SCALE n.
They are found upon the leaves and twigs of various trees and shrubs, and often do great damage to fruit trees. See Orange scale,under Orange. -- Scale moss (Bot.), any leafy-stemmed moss of the order Hepaticæ; -- so called from the small imbricated scalelike leaves of most of the species. See Hepatica, 2, and Junger…
SCATH n.
Harm; damage; injury; hurt; waste; misfortune. [Written also scathe.] But she was somedeal deaf, and that was skathe. Chaucer. Great mercy, sure, for to enlarge a thrall, Whose freedom shall thee turn to greatest scath. Spenser. Wherein Rome hath done you any scath, Let him make treble satisfaction. Shak.…
SOUND v.
o partake of the nature of; to be consonant with. [Obs., except in the phrase To sound in damages, below.] Soun[d]ing in moral virtue was his speech. Chaucer. -- To sound in damages (Law), to have the essential quality of damages. This is said of an action brought, not for the recovery of a specific thing, as replevin,…
SPECIAL a.
ns. Wharton (Law Dict.). -- Special constable. See under Constable. Bouvier. -- Special damage (Law), a damage resulting from the act complained of, as a natural, but not the necessary, consequence of it. -- Special demurrer (Law), a demurrer for some defect of form in the opposite party pleading, in which the cause…
STAFF n.
e wall on each of its sides, at the external angles of plastering, to prevent their being damaged. -- The staff of life, bread. "Bread is the staff of life." Swift. -- Staff tree (Bot.), any plant of the genus Celastrus, mostly climbing shrubs of the northern hemisphere. The American species (C. scandens) is commonly…