rest; quiet; relaxation; as, ease of body. Usefulness comes by labor, wit by ease. Herbert. Give yourself ease from the fatigue of watching. Swift.

The act of softening or relaxing; relaxation. Bacon.

A genus of shrubs or small trees of the Flax family, growing in tropical countries. E. Coca is the source of cocaine. See Coca.

A tumor containing a large portion of the abdominal viscera, occasioned by relaxation of the walls of the abdomen.

Relaxation. [R.] Richardson (Dict. ).

ons of which the tissues of plants and animals are in part constituted; as, the fiber of flax or of muscle.

passing humor; a caprice; a sudden and unusual effort, activity, or motion, followed by relaxation or insction; an impulse and irregular action. The fits of the season. Shak.

Yielding to pressure for want of firmness and stiffness; soft and weak; limber; lax; drooping; flabby; as, a flaccid muscle; flaccid flesh. Religious profession . . . has become flacced. I. Taylor. -- Flac"cid*ly, adv. -- Flac"cid*ness, n.

The condition of being flaggy; laxity; limberness. Johnson.

Flax. [Obs.] Chaucer.

It is much used in embroidery. Called also floxed silk. -- Floss thread, a kind of soft flaxen yarn or thread, used for embroidery; -- called also linen floss, and floss yarn. McElrath.

application of warm, soft, medicinal substances, as for the purpose of easing pain, by relaxing the skin, or of discussing tumors.

apparently a vegetable resin, partly changed by remaining in the earth. -- Fossil cork, flax, paper, or wood, varieties of amianthus. -- Fossil farina, a soft carbonate of lime. -- Fossil ore, fossiliferous red hematite. Raymond.

njoyment of man or animals by the processes of vegetable growth, as corn, grass, cotton, flax, etc.; -- commonly used in the plural. Six years thou shalt sow thy land, and shalt gather in the fruits thereof. Ex. xxiii. 10.

Of or pertaining to the galaxy or Milky Way. Galactic circle (Astron.), the great circle of the heavens, to which the course of the galaxy most nearly conforms. Herschel. -- Galactic poles, the poles of the galactic circle.

Not restrained or limited to a precise import; not specific; vague; indefinite; lax in signification; as, a loose and general expression.

size, strength, or power; as, giant brothers; a giant son. Giant cell. (Anat.) See Myeloplax. -- Giant clam (Zoöl.), a bivalve shell of the genus Tridacna, esp. T. gigas, which sometimes weighs 500 pounds. The shells are sometimes used in churches to contain holy water. -- Giant heron (Zoöl.), a very large African h…

One of the combs of closely ranged steel pins which divide the ribbons of flax fiber or wool into fewer parallel filaments. Etym: [Prob. so called from F. aiguilles, needles. Ure.] Gill arches, Gill bars. (Anat.) Same as Branchial arches. -- Gill clefts. (Anat.) Same as Branchial clefts. See under Branchial. -- Gill…

To yield to force or pressure; to relax; to become less rigid; as, the earth gives under the feet.

The American plant Trollius laxus. Japan globeflower. See Corchorus.