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Not rough, rugged, or harsh to the touch; smooth; delicate; fine; as, soft silk; a soft skin. They that wear soft clothing are in king's houses. Matt. xi. 8.

motion. In animals, the familiar type is that of a small, more or less ovoid head, with a delicate threadlike cilium, or tail. Called also spermatozoön. In plants the more usual term is antherozoid.

in optical instruments; -- used for determining the exact position of objects and making delicate measurements. Fine wires, silk fibers, or lines on glass similarly placed, are called spider lines. -- Spider mite. (Zoöl.) (a) Any one of several species of parasitic mites of the genus Argas and allied genera. See Arga…

le beam, under Paddle, n. -- Spring beauty. (a) (Bot.) Any plant of the genus Claytonia, delicate herbs with somewhat fleshy leaves and pretty blossoms, appearing in springtime. (b) (Zoöl.) A small, elegant American butterfly (Erora læta) which appears in spring. The hind wings of the male are brown, bordered with dee…

Not nice or delicate; hardy; rugged. "Stubbed, vulgar constitutions." Berkley.

Stiff; stout; strong; as, a sturdy oak. Milton. He was not of any delicate contexture; his limbs rather sturdy than dainty. Sir H. Wotton.

Any one of numerous species of delicate, usually pink, calcareous hydroid corals of the genus Stylaster.

Delicately constituted or constructed; nice; fine; delicate; tenuous; finely woven. "A sotil [subtile] twine's thread." Chaucer. More subtile web Arachne can not spin. Spenser. I do distinguish plain Each subtile line of her immortal face. Sir J. Davies.

Nicely; delicately. In the nice bee what sense so subtly true. Pope. Subtly communicating itself to my sensibilities, but evading the analysis of my mind. Hawthorne.

To soften to the eye; to make delicate. Correggio has made his memory immortal by the strength he has given to his figures, and by sweetening his lights and shadows, and melting them into each other. Dryden.

A genus of slender, transparent holothurians which have delicate calcareous anchors attached to the dermal plates. See Illustration in Appendix.

An instrument for showing at any moment the speed of a revolving shaft, consisting of a delicate revolving conical pendulum which is driven by the shaft, and the action of which by change of speed moves a pointer which indicates the speed on a graduated dial.

cally, Thea Chinensis, from which the tea of commerce is obtained. -- Tea rose (Bot.), a delicate and graceful variety of the rose (Rosa Indica, var. odorata), introduced from China, and so named from its scent. Many varieties are now cultivated. -- Tea service, the appurtenances or utensils required for a tea table,…

ack, and protected by a fold of the mantle. When there is a shell, it is usually thin and delicate and often rudimentary. The aplysias and the bubble shells are examples.

The inner layer of the coating of a seed, usually thin and delicate; the endopleura.

A genus of marine bivalve mollusks having thin, delicate, and often handsomely colored shells.

State with regard to heat or cold; temperature. [Obs.] "Tender and delicate temperance." Shak. Temperance society, an association formed for the purpose of diminishing or stopping the use of alcoholic liquors as a beverage.

Easily impressed, broken, bruised, or injured; not firm or hard; delicate; as, tender plants; tender flesh; tender fruit.

A delicate person; one not inured to the hardship and rudeness of pioneer life. [Slang, Western U.S.]

y M. Tenon, a French anatomist. Tenonian capsule (Anat.), a lymphatic space inclosed by a delicate membrane or fascia (the fascia of Tenon) between the eyeball and the fat of the orbit; -- called also capsule of Tenon.