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A clutch formed of hooked pieces of iron, like double calipers, for raising stones, lumber, blocks of ice, etc.

A shrub (Covillea mexicana) found in desert regions from Colorado to California and southward through Mexico. It has yellow flowers and very resinous foliage with a strong odor of creosote.

The surf fish of California.

A kind of cotton sheeting; also, a calico.

a series of artificial blue or red dyes obtained from quinoline and lepidine and used in calico printing.

A bicycle or tricycle, or other light velocipede. Calippic cycle, a period of 76 years, or four Metonic cycles; -- so called from Calippus, who proposed it as an improvement on the Metonic cycle. -- Cycle of eclipses, a priod of about 6,586 days, the time of revolution of the moon's node; -- called Saros by the Chalde…

A genus of California pitcher plants consisting of a single species. The long tubular leaves are hooded at the top, and frequently contain many insects drowned in the secretion of the leaves.

Same as Decaliter.

A system of calisthenics patterned on the theories of François Delsarte (1811 -- 71), a French teacher of dramatic and musical expression.

A kind of short-barreled pocket pistol, of very large caliber, often carrying a half-ounce ball.

in the lurch; to abandon; to forsake; -- implying blame, except sometimes when used of localities; as, to desert a friend, a principle, a cause, one's country. "The deserted fortress." Prescott.

Didascalic. [R.]

A degraded tribe of California Indians; -- so called from their practice of digging roots for food.

Places where ore is dug; especially, certain localities in California, Australia, and elsewhere, at which gold is obtained. [Recent]

See Syndicalism, below.

intended to remedy a difficulty or serve some purpose in an exigency; as, the doctor of a calico- printing machine, which is a knife to remove superfluous coloring matter; the doctor, or auxiliary engine, called also donkey engine.

A coarse linen cloth made in the north of England and in Scotland, now nearly replaced by calico. Shak.

first battleship of the type characterized by a main armament of big guns all of the same caliber. She has a displacement of 17,900 tons at load draft, and a speed of 21 knots per hour.

commonly to fabrics of mixed materials, but also applicable to silks, printed linens, and calicoes.

A California sculpin.