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Thin, flying, broken clouds, or any portion of floating vapor in the sky. Shak. The winds in the upper region, which move the clouds above, which we call the rack, . . . pass without noise. Bacon. And the night rack came rolling up. C. Kingsley.

A float; a raft. Three vessels under sail, and one at anchor, above Split Rock, and behind it the radeau Thunderer. W. Irving.

collective conveyance on the water, or to serve as a support in conveying other things; a float.

on of it and making it fast to the yard or spar. Totten. To reef the paddles, to move the floats of a paddle wheel toward its center so that they will not dip so deeply.

ion, and the life. John xi. 25. Cross of the resurrection, a slender cross with a pennant floating from the junction of the bars. -- Resurrection plant (Bot.), a name given to several species of Selaginella (as S. convoluta and S. lepidophylla), flowerless plants which, when dry, close up so as to resemble a bird's ne…

To bend or curve back; as, a retorted line. With retorted head, pruned themselves as they floated. Southey.

ng or mediation; deep musing; daydream. "Rapt in nameless reveries." Tennyson. When ideas float in our mind without any reflection or regard of the understanding, it is that which the French call revery, our language has scarce a name for it. Locke.

To be borne or in a fluid; to float; to lie. Men once walked where ships at anchor ride. Dryden.

To ascend or float in a fluid, as gases or vapors in air, cork in water, and the like.

some buoyant material, or which is capable of being inflated, so as to enable a person to float in water; a life preserver. -- Safety buoy, a buoy to enable a person to float in water; a safety belt. -- Safety cage (Mach.), a cage for an elevator or mine lift, having appliances to prevent it from dropping if the lift…

hitish substance which is cast up, as a scum, from the materials of glass in fusion, and, floating on the top, is skimmed off; -- called also glass gall. [Formerly written also sandever.]

Sargasso Sea, a large tract of the North Atlantic Ocean where sargasso in great abundance floats on the surface.

The fruit of a West Indian palm (Manicaria Plukenetii), often found floating in the sea. A. Grisebach.

found only in the Seychelles Islands. The fruit is an immense two-lobed nut. It was found floating in the Indian Ocean before the tree was known, and called sea cocoanut, and double cocoanut.

A large net, one edge of which is provided with sinkers, and the other with floats. It hangs vertically in the water, and when its ends are brought together or drawn ashore incloses the fish. Seine boat, a boat specially constructed to carry and pay out a seine.

Set line, a line to which a number of baited hooks are attached, and which, supported by floats and properly secured, may be left unguarded during the absence of the fisherman. -- Set nut, a jam nut or lock nut. See under Nut. -- Set screw (Mach.), a screw, sometimes cupped or printed at one end, and screwed through…

A boat. [She] thrust the shallop from the floating strand. Spenser.

rs in following the sheer plan. -- Sheer boom, a boom slanting across a stream to direct floating logs to one side. -- Sheer hulk. See Shear hulk, under Hulk. -- Sheer plan, or Sheer draught (Shipbuilding), a projection of the lines of a vessel on a vertical longitudinal plane passing through the middle line of the…

e-swimming communities composed of numerous zooids of various kinds, some of which act as floats or as swimming organs, others as feeding or nutritive zooids, and others as reproductive zooids. See Illust. under Physallia, and Porpita.

To clear (a liquid) from scum or substance floating or lying thereon, by means of a utensil that passes just beneath the surface; as, to skim milk; to skim broth.