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l varieties of friable earthy clay, usually colored more or less strongly red by oxide of iron, and used to color and adulterate various substances. It was formerly used in medicine. It is composed essentially of hydrous silicates of alumina, or more rarely of magnesia. See Clay, and Terra alba.

An upright wooden or iron post in a boat or on a dock, used in veering or fastening ropes. Bollard timber (Naut.), a timber, also called a knighthead, rising just within the stem in a ship, on either side of the bowsprit, to secure its end.

A plate of iron or a mass of wood under the end of a bridge girder, to keep the girder from resting directly on the abutment.

A strong pin, of iron or other material, used to fasten or hold something in place, often having a head at one end and screw thread cut upon the other end.

A great noise; a hollow sound. [Obs.] A pillar of iron . . . which if you had struck, would make . . . a great bomb in the chamber beneath. Bacon.

a river, or inclosing an area of water, to keep saw logs, etc., from floating away. Boom iron, one of the iron rings on the yards through which the studding-sail booms traverse. -- The booms, that space on the upper deck of a ship between the foremast and mainmast, where the boats, spare spars, etc., are stowed. Tott…

he was put to the torture, which in Scotland they call the boots; for they put a pair of iron boots close on the leg, and drive wedges between them and the leg. Bp. Burnet.

A valuable ore of copper, containing copper, iron, and sulphur; -- also called purple copper ore (or erubescite), in allusion to the colors shown upon the slightly tarnished surface.

One of the sloping sides of the lower part of a blast furnace; also, one of the hollow iron or brick sides of the bed of a puddling or boiling furnace.

A hydrous sulphate of iron of a deep red color. It often occurs in botryoidal form.

A certain process for producing upon articles of iron or steel an adherent coating of the magnetic oxide of iron (which is not liable to corrosion by air, moisture, or ordinary acids). This is accomplished by producing, by oxidation at about 1600º F. in a closed space, a coating containing more or less of the ferric ox…

Turks for strangling offenders. Bowstring bridge, a bridge formed of an arch of timber or iron, often braced, the thrust of which is resisted by a tie forming a chord of the arch. -- Bowstring girder, an arched beam strengthened by a tie connecting its two ends. -- Bowstring hemp (Bot.), the tenacious fiber of the Sa…

A curved instrument or handle of iron or wood, for holding and turning bits, etc.; a bitstock.

. which Philip had bought . . . and because of his fierceness kept him within a brake of iron bars. J. Brende.

horizing him to pilot vessels in certain waters. Branches of a bridle, two pieces of bent iron, which bear the bit, the cross chains, and the curb. -- Branch herring. See Alewife. -- Root and branch , totally, wholly.

A mark made by burning with a hot iron, as upon a cask, to designate the quality, manufacturer, etc., of the contents, or upon an animal, to designate ownership; -- also, a mark for a similar purpose made in any other way, as with a stencil. Hence, figurately: Quality; kind; grade; as, a good brand of flour.…

One who, or that which, brands; a branding iron.

A scolding bridle, an instrument formerly used for correcting scolding women. It was an iron frame surrounding the head and having a triangular piece entering the mouth of the scold.

almon or parr, in the stage in which it has transverse black bands, as if burned by a gridiron.

Lumps of pyrites or sulphuret of iron, the color of which is near to that of brass.