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The descent of a deity to earth, and his incarnation as a man or an animal; -- chiefly associated with the incarnations of Vishnu.

Dread; great fear mingled with respect. [Obs. or Obsolescent] His frown was full of terror, and his voice Shook the delinquent with such fits of awe. Cowper.

A hound too noisy on finding a good scent.

al eclipses of the sun. Just before and after a total eclipse, the slender, unobscured crescent of the sun's disk appears momentarily like a row of bright spots resembling a string of beads. The phenomenon (first fully described by Francis Baily, 1774 -- 1844) is thought to be an effect of irradiation, and of inequalit…

miss intentionally; to avoid; to shun; to refuse; to let go by; to shirk. [Obs. or Obsolescent] By reason of the contagion then in London, we balked the Evelyn. Sick he is, and keeps his bed, and balks his meat. Bp. Hall. Nor doth he any creature balk, But lays on all he meeteth. Drayton.

ine family (Balsamodendron Gileadense). Its leaves yield, when bruised, a strong aromatic scent; and from this tree is obtained the balm of Gilead of the shops, or balsam of Mecca. This has a yellowish or greenish color, a warm, bitterish, aromatic taste, and a fragrant smell. It is valued as an unguent and cosmetic by…

ce for judging of the probable changes of weather, or for ascertaining the height of any ascent.

A ludicrous descent from the elevated to the low, in writing or speech; anticlimax.

A porcelainlike kind of decorative pottery with a high gloss, which is sometimes iridescent. A very fine kind is made at Belleek in Ireland.

To furnish with benches. 'T was benched with turf. Dryden. Stately theaters benched crescentwise. Tennyson.

Having two horns; two-horned; crescentlike.

Lineage; extraction; descent; sometimes, high birth; noble extraction. Elected without reference to birth, but solely for qualifications. Prescott.

Relationship by descent from a common ancestor; consanguinity; kinship. To share the blood of Saxon royalty. Sir W. Scott. A friend of our own blood. Waller. Half blood (Law), relationship through only one parent. -- Whole blood, relationship through both father and mother. In American Law, blood includes both half bl…

ne's self or of things belonging to one's self; as, to boast of one's exploits courage, descent, wealth. By grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: .. not of works, lest any man should boast. Eph. ii. 8, 9.

A colonist or farmer in South Africa of Dutch descent.

675º. The boiling point of water is lowered one degree Fahrenheit for about 550 feet of ascent above the level of the sea. -- Boiling spring, a spring which gives out very hot water, or water and steam, often ejecting it with much force; a geyser. -- To be at the boiling point, to be very angry. -- To keep the pot…

undish masses composed of radiating fibers, first discovered near Bologna. It is phosphorescent when calcined. -- Bologna vial, a vial of unannealed glass which will fly into pieces when its surface is scratched by a hard body, as by dropping into it a fragment of flint; whereas a bullet may be dropped into it without…

r given point in a shorter time than it could by any other path. This curve of quickest descent, as it is sometimes called, is, in a vacuum, the same as the cycloid.

A line of family descent, in distinction from some other line or lines from the same stock; any descendant in such a line; as, the English branch of a family. His father, a younger branch of the ancient stock. Carew.

Descent; pedigree; extraction. [Obs.] Honest gentlemen, I know not your breeding. Shak. Close breeding, In and in breeding, breeding from a male and female from the same parentage. -- Cross breeding, breeding from a male and female of different lineage. -- Good breeding, politeness; genteel deportment.…