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officer who ranks next above a captain; sometimes, by courtesy, the senior captain of a squadron. The rank of commodore corresponds with that of brigadier general in the army.

Having the same foci; as, confocal quadrics.

The quadrille. [Obs.]

A brisk dance, performed by eight persons; a quadrille.

An American feline quadruped (Felis concolor), resembling the African panther in size and habits. Its color is tawny, without spots; hence writers often called it the American lion. Called also puma, panther, mountain lion, and catamount. See Puma.

esultant direction or to its goal; line progress or advance. A light by which the Argive squadron steers Their silent course to Ilium's well known shore. Dennham. Westward the course of empire takes its way. Berkeley.

A marine plectognath fish (Ostracoin quadricorne, and allied species), having two projections, like horns, in front; -- called also cuckold, coffer fish, trunkfish.

The hinder part or buttocks of certain quadrupeds, especially of a horse; hence, the place behind the saddle. So light to the croup the fair lady he swung, So light to the saddle before her he sprung. Sir W. Scott.

A female parent; -- used of beasts, especially of quadrupeds; sometimes applied in contempt to a human mother. Our sire and dam, now confined to horses, are a relic of this age (13th century) . . . .Dame is used of a hen; we now make a great difference between dame and dam. T. L. K. Oliphant. The dam runs lowing up end…

A mother; -- applied to human beings and quadrupeds. [Obs.] Chaucer.

A carnivorous marsupial quadruped of Australia, belonging to the genus Dasyurus. There are several species.

Obscurely heard; stifled; deadened. [R.] A deaf murmur through the squadron went. Dryden.

A set or squad of ten men under a decurion. Sir W. Raleigh.

cess or wound; a gallery ten seats deep; a company of soldiers six files deep. Shadowing squadrons deep. Milton. Safely in harbor Is the king's ship in the deep nook. Shak.

A solid bounded by twelve quadrilateral faces. It is a hemihedral form of the isometric system, allied to the tetrahedron.

To tell off or appoint for a particular service, as an officer, a troop, or a squadron.

Joining two not adjacent angles of a quadrilateral or multilateral figure; running across from corner to corner; crossing at an angle with one of the sides. Diagonal bond (Masonry), herringbone work. See Herringbone, a. -- Diagonal built (Shipbuilding), built by forming the outer skin of two layers of planking, making…

at phase of the moon in which it appears bisected, or shows only half its disk, as at the quadratures.

ing the large "bird tracks," so-called, of mesozoic sandstones; others were five-toed and quadrupedal. See Illust. of Compsognathus, also Illustration of Dinosaur in Appendix.

A solid bounded by twenty-four similar quadrilateral faces. It is a hemihedral form of the hexoctahedron.