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Webster’s Dictionary (1828)



92 words match “TAPER”

TUQUE n.
A kind of warm cap winter wear, made from a knit bag with closed tapered ends by pushing one end within the other, thus making a conical cap of double thickness.
VESTLET n.
es of actinians belonging to the genus Cerianthus. These animals have a long, smooth body tapering to the base, and two separate circles of tentacles around the mouth. They form a tough, flexible, feltlike tube with a smooth internal lining, in which they dwell, whence the name.
WALKING n.
(Bot.) A little American fern (Camptosorus rhizophyllus); -- so called because the fronds taper into slender prolongations which often root at the apex, thus producing new plants. (b) (Zoöl.) A leaf insect. See under Leaf. -- Walking papers, or Walking ticket, an order to leave; dismissal, as from office. [Colloq.] Ba…
WANY a.
parts; not of uniform size throughout; -- said especially of sawed boards or timber when tapering or uneven, from being cut too near the outside of the log.
WAX n.
t of the commercial Chinese wax is obtained. Called also pela. -- Wax light, a candle or taper of wax. -- Wax moth (Zoöl.), a pyralid moth (Galleria cereana) whose larvæ feed upon honeycomb, and construct silken galleries among the fragments. The moth has dusky gray wings streaked with brown near the outer edge. The…
WEDGE n.
A piece of metal, or other hard material, thick at one end, and tapering to a thin edge at the other, used in splitting wood, rocks, etc., in raising heavy bodies, and the like. It is one of the six elementary machines called the mechanical powers. See Illust. of Mechanical powers, under Mechanical.…
WEDGE-SHAPED a.
Broad and truncate at the summit, and tapering down to the base; as, a wedge-shaped leaf.
WHIP-SHAPED a.
Shaped like the lash of a whip; long, slender, round, and tapering; as, a whip-shaped root or stem.
WITCH n.
A cone of paper which is placed in a vessel of lard or other fat, and used as a taper. [Prov. Eng.]
WOOD n.
s of cloth. Knight. -- Wood cell (Bot.), a slender cylindrical or prismatic cell usually tapering to a point at both ends. It is the principal constituent of woody fiber. -- Wood choir, the choir, or chorus, of birds in the woods. [Poetic] Coleridge. -- Wood coal, charcoal; also, lignite, or brown coal. -- Wood cri…
WOODY a.
Spenser. Woody fiber. (Bot.) (a) Fiber or tissue consisting of slender, membranous tubes tapering at each end. (b) A single wood cell. See under Wood. Goodale. -- Woody nightshade. (Bot.). See Bittersweet, 3 (a). -- Woody pear (Bot.), the inedible, woody, pear-shaped fruit of several Australian proteaceous trees of…
YARD n.
A long piece of timber, nearly cylindrical, tapering toward the ends, and designed to support and extend a square sail. A yard is usually hung by the center to the mast. See Illust. of Ship. Golden Yard, or Yard and Ell (Astron.), a popular name the three stars in the belt of Orion. -- Under yard [i. e., under the rod…
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