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tic form, are slightly raised above the surface, and after the fourth day of the eruption gradually decline; rubeola. Measles commences with the ordinary symptoms of fever. Am. Cyc.

into small particles; to turn to dust by natural decay; to lose form, or waste away, by a gradual separation of the component particles, without the presence of water; to crumble away. The moldering of earth in frosts and sun. Bacon. When statues molder, and when arches fall. Prior. If he had sat still, the enemy's arm…

Dying; a gradual decrescendo at the end of a strain or cadence.

Anything which gradually and silently eats, consumes, or wastes any other thing. Moth blight (Zoöl.), any plant louse of the genus Aleurodes, and related genera. They are injurious to various plants. -- Moth gnat (Zoöl.), a dipterous insect of the genus Bychoda, having fringed wings. -- Moth hunter (Zoöl.), the goats…

above, and bears on the under side radiating gills which are at first flesh-colored, but gradually become brown. The plant grows in rich pastures and is proverbial for rapidity of growth and shortness of duration. It has a pleasant smell, and is largely used as food. It is also cultivated from spawn.…

test. The theory of natural selection supposes that this has been brought about mainly by gradual changes of environment which have led to corresponding changes of structure, and that those forms which have become so modified as to be best adapted to the changed environment have tended to survive and leave similarly ad…

stem to have existed originally in the form of a vast, diffused, revolving nebula, which, gradually cooling and contracting, threw off, in obedience to mechanical and physical laws, succesive rings of matter, from which subsequently, by the same laws, were produced the several planets, satellites, and other bodies of t…

A disease of trees, in which the branches gradually dry up from the bark to the center.

nsist of about eighty feet of shale supporting a greater thickness of limestone, which is gradually undermined by the removal of the shale. See Chart of Geology.

An upright, four-sided pillar, gradually tapering as it rises, and terminating in a pyramid called pyramidion. It is ordinarily monolithic. Egyptian obelisks are commonly covered with hieroglyphic writing from top to bottom.

ator. -- Oblique step (Mil.), a step in marching, by which the soldier, while advancing, gradually takes ground to the right or left at an angle of about 25º. It is not now practiced. Wilhelm. -- Oblique system of coördinates (Anal. Geom.), a system in which the coördinate axes are oblique to each other.…

A pyramidal form of inflorescence, in which the cluster is loosely branched below and gradually simpler toward the end.

Gradually decreasing; past the acme, or crisis, as a distemper. Dunglison.

ain person or place; as, he passed by as we stood there. -- To pass into, to change by a gradual transmission; to blend or unite with. -- To pass on, to proceed. -- To pass on or upon. (a) To happen to; to come upon; to affect. "So death passed upon all men." Rom. v. 12. "Provided no indirect act pass upon our praye…

certain diseases, as hydrophobia, by successive inoculations with an attenuated virus of gradually increasing strength.

tory of a play, novel, romance, or poem, comprising a complication of incidents which are gradually unfolded, sometimes by unexpected means. If the plot or intrigue must be natural, and such as springs from the subject, then the winding up of the plot must be a probable consequence of all that went before. Pope.…

rather slow. Poco a poco Etym: [It.] (Mus.) Little by little; as, poco a poco crescendo, gradually increasing in loudness.

The doctrine of, or belief in, a plurality of gods. In the Old Testament, the gradual development of polytheism from the primitive monotheism may be learned. Shaff-Herzog.

In singing, or in the use of the bow, a gradual carrying or lifting of the voice or sound very smoothly from one note to another; a gliding from tone to tone.

to act upon by pushing or thrusting, in distinction from pulling; to crowd or compel by a gradual and continued exertion; to bear upon; to squeeze; to compress; as, we press the ground with the feet when we walk; we press the couch on which we repose; we press substances with the hands, fingers, or arms; we are pressed…