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Very narrow, and tapering gradually to a fine point from a broadish base; awl-shaped; linear.

To augment gradually in force or loudness, as the sound of a note.

To cause to waste gradually, to emaciate. [R.] Harvey.

To become gradually smaller toward one end; as, a sugar loaf tapers toward one end.

Becoming gradually smaller toward one end. -- Ta"per*ing*ly, adv.

ness, in cold water or other liquid, to give an excess of hardness, and then reheating it gradually until the hardness is reduced or drawn down to the degree required, as indicated by the color produced on a polished portion, or by the burning of oil. Tempering color, the shade of color that indicates the degree of tem…

in; -- used with some adverbs, as out, away, etc.; as, geological strata thin out, i. e., gradually diminish in thickness until they disappear.

A circle of sportsmen, who, by surrounding an extensive space and gradually closing in, bring a number of deer and game within a narrow compass. [Scot.] We'll quell the savage mountaineer, As their tinchel cows the game! Sir W. Scott.

s. This is composed of a hard, grayish, or yellowish, translucent or opaque matter, which gradually softens, and excites suppuration in its vicinity. It is most frequently found in the lungs, causing consumption. Tubercle bacillus (Med.), a minute vegetable organism (Bacillus tuberculosis) discovered by Koch, a German…

ith evacuations resembling pea soup in appearance, and prostration and muscular debility, gradually increasing and often becoming profound at the acme of the disease. Its local lesions are a scanty eruption of spots, resembling flea bites, on the belly, enlargement of the spleen, and ulceration of the intestines over t…

Tennyson. Pray you, undo this button. Shak. She took the spindle, and undoing the thread gradually, measured it. Sir W. Scott.

te bounding line, any picture, as an engraving, a photograph, or the like, which vanishes gradually at the edge.

To wear away by degrees; to impair gradually; to diminish by constant loss; to use up; to consume; to spend; to wear out. Until your carcasses be wasted in the wilderness. Num. xiv. 33. O, were I able To waste it all myself, and leave ye none! Milton. Here condemned To waste eternal days in woe and pain. Milton. Wasted…

ng. "Wean them from themselves." Shak. The troubles of age were intended . . . to wean us gradually from our fondness of life. Swift.

waste, or diminish, by continual attrition, scraping, percussion, on the like; to consume gradually; to cause to lower or disappear; to spend. That wicked wight his days doth wear. Spenser. The waters wear the stones. Job xiv. 19.

undertaking in humiliation or penitence. -- Weeping rock, a porous rock from which water gradually issues. -- Weeping sinew, a ganglion. See Ganglion, n., 2. [Colloq.] -- Weeping spring, a spring that discharges water slowly. -- Weeping willow (Bot.), a species of willow (Salix Babylonica) whose branches grow very l…

To produce by slow degrees, or as if laboriously; to bring gradually into any state by action or motion. "Sidelong he works his way." Milton. So the pure, limpid stream, when foul with stains Of rushing torrents and descending rains, Works itself clear, and as it runs, refines, Till by degrees the floating mirror shine…

To work slowly, gradually, and secretly. When debates and fretting jealousy Did worm and work within you more and more, Your color faded. Herbert.