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A hand tool consisting of a sharp blade with a handle at each end; a drawing knife; a spokeshave.

r referred to; the animal of the female sex, or object personified as feminine, which was spoken of. She loved her children best in every wise. Chaucer. Then Sarah denied, . . . for she was afraid. Gen. xviii. 15.

The margin, edge, verge, or border of a surface; especially (when the thing spoken of is somewhat oblong in shape), one of the longer edges as distinguished from the shorter edges, called ends; a bounding line of a geometrical figure; as, the side of a field, of a square or triangle, of a river, of a road, etc.…

erly, defamation generally, whether oral or written; in modern usage, defamation by words spoken; utterance of false, malicious, and defamatory words, tending to the damage and derogation of another; calumny. See the Note under Defamation. Burril.

A soft-spoken, crafty hypocrite. [Prov. Eng.] Halliwell.

The group of allied languages spoken by the Slavs.

e quality. He bore his great commision in his look, But tempered awe, and softened all he spoke. Dryden.

Any young male person spoken of as a child; an adopted male child; a pupil, ward, or any other male dependent. The child grew, and she brought him unto Pharaoh's daughter, and he became her son. Ex. ii. 10. Be plain, good son, and homely in thy drift. Shak.

Spoken low or in an undertone.

Capable of being spoken; fit to be spoken. Ascham.

he act of speaking; that which is spoken; words, as expressing ideas; language; conversation.

iating arms or members, often connected by crosspieces; as, a casting forming the hub and spokes to which the rim of a fly wheel or large gear is bolted; the body of a piston head; a frame for strengthening a core or mold for a casting, etc. Spider ant. (Zoöl.) Same as Solitary ant, under Solitary. -- Spider crab (Zoö…

To check the motion of, as a carriage on a steep grade, by putting a sprag between the spokes of the wheel. R. S. Poole.

nimble; gay. [Obs.] -- Spright"ful*ly, adv. [Obs.] Shak. -- Spright"ful*ness, n. [Obs.] Spoke like a sprightful gentlemen. Shak. Steeds sprightful as the light. Cowley.

r upholds. "Hooked staves." Piers Plowman. The boy was the very staff of my age. Shak. He spoke of it [beer] in "The Earnest Cry," and likewise in the "Scotch Drink," as one of the staffs of life which had been struck from the poor man's hand. Prof. Wilson.

To arrange (a series of parts) on each side of a median line alternately, as the spokes of a wheel or the rivets of a boiler seam.

er, mother, brother, sister, son, daughter, child, etc., to indicate that the person thus spoken of is not a blood relative, but is a relative by the marriage of a parent; as, a stepmother to X is the wife of the father of X, married by him after the death of the mother of X. See Stepchild, Stepdaughter, Stepson, etc.…

To stand with the ends staggered; -- said of the spokes of a wagon wheel where they join the hub.

Applied to spokes when they are arranged alternately in two circles in the hub. See Straddle, v. i., and Straddle, v. t., 3. Knight.

on, book, etc.; theme; motive; manner; style; also, a course of action or conduct; as, he spoke in a noble strain; there was a strain of woe in his story; a strain of trickery appears in his career. "A strain of gallantry." Sir W. Scott. Such take too high a strain at first. Bacon. The genius and strain of the book of…