HEAD n.
The source, fountain, spring, or beginning, as of a stream or river; as, the head of the Nile; hence, the altitude of the source, or the height of the surface, as of water, above a given place, as above an orifice at which it issues, and the pressure resulting from the height or from motion; sometimes also, the quantit…
HEMP n.
(G. Tetrahit), belonging to the Mint family. -- Indian hemp. See under Indian, a. -- Manila hemp, the fiber of Musa textilis. -- Sisal hemp, the fiber of Agave sisalana, of Mexico and Yucatan. -- Sunn hemp, a fiber obtained from a leguminous plant (Crotalaria juncea). -- Water hemp, an annual American weed (Acnid…
HOLY a.
name. It is common in the northern and western parts of the United States. Called also vanilla, or Seneca, grass. -- Holy Innocents' day, Childermas day. -- Holy Land, Palestine, the birthplace of Christianity. -- Holy office, the Inquisition. -- Holy of holies (Script.), the innermost apartment of the Jewish tabe…
INDIGO n. 2 definitions
ry different genera and orders; as, the woad, Isatis tinctoria, Indigofera tinctoria, I. Anil, Nereum tinctorium, etc. It is a dark blue earthy substance, tasteless and odorless, with a copper-violet luster when rubbed. Indigo does not exist in the plants as such, but is obtained by decomposition of the glycoside indic…
MAGENTA n.
An aniline dye obtained as an amorphous substance having a green bronze surface color, which dissolves to a shade of red; also, the color; -- so called from Magenta, in Italy, in allusion to the battle fought there about the time the dye was discovered. Called also fuchsine, roseïne, etc.
MAUVE n.
A color of a delicate purple, violet, or lilac. Mauve aniline (Chem.), a dyestuff produced artificially by the oxidation of commercial aniline, and the first discovered of the so-called coal- tar, or aniline, dyes. It consists of the sulphate of mauveïne, and is a dark brown or bronze amorphous powder, which dissolves…