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three feet each, having generally a trochee in the first and the fourth foot, and an amphimacer in the third; -- applied also to a regular hexameter verse when so constructed as to be divisible into two portions of three feet each. Andrews.

Macerated; softened; nearly fluid.

are for use, as flax, by separating the fibers from the woody part by process of soaking, macerating, and other treatment. Ure.

To expose, as flax, to a process of maceration, etc., for the purpose of separating the fiber; to ret.

taff or baton borne by a sovereign, as a ceremonial badge or emblem of authority; a royal mace. And the king held out Esther the golden scepter that was in his hand. Esther v. 2.

ed or closed by a screw. -- Screw worm (Zoöl.), the larva of an American fly (Compsomyia macellaria), allied to the blowflies, which sometimes deposits its eggs in the nostrils, or about wounds, in man and other animals, with fatal results. -- Screw wrench. (a) A wrench for turning a screw. (b) A wrench with an adjus…

A grimace. [Obs.] Dryden.

To utter with a grimace or contemptuous expression; to utter with a sneer; to say sneeringly; as, to sneer fulsome lies at a person. Congreve. "A ship of fools," he sneered. Tennyson.

cause or suffer to lie in a fluid till the substance has imbibed what it can contain; to macerate in water or other liquid; to steep, as for the purpose of softening or freshening; as, to soak cloth; to soak bread; to soak salt meat, salt fish, or the like.

To macerate, and render fit for plaster or mortar; as, to sour lime for business purposes.

Spermaceti. Sperm oil, a fatty oil found as a liquid, with spermaceti, in the head cavities of the sperm whale. -- Sperm whale. (Zoöl.) See in the Vocabulary.

t of the head, above the skull, there is a large cavity, or case, filled with oil and spermaceti. This whale sometimes grows to the length of more than eighty feet. It is found in the warmer parts of all the oceans. Called also cachalot, and spermaceti whale. Pygmy sperm whale (Zoöl.), a small whale (Kogia breviceps),…

f many kinds, fragrant or aromatic and pungent to the taste, as pepper, cinnamon, nutmeg, mace, allspice, ginger, cloves, etc., which are used in cookery and to flavor sauces, pickles, etc. Hast thou aught in thy purse [bag] any hot spices Piers Plowman.

A native of, or resident in, Stagira, in ancient Macedonia; especially, Aristotle. [Written also Stagyrite.]

To soak in a liquid; to macerate; to extract the essence of by soaking; as, to soften seed by steeping it in water. Often used figuratively. Let fancy still my sense in Lethe steep. Shak. In refreshing dew to steep The little, trembling flowers. Wordsworth. The learned of the nation were steeped in Latin. Earle.…

gous with ethal, and found in small quantities as an ethereal salt of stearic acid in spermaceti.

senseless by a blow, as on the head. One hung a poleax at his saddlebow, And one a heavy mace to stun the foe. Dryden.

Of or pertaining to Thessalonica, a city of Macedonia. -- n.

Having three prongs; trident; tridentate; as, a tridented mace. [R.] Quarles.

ean. It sometimes becomes sixty feet long. -- Whale shot, the name formerly given to spermaceti. -- Whale's tongue (Zoöl.), a balanoglossus.