Search the Dictionary

cy to point in a given direction. Astatic pair (Magnetism), a pair of magnetic needles so mounted as to be nearly or quite astatic, as in some galvanometers.

An instrument for comparing the relative amount of the light of stars.

the pressure exerted by the atmosphere, not merely downwards, but in every direction. In amounts to about 14.7 Ibs. on each square inch. -- Atmospheric railway, one in which pneumatic power, obtained from compressed air or the creation of a vacuum, is the propelling force. -- Atmospheric tides. See under Tide.…

To lessen the amount, force, or value of; to make less complex; to weaken. To undersell our rivals . . . has led the manufacturer to . . . attenuate his processes, in the allotment of tasks, to an extreme point. I. Taylor. We may reject and reject till we attenuate history into sapless meagerness. Sir F. Palgrave.…

To enlarge or increase in size, amount, or degree; to swell; to make bigger; as, to augment an army by reëforcements; rain augments a stream; impatience augments an evil. But their spite still serves His glory to augment. Milton.

A large mass or body of snow and ice sliding swiftly down a mountain side, or falling down a precipice.

To descend; to fall; to dismount. [Obs.] And from their sweaty courses did avale. Spenser.

xxii. 43. Avenge, O Lord, thy slaughtered saints, whose bones Lie scattered on the Alpine mountains cold. Milton. He had avenged himself on them by havoc such as England had never before seen. Macaulay.

st for the benefit of all. It is called general average, because it falls upon the gross amount of ship, cargo, and freight at risk and saved by the sacrifice. Kent. -- Particular average signifies the damage or partial loss happening to the ship, or cargo, or freight, in consequence of some fortuitous or unavoidable…

held the Continent in awe. Macaulay. The solitude of the desert, or the loftiness of the mountain, may fill the mind with awe -- the sense of our own littleness in some greater presence or power. C. J. Smith. To stand in awe of, to fear greatly; to reverence profoundly.

An extended upper part, as of a mountain or ridge. [The mountains] their broad bare backs upheave Into the clouds. Milton.

Anything like , or serving the purpose of, a backbone. The lofty mountains on the north side compose the granitic axis, or backbone of the country. Darwin. We have now come to the backbone of our subject. Earle.

unts be complete and the balances correctly taken. -- Balance thermometer, a thermometer mounted as a balance so that the movement of the mercurial column changes the indication of the tube. With the aid of electrical or mechanical devices adapted to it, it is used for the automatic regulation of the temperature of ro…

An outlaw; a brigand. No savage fierce, bandit, or mountaineer. Milton.

A mound of earth or a platform in a fortification, on which guns are mounted to fire over the parapet. En barbette, In barbette, said of guns when they are elevated so as to fire over the top of a parapet, and not through embrasures. -- Barbette gun, or Barbette battery, a single gun, or a number of guns, mounted in b…

lations of the mercury, and suspended in gimbals from an arm or support on shipboard. -- Mountain barometer, a portable mercurial barometer with tripod support, and long scale, for measuring heights. -- Siphon barometer, a barometer having a tube bent like a hook with the longer leg closed at the top. The height of t…

Not producing vegetation, or useful vegetation; "Barren mountain tracts." Macaulay.

late, of a grayish or bluish black color. It is employed to test the purity of gold, the amount of alloy being indicated by the color left on the stone when rubbed by the metal.

omething rests for support; the foundation; as, the base of a statue. "The base of mighty mountains." Prescott.

Having the base in excess, or the amount of the base atomically greater than that of the acid, or exceeding in proportion that of the related neutral salt.