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The portion of the human figure included between the head and waist, whether in statuary or in the person; the chest or thorax; the upper part of the trunk of the body.

A cloth of exceedingly fine texture, used by the ancients. It is disputed whether it was of cotton, linen, or silk. [Written also byss and byssin.]

A decorative piece of furniture, whether open like an étagère or closed with doors. See Etagere.

low a bed of black lava, in Calaveras County, California. It is regarded as very doubtful whether the skull really belonged to the deposit in which it was found. If it did, it indicates an unprecedented antiquity for human beings of an advanced type.

e a calculation; to forecast caonsequences; to estimate; to compute. The strong passions, whether good or bad, never calculate. F. W. Robertson.

Likely to produce a certain effect, whether intended or not; fitted; adapted; suited. The only danger that attends multiplicity of publication is, that some of them may be calculated to injure rather than benefit society. Goldsmith. The minister, on the other hand, had never gone through an experience calculated to lea…

or iron made to be fired from a cannon, but now often applied to a missile of any shape, whether solid or hollow, made for cannon. Elongated and cylindrical missiles are sometimes called bolts; hollow ones charged with explosives are properly called shells. -- Cannon bullet, a cannon ball. [Obs.] -- Cannon cracker, a…

A piece or pessage, whether vocal or instrumental, pecuilarly adapted to singing; -- sometimes called cantilena.

A dead body, whether of man or beast; a corpse; now commonly the dead body of a beast. He turned to see the carcass of the lion. Judges xiv. 8. This kept thousands in the town whose carcasses went into the great pits by cartloads. De Foe.

A throw of dice; hence, a chance or venture. An even cast whether the army should march this way or that way. Sowth. I have set my life upon a cast, And I will stand the hazard of the die. Shak.

Any vessel with twin hulls, whether propelled by sails or by steam; esp., one of a class of double-hulled pleasure boats remarkable for speed.

ng the centrosome, and also to designate a modified mass of protoplasm about a centrosome whether aster rays are developed or not.

Action of the brain, whether conscious or unconscious.

obtained from brain and nerve tissue by extraction with boiling alcohol. It is uncertain whether it exists as such in nerve tissue, or is a product of the decomposition of some more complex substance.

on certifying is the only proper criterion of the point in dispute; as, when the issue is whether a person was absent in the army, this is tried by the certificate of the proper officer in writing, under his seal. Blackstone.

A ceasing of discontinuance, as of action, whether termporary or final; a stop; as, a cessation of the war. The temporary cessation of the papal iniquities. Motley. The day was yearly observed for a festival by cessation from labor. Sir J. Hayward. Cessation of arms (Mil.), an armistice, or truce, agreed to by the comm…

The prosecution or defense of a suit, whether by furnishing money or personal services, by one who has no legitimate concern therein, in consideration of an agreement that he shall receive, in the event of success, a share of the matter in suit; maintenance with the addition of an agreement to divide the thing in suit.…

A venereal sore or ulcer; specifically, the initial lesion of true syphilis, whether forming a distinct ulcer or not; -- called also hard chancre, indurated chancre, and Hunterian chancre. Soft chancre. A chancroid. See Chancroid.

The integral part (whether positive or negative) of a logarithm.

The arrangement of light and dark parts in a work of art, such as a drawing or painting, whether in monochrome or in color.