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Imparting strength or tone; strengthening; invigorating; as, a bracing north wind.

The horizontal bracing of a bridge, which prevents its swaying.

the sea in describing its plants, animals, etc. It is the one furthest from the shore, embracing all beyond one hundred fathoms deep. Hence, abyssal animals, plants, etc.

One of a religious body, embracing several branches, who look for the proximate personal coming of Christ; -- called also Second Adventists. Schaff-Herzog Encyc.

A common mineral embracing many varieties varying in color and in composition. It occurs in monoclinic crystals; also massive, generally with fibrous or columnar structure. The color varies from white to gray, green, brown, and black. It is a silicate of magnesium and calcium, with usually aluminium and iron. Some comm…

Clasping or embracing a stem, as the base of some leaves. Gray.

A large division of Articulata, embracing all those that have jointed legs. It includes Insects, Arachnida, Pychnogonida, and Crustacea. -- Ar*throp"o*dal, a.

n instrument blown with a reed, and resembling a clarinet, but of much greater compass, embracing nearly four octaves.

To boxhaul. To box off (Naut.), to turn the head of a vessel either way by bracing the headyards aback. -- To box the compass (Naut.), to name the thirty-two points of the compass in their order.

other tack by veering her short round on her heel; -- so called from the circumstance of bracing the head yards abox (i. e., sharp aback, on the wind). Totten.

To bind or tie closely; to fasten tightly. The women of China, by bracing and binding them from their infancy, have very little feet. Locke. Some who spurs had first braced on. Sir W. Scott.

the raspberry and blackberry. Hence: Any rough, prickly shrub. The thorny brambles, and embracing bushes. Shak.

A genus of plants embracing several species ad varieties differing much in appearance and qualities: such as the common cabbage (B. oleracea), broccoli, cauliflowers, etc.; the wild turnip (B. campestris); the common turnip (B. rapa); the rape of coleseed (B. napus), etc.

The system of bracing used between floor or other timbers to distribute the weight. Bridging joist. Same as Binding joist.

n. (b) (Naut.) To check the course of, as of a ship, by dropping the anchor, or by counterbracing the sails so as to keep her nearly stationary (she is then said to lie to). (c) To cause (a vessel) to lie to, as by firing across her course. (d) To apply a rope to the capstan. -- To bring to light, to disclose; to disc…

of Canada. Canadian period (Geol.), A subdivision of the American Lower Silurian system embracing the calciferous, Quebec, and Chazy epochs. This period immediately follows the primordial or Cambrian period, and is by many geologists regarded as the beginning of the Silurian age, See the Diagram, under Geology.…

An act of endearment; any act or expression of affection; an embracing, or touching, with tenderness. Wooed her with his soft caresses. Langfellow. He exerted himself to win by indulgence and caresses the hearts of all who were under his command. Macaulay.

a ship taken aback in a light breeze) so to turn or make a circuit as to recover, without bracing the yards, the same tack on which she had been sailing.

A wave of the voice embracing both a rise and fall or a fall and a rise on the same a syllable. Walker.

To hold firmly; to hold fast by grasping or embracing tightly. "Clinch the pointed spear." Dryden.