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A part, or division, of the people of the earth, distinguished from the rest by common descent, language, or institutions; a race; a stock. All nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues. Rev. vii. 9.

Not of ancient extraction, or of a family of ancient descent; not previously kniwn or famous. Addison.

Not direct in descent; not following the line of father and son; collateral. His natural affection in a direct line was strong, in an oblique but weak. Baker. Oblique angle, Oblique ascension, etc. See under Angle,Ascension, etc. -- Oblique arch (Arch.), an arch whose jambs are not at right angles with the face, and w…

any figure longer than it is broad. The best figure of a garden I esteem an oblong upon a descent. Sir W. Temple.

Denoting that from which anything proceeds; indicating origin, source, descent, and the like; as, he is of a race of kings; he is of noble blood. That holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God. Luke i. 35. I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you. 1 Cor. xi. 23.…

ancestral characters conserved by heredity are reproduced in development; original simple descent; -- distinguished from kenogenesis. Sometimes, in zoölogy, the abrupt metamorphosis of insects, crustaceans, etc.

A contrivance somewhat in the form of an umbrella, by means of which a descent may be made from a balloon, or any eminence.

Descent from parents or ancestors; parents or ancestors considered with respect to their rank or character; extraction; birth; as, a man of noble parentage. "Wilt thou deny thy parentage" Shak. Though men esteem thee low of parentage. Milton.

fy in detail. He not only boasts of his parentage as an Israelite, but particularizes his descent from Benjamin. Atterbury.

Derivation or descent from a father; male parentage; as, the paternity of a child.

Characteristic of a peacock; resembling the tail of a peacock, as in colors; iridescent. P. Cleaveland.

Resembling pearl or pearls; clear; pure; transparent; iridescent; as, the pearly dew or flood.

A line of ancestors; descent; lineage; genealogy; a register or record of a line of ancestors. Alterations of surnames . . . have obscured the truth of our pedigrees. Camden. His vanity labored to contrive us a pedigree. Milton. I am no herald to inquire of men's pedigrees. Sir P. Sidney. The Jews preserved the pedigre…

A festival of the Roman Catholic and other churches in commemoration of the descent of the Holy Spirit on the apostles; which occurred on the day of Pentecost; -- called also Whitsunday. Shak.

A variety of albite, whitish and slightly iridescent like a pigeon's neck.

own industry, or purchased with his own money, as opposed to things which come to him by descent. Mozley & W.

A small incandescent telltale lamp on a dynamo or battery circuit to show approximately by its brightness the voltage of the current.

A descent; a fall; a thrusting down.

a high degree, and is employed as an oxidizer. -- Platinum lamp (Elec.), a kind of incandescent lamp of which the luminous medium is platinum. See under Incandescent. -- Platinum metals (Chem.), the group of metallic elements which in their chemical and physical properties resemble platinum. These consist of the lig…

Pertaining to, or characterized by, descent from more than one root form, or from many different root forms; polygenetic; -- opposed to Ant: monophyletic.