Search the Dictionary

Same as Arrack.

An interstice or small space, as between the cracks of the surface in certain crustaceous lichens; or as between the fibers composing organs or vessels that interlace; or as between the nervures of an insect's wing.

gular or active army, in which soldiers serve continuously with the colors and live in barracks or cantonments when not in the field; (2) the reserves of this army, in which the soldiers, while remaining constantly subject to a call to the colors, live at their homes, being summoned more or less frequently to report fo…

Snatched away; seized or possessed, as a demoniac; raving; mad; crack-brained. [Obs.] Odd, arreptitious, frantic extravagances. Howell.

A genus of air-breathing mollusks mostly found near the sea, where the water is brackish

Turned away or backward. [Obs.] The tracks averse a lying notice gave, And led the searcher backward from the cave. Dryden.

m, a current running against the main current of a stream; an eddy. -- To take the back track, to retrace one's steps; to retreat. [Colloq.]

A platform projecting from the wall of a building, usually resting on brackets or consoles, and inclosed by a parapet; as, a balcony in front of a window. Also, a projecting gallery in places of amusement; as, the balcony in a theater.

fro, as a ball in playing at bandy. Like tennis balls bandied and struck upon us . . . by rackets from without. Cudworth.

d masts to prevent chafing. (c) A long, thin strip used to strengthen a part, to cover a crack, etc. Batten door (Arch.), a door made of boards of the whole length of the door, secured by battens nailed crosswise.

A cement used in making joints, filling cracks, etc. For iron, the principal constituents are iron borings and sal ammoniac; for wood, white lead or litharge, whiting, and linseed oil.

ess or uneasy. B. Jonson. (c) To be full of fancies; to be a little crazy. "She's whiles crack-brained, and has a bee in her head." Sir W. Scott.

After the departure of another; as, to stay behind. Leave not a rack behind. Shak.

ld of; to hold fast; to adhere to; as, the anchor bites the ground. The last screw of the rack having been turned so often that its purchase crumbled, . . . it turned and turned with nothing to bite. Dickens. To bite the dust, To bite the ground, to fall in the agonies of death; as, he made his enemy bite the dust. --…

crow blackbird; the Agelæus phoeniceus, or red-winged blackbird; the cowbird; the rusty grackle, etc. See Redwing.

nia), found in the flesh or other parts of animals. See Measle, Cysticercus. -- Bladder wrack (Bot.), the common black rock weed of the seacoast (Fucus nodosus and F. vesiculosus) -- called also bladder tangle. See Wrack.

surface coated with coloring matter. -- Block system on railways, a system by which the track is divided into sections of three or four miles, and trains are so run by the guidance of electric signals that no train enters a section or block before the preceding train has left it.

A system by which the track is divided into short sections, as of three or four miles, and trains are so run by the guidance of electric, or combined electric and pneumatic, signals that no train enters a section or block until the preceding train has left it, as in absolute blocking, or that a train may be allowed to…

It is employed to recover game or prey which has escaped wounded from a hunter, and for tracking criminals. Formerly it was used for pursuing runaway slaves. Other varieties of dog are often used for the same purpose and go by the same name. The Cuban bloodhound is said to be a variety of the mastiff.…

. [Obs.] I will board her, though she chide as loud As thunder when the clouds in autumn crack. Shak.