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Of or pertaining to heat; due to heat; thermal; as, thermic lines. Thermic balance. See Bolometer. -- Thermic fever (Med.), the condition of fever produced by sunstroke. See Sunstroke. -- Thermic weight. (Mech.) Same as Heat weight, under Heat.

A massive crane with an overhanging counterbalanced arm carrying a traveler and lifting crab, the whole supported by a carriage mounted on track rails. It is used esp. for setting heavy masonry blocks for piers, breakwaters, etc.

A projection, or slender appendage or fixture; as, the tongue of a buckle, or of a balance.

d in a vessel of the same fluid, allowing the inclosed fluid to descend till it is counterbalanced by the pressure of the atmosphere, as in the barometer. Hutton.

he moment of a pair of equal and opposite couples which tend to twist a body. -- Torsion balance (Physics.), an instrument for estimating very minute forces, as electric or magnetic attractions and repulsions, by the torsion of a very slender wire or fiber having at its lower extremity a horizontal bar or needle, upon…

A torsion balance used for measuring electric attraction or repulsion.

That part of a torsion balance from which the wire or filament is suspended.

A kind of balance for weighing. [Obs.]

To balance; to fluctuate between parties, so as to appear to favor each.

To take a quick step, as when in danger of losing one's balance; hence, to make a false; to catch the foot; to lose footing; to stumble.

the reason or judgment of; as, a little success turned his head. -- To turn the scale or balance, to change the preponderance; to decide or determine something doubtful. -- To turn the stomach of, to nauseate; to sicken. -- To turn the tables, to reverse the chances or conditions of success or superiority; to give t…

Ill balanced or matched; disproportioned; hence, not equitable; partial; unjust; unfair. Against unequal arms to fight in pain. Milton. Jerome, a very unequal relator of the opinion of his adversaries. John Worthington. To punish me for what you make me do Seems much unequal. Shak.

Not poised or balanced.

alve, Check valve, etc. See under Air. Ball, Check, etc. -- Double-beat valve, a kind of balance valve usually consisting of a movable, open-ended, turban-shaped shell provided with two faces of nearly equal diameters, one above another, which rest upon two corresponding seats when the valve is closed. -- Equilibrium…

The spindle of a watch balance, especially one with pallets, as in the old vertical escapement. See under Escapement.

To examine by the balance; to ascertain the weight of, that is, the force with which a thing tends to the center of the earth; to determine the heaviness, or quantity of matter of; as, to weigh sugar; to weigh gold. Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting. Dan. v. 27.

mparative tendency to the center of the earth; the quantity of matter as estimated by the balance, or expressed numerically with reference to some standard unit; as, a mass of stone having the weight of five hundred pounds. For sorrow, like a heavy-hanging bell, Once set on ringing, with his own weight goes. Shak.…

Adapted to turn the balance in the mind, or to convince; important; forcible; serious; momentous. "For sundry weighty reasons." Shak. Let me have your advice in a weighty affair. Swift.

thin a wheel, or Wheels within wheels, a complication of circumstances, motives, etc. -- Balance wheel. See in the Vocab. -- Bevel wheel, Brake wheel, Cam wheel, Fifth wheel, Overshot wheel, Spinning wheel, etc. See under Bevel, Brake, etc. -- Core wheel. (Mach.) (a) A mortise gear. (b) A wheel having a rim perforat…