Search the Dictionary

A strap for tightening a saddle girth. [Western U. S. & Sp. Amer.]

Not tight or close; as, a loose garment.

To make loose; to free from tightness, tension, firmness, or fixedness; to make less dense or compact; as, to loosen a string, or a knot; to loosen a rock in the earth. After a year's rooting, then shaking doth the tree good by loosening of the earth. Bacon.

al device for making an indicator diagram for high- speed engines. It consists of a light-tight box or camera having at one end a small convex mirror which reflects a beam of light on to the ground glass or photographic plate at the other end. The mirror is pivoted so that it can be moved in one direction by a small pl…

omething that fits badly, as a garment. I saw an uneasy change in Mr. Micawber, which sat tightly on him, as if his new duties were a misfit. Dickens.

To catch and inclose or compress tightly between two surfaces, or points which are brought together or closed; to pinch; to close in upon. May this hard earth cleave to the Nadir hell, Down, down, and close again, and nip me flat, If I be such a traitress. Tennyson.

f metal), provided with an internal or female screw thread, used on a bolt, or screw, for tightening or holding something, or for transmitting motion. See Illust. of lst Bolt.

To wind too tightly, as a spring, or too far, as a hoisting rope on a drum.

A yielding ring, as of metal, which surrounds a piston and maintains a tight fit, as inside a cylinder, etc.

achine parcels yarn, wool, etc. To parcel a rope (Naut.), to wind strips of tarred canvas tightly arround it. Totten. -- To parcel a seam (Naut.), to cover it with a strip of tarred canvas.

cured in its own juices, so as to be very dark colored, usually black. It is marketed in tightly wrapped rolls called carottes.

of a machine, and is often furnished with journal boxes, and a movable cover, or cap, for tightening the bearings by means of bolts; -- called also pillar block, or plumber block. -- Pillow lace, handmade lace wrought with bobbins upon a lace pillow. -- Pillow of a plow, a crosspiece of wood which serves to raise or…

To stop with a plug; to make tight by stopping a hole.

. (Naut.) See def. 1 (f), above. -- Rack lashing, a lashing or binding where the rope is tightened, and held tight by the use of a small stick of wood twisted around. -- Rack rail (Railroads), a toothed rack, laid as a rail, to afford a hold for teeth on the driving wheel of locomotive for climbing steep gradients, a…

e. Many counterfeits passed about under the name of raps. Swift. Tie it [her money] up so tight that you can't touch a rap, save with her consent. Mrs. Alexander. Not to care a rap, to care nothing. -- Not worth a rap, worth nothing.

below a horizontal line or plane; as, a line or cable supported by its ends sags, though tightly drawn; the floor of a room sags; hence, to lean, give way, or settle from a vertical position; as, a building may sag one way or another; a door sags on its hinges.

le to a lathe spindle, for centering and holding work, in which the jaws are adjusted and tightened simultaneously by turning a disk having in its face a spiral groove which is entered by teeth on the backs of the jaws. -- Scroll saw. See under Saw.

To wind spun yarn, or the like, tightly around (a rope or cable, etc.) so as to protect it from chafing or from the weather. See under Serving. To serve an attachment or a writ of attachment (Law), to levy it on the person or goods by seizure, or to seize. -- To serve an execution (Law), to levy it on a lands, goods,…

elf in a state of enmity or opposition to. -- To set one's teeth, to press them together tightly. -- To set on foot, to set going; to put in motion; to start. -- To set out. (a) To assign; to allot; to mark off; to limit; as, to set out the share of each proprietor or heir of an estate; to set out the widow's thirds…

To cause to flow off without penetrating; as, a tight roof, or covering of oiled cloth, sheeds water.