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The sac of silk taken from a silkworm (when ready to spin its cocoon), for the purpose of drawing it out into a thread. This, when dry, is exceedingly strong, and is used as the snood of a fish line. Blind gut. See CÆcum, n. (b).

A kind of divination performed by drawing a ring or circle, and walking in or around it. Brande & C.

A short line used in drawing and engraving, especially in shading and denoting different surfaces, as in map drawing. See Hatching.

To separate, as the coarse part of flax or hemp from the fine, by drawing it through the teeth of a hackle or hatchel.

as, the half-time system. -- Half tint (Fine Arts), a middle or intermediate tint, as in drawing or painting. See Demitint. -- Half truth, a statement only partially true, or which gives only a part of the truth. Mrs. Browning. -- Half year, the space of six moths; one term of a school when there are two terms in a…

Rigid in the drawing or distribution of the figures; formal; lacking grace of composition.

The equipment of a draught or carriage horse, for drawing a wagon, coach, chaise, etc.; gear; tackling.

A mode of execution in engraving, drawing, and miniature painting, in which shading is produced by lines crossing each other at angles more or less acute; -- called also crosshatching.

To transport by drawing, as with horses or oxen; as, to haul logs to a sawmill. When I was seven or eight years of age, I began hauling all the wood used in the house and shops. U. S. Grant. To haul over the coals. See under Coal. -- To haul the wind (Naut.), to turn the head of the ship nearer to the point from which…

The act of drawing the warp threads through the heddle-eyes of a weaver's harness; the harness itself. Knight.

An instrument for drawing spiral lines on a plane.

To ornament at the head of a broad hem by drawing out a few parallel threads, and fastening the cross threads in successive small clusters; as, to hemstitch a handkerchief.

The act or process of heaping or drawing earth around plants.

hat histories of toil could I declare! Pope. History piece, a representation in painting, drawing, etc., of any real event, including the actors and the action. -- Natural history, a description and classification of objects in nature, as minerals, plants, animals, etc., and the phenomena which they exhibit to the sen…

ntal component of the earth's magnetic force. -- Horizontal line (Descriptive Geometry & Drawing), a constructive line, either drawn or imagined, which passes through the point of sight, and is the chief line in the projection upon which all verticals are fixed, and upon which all vanishing points are found. -- Horiz…

excels in strength, speed, docility, courage, and nobleness of character, and is used for drawing, carrying, bearing a rider, and like purposes.

Leading or drawing; persuasive; tempting; -- usually followed by to. A brutish vice, Inductive mainly to the sin of Eve. Milton.

The act of inspiring or breathing in; breath; specif. (Physiol.), the drawing of air into the lungs, accomplished in mammals by elevation of the chest walls and flattening of the diaphragm; -- the opposite of expiration.

To lead or bring in; to conduct or usher in; as, to introduce a person into a drawing-room.

An inclined road in a coal mine, on which loaded cars descend by gravity, drawing up empty ones. Knight.