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In the early church, one who devoted himself to a solitary and contemplative life, characterized by devotion, extreme self-denial, and self-mortification; a hermit; a recluse; hence, one who practices extreme rigor and self-denial in religious things. I am far from commending those ascetics that take up their quarters…

To request; to seek to obtain by words; to petition; to solicit; - - often with of, in the sense of from, before the person addressed. Ask counsel, we pray thee, of God. Judg. xviii. 5. If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you. John xv. 7.…

The act of inquiring or requesting; a petition; solicitation. Longfellow.

An apparatus for passing air or gases through or over certain liquids or solids, or for exhausting a closed vessel, by means of suction.

The conversion of nutriment into the fluid or solid substance of the body, by the processes of digestion and absorption, whether in plants or animals. Not conversing the body, not repairing it by assimilation, but preserving it by ventilation. Sir T. Browne.

To bind up; to confine; to constrict; to contract. The solid parts were to be relaxed or astricted. Arbuthnot.

A system (devised by Henri Pieper, a Belgian) of driving automobiles employing a gasoline engine and an auxiliary reversible dynamo. When there is an excess of power the dynamo is driven by the engine so as to charge a small storage battery; when there is a deficiency of power the dynamo reverses and acts as an auxilia…

sually propelled by internal combustion engines (using volatile inflammable liquids, as gasoline or petrol, alcohol, naphtha, etc.), steam engines, or electric motors. The power of the driving motor varies from about 4 to 50 H. P. for ordinary vehicles, ranging from the run-about to the touring car, up to as high as 20…

ar. Keble. To tame the pride of that power which 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.…

planes perpendicular to it, the line describing a surface of revolution, and the plane a solid of revolution. -- Axis of symmetry (Geom.), any line in a plane figure which divides the figure into two such parts that one part, when folded over along the axis, shall coincide with the other part. -- Axis of the equator…

A commercial traveler; one employed to solicit orders for manufacturers and tradesmen. Thackeray.

Any solid spherical, cylindrical, or conical projectile of lead or iron, to be discharged from a firearm; as, a cannon ball; a rifball; -- often used collectively; as, powder and ball. Spherical balls for the smaller firearms are commonly called bullets.

Gravel, broken stone, etc., laid in the bed of a railroad to make it firm and solid.

ng supposed to be a product of Peru. -- Balsam of Tolu, a reddish or yellowish brown semisolid or solid balsam, obtained from a South American tree ( Myxoxylon toluiferum.). It is highly fragrant, and is used as a stomachic and expectorant. -- Balsam tree, any tree from which balsam is obtained, esp. the Abies balsam…

A solid drum, or a hollow cylinder or case; as, the barrel of a windlass; the barrel of a watch, within which the spring is coiled.

t the bar, and undertake the public trial of causes, as distinguished from an attorney or solicitor. See Attorney. [Eng.]

One of the solid upright parts of a parapet in ancient fortifications.

The foundation or the more solid and fixed part or framing of a machine; or a part on which something is laid or supported; as, the bed of an engine.

The solid rock underlying superficial formations. Also Fig.

sect of the order Hymenoptera, and family Apidæ (the honeybees), or family Andrenidæ (the solitary bees.) See Honeybee.