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In ascomycetous fungi, the spherical, discoid, or cup-shaped body within which the asci are collected, and which constitutes the mature fructification. The different forms are known in mycology under distinct names. Called also spore fruit.

The relation of some employment or action; occupied with; as, at engraving; at husbandry; at play; at work; at meat (eating); except at puns.

An excessive or inordinate desire of gain; greediness after wealth; covetousness; cupidity. To desire money for its own sake, and in order to hoard it up, is avarice. Beattie.

o transfer to another tribunal. [Obs. or Archaic] One who avocateth his mind from other occupations. Barrow. He, at last, . . . avocated the cause to Rome. Robertson.

Pursuits; duties; affairs which occupy one's time; usual employment; vocation. There are professions, among the men, no more favorable to these studies than the common avocations of women. Richardson. In a few hours, above thirty thousand men left his standard, and returned to their ordinary avocations. Macaulay. An ir…

nt has been taken to a new position; a sight directed backwards to a station previously occupied. Cf. Foresight, n., 3.

A game played on an oblong board, having, at one end, cups or arches into or through which balls are to be driven by a rod held in the hand of the player.

A utensil, as a bucket or cup, used in bailing; a machine for bailing water out of a pit.

l of the eye. -- Ball valve (Mach.), a contrivance by which a ball, placed in a circular cup with a hole in its bottom, operates as a valve. -- Ball vein (Mining), a sort of iron ore, found in loose masses of a globular form, containing sparkling particles. -- Three balls, or Three golden balls, a pawnbroker's sign…

An ornament resembling a ball placed in a circular flower, the petals of which form a cup round it, -- usually inserted in a hollow molding.

Destruction; death. [Obs.] The cup of deception spiced and tempered to their bane. Milton.

A member of one of the great family of Negroid tribes occupying equatorial and southern Africa. These tribes include, as important divisions, the Kafirs, Damaras, Bechuanas, and many tribes whose names begin with Aba-, Ama-, Ba-, Ma-, Wa-, variants of the Bantu plural personal prefix Aba-, as in Ba-ntu, or Aba-ntu, its…

The railing that incloses the place which counsel occupy in courts of justice. Hence, the phrase at the bar of the court signifies in open court.

One whose occupation it is to shave or trim the beard, and to cut and dress the hair of his patrons. Barber's itch. See under Itch.

A professional poet and singer, as among the ancient Celts, whose occupation was to compose and sing verses in honor of the heroic achievements of princes and brave men.

by filling a graduated glass tube about 34 inches long with mercury and inverting it in a cup containing mercury. The column of mercury in the tube descends until balanced by the weight of the atmosphere, and its rise or fall under varying conditions is a measure of the change in the atmospheric pressure. At the sea le…

y of sentiment; ignoble; mean; illiberal; menial; as, a base fellow; base motives; base occupations. "A cruel act of a base and a cowardish mind." Robynson (More's Utopia). "Base ingratitude." Milton.

lley, or depression of the surface of the ground, the lowest part of which is generally occupied by a lake, or traversed by a river.

A form of acupuncture, followed by the rubbing of the part with a stimulating fluid.

A cupping glass to which are attached a scarificator and an exhausting syringe. Dunglison.