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and oblong shape with a small but long pit; it is cured when green, keeps well, and has a delicate flavor. Loosely, any olive of similar character.

A kind of delicate forcemeat, commonly poached and used as a dish by itself or for garnishing.

nvestigation, examination, or debate; theme of inquiry; matter to be inquired into; as, a delicate or doubtful question.

Freed from impurities or alloy; purifed; polished; cultured; delicate; as; refined gold; refined language; refined sentiments. Refined wits who honored poesy with their pens. Peacham. -- Re*fin"ed*ly (r, adv. -- Re*fin"ed*ness, n.

Any one of several species of bryozoans of the genus Retepora. They form delicate calcareous corals, usually composed of thin fenestrated fronds.

The delicate membrane by which the back part of the globe of the eye is lined, and in which the fibers of the optic nerve terminate. See Eye.

mouse (Calomys palistris) of the Southern United States. -- Rice paper, a kind of thin, delicate paper, brought from China, - - used for painting upon, and for the manufacture of fancy articles. It is made by cutting the pith of a large herb (Fatsia papyrifera, related to the ginseng) into one roll or sheet, which is…

Not faint or delicate; vivid; as, a rich color.

Having the color of a pink rose; rose-pink; of a delicate pink color.

Having the odor of rose water; hence, affectedly nice or delicate; sentimental. "Rose-water philantropy." Carlyle.

A delicate kind of serge, or woolen cloth. [Obs.] His garment neither was of silk nor say. Spenser.

A zeolitic mineral occuring in delicate radiating groups of white crystals. It is a hydrous silicate of aluminia and lime. Called also lime mesotype.

erception or acute feeling; sensitive; also, readily moved or affected by natural agents; delicate; as, a sensible thermometer. "With affection wondrous sensible." Shak.

ws of Spain and Portugal. They are as a rule darker than the northern Jews, and have more delicate features.

A genus of delicate branching hydroids having small sessile hydrothecæ along the sides of the branches.

Degree or variation of color, as darker or lighter, stronger or paler; as, a delicate shade of pink. White, red, yellow, blue, with their several degrees, or shades and mixtures, as green only in by the eyes. Locke.

An instrument for detecting small quantities of iron in any substance by means of a very delicate combination of magnetic needles.

Fig.: Soft; delicate; tender; smooth; as, silken language. "Silken terms precise." Shak.

Light or delicate; slight; thin. [Obs.] By the sly, or On the sly, in a sly or secret manner. [Colloq.] "Gazed on Hetty's charms by the sly." G. Eliot. -- Sly goose (Zoöl.), the common sheldrake; -- so named from its craftiness.

A delicate trailing plant (Myrsiphyllum asparagoides) much used for decoration. It is a native of the Cape of Good Hope.