Search the Dictionary

The transoms, knees, beams, keelson, and other chief timbers used for connecting and strengthening the parts of a vessel.

l plates or valves joined together by an elastic ligament at the hinge, which is usually strengthened by prominences called teeth. The shell is closed by the contraction of two transverse muscles attached to the inner surface, as in the clam, -- or by one, as in the oyster. See Mollusca.

. [Obs.] And burning blades about their heads do bless. Spenser. Round his armed head his trenchant blade he blest. Fairfax.

A cover or protection for an advanced trench or approach, formed of fascines and earth supported by a framework.

o frighten or deter from accomplishing a purpose by making a show of confidence in one's strength or resources; as, he bluffed me off. [Colloq.]

Consistency; thickness; substance; strength; as, this color has body; wine of a good body.

A rope stitched to the edges of a sail to strengthen the sail.

the lower edge of the upper slate. -- Bond timber, timber worked into a wall to tie or strengthen it longitudinally.

h is resisted by a tie forming a chord of the arch. -- Bowstring girder, an arched beam strengthened by a tie connecting its two ends. -- Bowstring hemp (Bot.), the tenacious fiber of the Sanseviera Zeylanica, growing in India and Africa, from which bowstrings are made. Balfour.

A winding or zigzag trench forming a path or communication from one siegework to another, to a magazine, etc.

To draw tight; to tighten; to put in a state of tension; to strain; to strengthen; as, to brace the nerves. And welcome war to brace her drums. Campbell.

Imparting strength or tone; strengthening; invigorating; as, a bracing north wind.

projecting from, or fastened to, a wall, or other surface, to support heavy bodies or to strengthen angles.

Full, strong muscles, esp. of the arm or leg, muscular strength; a protuberant muscular part of the body; sometimes, the arm. Brawn without brains is thine. Dryden. It was ordained that murderers should be brent on the brawn of the left hand. E. Hall. And in my vantbrace put this withered brawn. Shak.…

To destroy the strength, firmness, or consistency of; as, to break flax.

A thick piece of timber in the form of a knee, placed across the stem of a ship to strengthen the fore part and unite the bows on each side. Totten.

Fig.: That which gives or strengthens life. The earthquake voice of victory, To thee the breath of life. Byron.

, a molded sample of solidified cement or mortar for use as a test piece for showing the strength of the material.

The heat, or utmost violence, of an onset; the strength or greatest fury of any contention; as, the brunt of a battle.

A small, hollow, floating bead or globe, formerly used for testing the strength of spirits.