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gray color, which absorbs water rapidly, and adheres to the tongue; whence the name. -- Aluminous slate, or Alum slate (Min.), a kind of slate containing sulphate of alumina, -- used in the manufacture of alum. -- Bituminous slate (Min.), a soft species of sectile clay slate, impregnated with bitumen. -- Hornblende…

A luminous appearance, or an image seen after the eye has been exposed to an intense light or a strongly illuminated object. When the object is colored, the image appears of the complementary color, as a green image seen after viewing a red wafer lying on white paper. Called also ocular spectrum. Absorption spectrum, t…

One of the innumerable luminous bodies seen in the heavens; any heavenly body other than the sun, moon, comets, and nebulæ. His eyen twinkled in his head aright, As do the stars in the frosty night. Chaucer.

The luminous orb, the light of which constitutes day, and its absence night; the central body round which the earth and planets revolve, by which they are held in their orbits, and from which they receive light and heat. Its mean distance from the earth is about 92,500,000 miles, and its diameter about 860,000.…

A luminous spot occasionally seen a few degrees from the sun, supposed to be formed by the intersection of two or more halos, or in a manner similar to that of halos.

est. [Colloq.] -- Tail joist. (Arch.) Same as Tailpiece. -- Tail of a comet (Astron.), a luminous train extending from the nucleus or body, often to a great distance, and usually in a direction opposite to the sun. -- Tail of a gale (Naut.), the latter part of it, when the wind has greatly abated. Totten. -- Tail of…

e of superfluous words; polished to smoothness; as, terse language; a terse style. Terse, luminous, and dignified eloquence. Macaulay. A poet, too, was there, whose verse Was tender, musical, and terse. Longfellow.

al instrument or toy for showing the presistence of an impression upon the eyes after the luminous object is withdrawn.

ng to the zodiac; situated within the zodiac; as, the zodiacal planets. Zodiacal light, a luminous tract of the sky, of an elongated, triangular figure, lying near the ecliptic, its base being on the horizon, and its apex at varying altitudes. It is to be seen only in the evening, after twilight, and in the morning bef…