Search the Dictionary

d apply the magnetic force. In the ordinary horseshoe magnet, it serves to prevent the dissipation of the magnetic force.

An old woman; and old gossip. [Obs.] Shak.

eremptory; as, an authoritative tone. The mock authoritative manner of the one, and the insipid mirth of the other. Swift. -- Au*thor"i*ta*tive*ly, adv -- Au*thor"i*ta*tive*ness, n.

n given to idle observation of everything, with wonder or astonishment; a credulous or gossipy idler.

table 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 the mercury in the longer leg shows the pressure of the atmosphere. -- Wheel barometer, a barometer with recurved t…

A very large siluroid fish (Leptops olivaris) of the Mississippi valley; -- also called goujon, mud cat, and yellow cat.

Mississippi; -- a nickname, from its numerous bayous.

To drink; to sip; to tipple. He was constantly bibbing. Locke.

level or drainage gallery which has a vertical shaft at each end, and acts as an inverted siphon. Knight. -- Blind nettle (Bot.), dead nettle. See Dead nettle, under Dead. -- Blind shell (Gunnery), a shell containing no charge, or one that does not explode. -- Blind side, the side which is most easily assailed; a we…

A term of contempt for a worthless, dissipated fellow. [Slang]

ntly or abusively. [Low] -- To blow over, to pass away without effect; to cease, or be dissipated; as, the storm and the clouds have blown over. -- To blow up, to be torn to pieces and thrown into the air as by an explosion of powder or gas or the expansive force of steam; to burst; to explode; as, a powder mill or st…

us) which grows on cheese. Brande & C. -- Blue Monday, a Monday following a Sunday of dissipation, or itself given to dissipation (as the Monday before Lent). -- Blue ointment (Med.), mercurial ointment. -- Blue Peter (British Marine), a blue flag with a white square in the center, used as a signal for sailing, to r…

To open up. to be scattered; t be dissipated; as, the clouds are breaking. At length the darkness begins to break. Macawlay.

(Zoöl.), one of several large fresh-water fishes of the family Catostomidæ, of the Mississippi valley. The red-mouthed or brown (Ictiobus bubalus), the big-mouthed or black (Bubalichthys urus), and the small-mouthed (B. altus), are among the more important species used as food. -- Buffalo fly, or Buffalo gnat (Zoöl.)…

An idle, worthless fellow, who is without any visible means of support; a dissipated sponger. [Slang, U.S.]

An annual composite plant of the Mississippi valley (Senecio lobatus).

. There are many species. They have a sack of inklike fluid which they discharge from the siphon tube, when pursued or alarmed, in order to confuse their enemies. Their shell is a thin horny plate, within the flesh of back, shaped very much like a quill pen. In America they are called squids. See Squid.…

An expectation based on cirumstances. The lazy gossips of the port, Abborrent of a calculation crost, Began to chafe as at a personal wrong. Tennyson.

A trull or prostitute; a scold or gossip. [Obs.] [Written also callat.]

One who consumes candles by being up late for study or dissipation. A bookworm, a candlewaster. B. Jonson.