Search the Dictionary

A powerful and warlike confederacy of Indian tribes, formerly inhabiting Central New York and constituting most of the Five Nations. Also, any Indian of the Iroquois tribes.

One of a race inhabiting Kafiristan in Central Asia. [Spelt also Caffre.] Kaffir corn (Bot.), a Cape Colony name for Indian millet.

The central, substantial or essential part of anything; the gist; the core; as, the kernel of an argument.

The central or topmost stone of an arch. This in some styles is made different in size from the other voussoirs, or projects, or is decorated with carving. See Illust. of Arch. Keystone State, the State of Pennsylvania; -- so called from its having been the central State of the Union at the formation of the Constitutio…

Pennsylvania; -- a nickname alluding to its having been the central one of the 13 original United States.

. The birds of this genus inhabit India and China, and are distinguished by having a long central and two lateral crests on the head. Called also pucras.

A wild horse (Equus, or Asinus, onager) inhabiting the plants of Central Asia; -- called also gour, khur, and onager. [Written also kulan.]

ol educational and ecclesiastical appointments in the interest of the political policy of centralization. The struggle began with the passage by the Prussian Diet in May, 1873, of the so-called May laws, or Falk laws, aiming at the regulation of the clergy. Opposition eventually compelled the government to change its p…

e of the half-breed descendants of whites and Indians; a mestizo; -- so called throughout Central America. They are usually of a yellowish orange tinge. Am. Cyc.

The central process, or front edge, of the labium of insects. It sometimes serves as a tongue or proboscis, as in bees. [See Illust. under Labium, and Hymenoptera.]

The central keel-bearing part of the sternum in birds.

ing to Pipra, Manacus, and other genera of the family Pipridæ. They are mostly natives of Central and South America. some are bright-colored, and others have the wings and tail curiously ornamented. The name is sometimes applied to related birds of other families.

cat (Felis manul), having long, soft, light-colored fur. It is found in the mountains of Central Asia, and dwells among rocks.

A spider monkey (Ateles belzebuth) of Central and South America.

The pharynx of a rotifer. It usually contains four horny pieces. The two central ones form the incus, against which the mallei, or lateral ones, work so as to crush the food.

verted into a multitude of cells, which are metamorphosed into the tissues of the body. A central cavity is commonly developed, and the cells around it are at first arranged in two layers, -- the ectoderm and endoderm. The group comprises nearly all animals except the Protozoa.

An apparatus which transmits automatically to a central station atmospheric changes as marked by the anemometer, barometer, thermometer, etc.

, or a solid; an intervening point or part in space, time, or order of series; the midst; central portion; specif., the waist. Chaucer. "The middle of the land." Judg. ix. 37. In this, as in most questions of state, there is a middle. Burke.

The man who occupies a central position in a file of soldiers.

The interior or central region of a country; -- usually in the plural. Drayton.