Search the Dictionary

e on the body, or on a plant. "Excrescences of joy." Jer. Taylor. The excrescences of the Spanish monarchy. Addison.

ntry or of line; extent of information or of charity. Life in its large extent is scare a span. Cotton.

A lively dance, in 3-8 or 6-8 time, much practiced in Spain and Spanish America. Also, the tune to which it is danced.

A dry measure in Spain and Spanish America, varying from 1 De Colange.

encompass with the arms extended or encircling; to measure by throwing the arms about; to span. [Obs.] Purchas.

; to roll slide to leeward. -- To fetch and carry, to serve obsequiously, like a trained spaniel.

Among Spanish, a religious festival; a saint's day or holiday; also, a holiday or festivity.

emptuous motion. See Fico. [Obs.] When Pistol lies, do this, and fig me like The bragging Spaniard. Shak.

one in quest of plunder; a freebooter; -- originally applied to buccaneers infesting the Spanish American coasts, but introduced into common English to designate the followers of Lopez in his expedition to Cuba in 1851, and those of Walker in his expedition to Nicaragua, in 1855.

A native of the Philippine Islands, specif. one of Spanish descent or of mixed blood.

The Spanish half real, or one sixteenth of a dollar, -- so called in Pennsylvania and the adjacent States. [Obs.]

e as a guide for the thickness of the coat. -- Floating threads (Weaving), threads which span several other threads without being interwoven with them, in a woven fabric.

Any winged insect; esp., one with transparent wings; as, the Spanish fly; firefly; gall fly; dragon fly.

A name formerly given in New England to the Spanish half real, a silver coin worth six and a quarter cents.

of several related plants, as the cowpea. Frijoles are an important article of diet among Spanish- American peoples, being used as an ingredient of many dishes.

Designating, pertaining to, or held under, the Spanish system of law (called ganancial system) which controls the title and disposition of the property acquired during marriage by the husband or wife.

A Spanish mode of execution by strangulation, with an iron collar affixed to a post and tightened by a screw until life become extinct; also, the instrument by means of which the punishment is inflicted.

On of the native inhabitants of the pampas, of Spanish-American descent. They live mostly by rearing cattle.

A small-sized, well-proportioned, Spanish horse; a jennet. Shak.

the family Geometridæ; -- so called because their larvæ (called loopers, measuring worms, spanworms, and inchworms) creep in a looping manner, as if measuring. Many of the species are injurious to agriculture, as the cankerworms.