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The clear space between two columns, measured at the bottom of their shafts. Gwilt.

portive; humorous. To quit their austerity and be jocose and pleasant with an adversary. Shaftesbury. All . . . jocose or comical airs should be excluded. I. Watts.

supports the ends of abutting rails. -- Joint coupling, a universal joint for coupling shafting. See under Universal. -- Joint hinge, a hinge having long leaves; a strap hinge. -- Joint splice, a reënforce at a joint, to sustain the parts in their true relation. -- Joint stool. (a) A stool consisting of jointed pa…

That portion of a rotating piece, as a shaft, axle, spindle, etc., which turns in a bearing or box. See Illust. of Axle box. Journal box, or Journal bearing (Mach.) the carrier of a journal; the box in which the journal of a shaft, axle, or pin turns.

A bar, pin or wedge, to secure a crank, pulley, coupling, etc., upon a shaft, and prevent relative turning; sometimes holding by friction alone, but more frequently by its resistance to shearing, being usually embedded partly in the shaft and partly in the crank, pulley, etc.

A weapon of war, consisting of a long shaft or handle and a steel blade or head; a spear carried by horsemen, and often decorated with a small flag; also, a spear or harpoon used by whalers and fishermen. A braver soldier never couched lance. Shak.

A tough, elastic wood, often used for the shafts of gigs, archery bows, fishing rods, and the like. Also, the tree which produces this wood, Duguetia Quitarensis (a native of Guiana and Cuba), and several other trees of the same family (Anonaseæ). Australian lancewood, a myrtaceous tree (Backhousia Australis).…

A person who waits at the mouth of the shaft to receive the kibble of ore.

A woman who makes laws. Shaftesbury.

An arm on a rock shaft, to give motion to the shaft or to obtain motion from it. Compound lever, a machine consisting of two or more levers acting upon each other. -- Lever escapement. See Escapement. -- Lever jack. See Jack, n., 5. -- Lever watch, a watch having a vibrating lever to connect the action of the escape…

livers it through a spout; a lift pump. -- Lifting rod, a vertical rod lifted by a rock shaft, and imparting motion to a puppet valve; -- used in the engines of river steamboats. -- Lifting sail (Naut.), one which tends to lift a vessel's bow out of water, as jibs and square foresails.

The shafts or thills of a wagon or carriage. [Prov. Eng.]

The space at the mouth of a level next the shaft, widened to permit wagons to pass, or ore to be deposited for hoisting; -- called also platt. Raymond.

The leather loop or ear by which a shaft is held up.

A ventilating chimney over the shaft of a mine.

race. (b) (Naut.) The brace attached to the main yard. -- Main center (Steam Engine), a shaft upon which a working beam or side lever swings. -- Main chance. See under Chance. -- Main couple (Arch.), the principal truss in a roof. -- Main deck (Naut.), the deck next below the spar deck; the principal deck. -- Main…

The shafting, gearing, and other driving machinery of mils.

To cause to seem to be a miracle. [R.] Shaftesbury.

Of or pertaining to miscellanies. Shaftesbury. -- n.

The size of some one part, as the diameter of semi-diameter of the base of a shaft, taken as a unit of measure by which the proportions of the other parts of the composition are regulated. Generally, for columns, the semi-diameter is taken, and divided into a certain number of parts, called minutes (see Minute), though…