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Any beetle of the family Elateridæ, having the habit, when laid on the back, of giving a sudden upward spring, by a quick movement of the articulation between the abdomen and thorax; -- called also click beetle, spring beetle, and snapping beetle.

A mineral resin, of a blackish brown color, occurring in soft, flexible masses; -- called also mineral caoutchouc, and elastic bitumen.

the juice of the wild or squirting cucumber (Ecballium agreste, formerly called Momordica Elaterium).

Same as Elatrometer.

Acting force; elasticity. [Obs.] Ray.

Nevertheless. [Obs.]

One who relates or narrates.

See Elater.

emarkable for its long, curiously-shaped fruit. -- Squirting cucumber, a plant (Ecbalium Elaterium) whose small oval fruit separates from the footstalk when ripe and expels its seeds and juice with considerable force through the opening thus made. See Elaterium. -- Star cucumber,a climbing weed (Sicyos angulatus) wit…

A genus of cucurbitaceous plants consisting of the single species Ecballium agreste (or Elaterium), the squirting cucumber. Its fruit, when ripe, bursts and violently ejects its seeds, together with a mucilaginous juice, from which elaterium, a powerful cathartic medicine, is prepared.

cks and trials; as, elastic spirits; an elastic constitution. Elastic bitumen. (Min.) See Elaterite. -- Elastic curve. (a) (Geom.) The curve made by a thin elastic rod fixed horizontally at one end and loaded at the other. (b) (Mech.) The figure assumed by the longitudinal axis of an originally straight bar under any…

ng the degree of rarefaction of air contained in the receiver of an air pump. [Spelt also elaterometer.]

A very brilliantly luminous beetle (Pyrophorus noctilucus), one of the elaters, found in Central and South America; -- called also cucujo. The name is also applied to other species. See Firefly.

variety of bitumen, resembling caoutchouc in elasticity and softness. See Caoutchouc, and Elaterite. -- Mineral chameleon (Chem.) See Chameleon mineral, under Chameleon. -- Mineral charcoal. See under Charcoal. -- Mineral cotton. See Mineral wool (below). -- Mineral green, a green carbonate of copper; malachite. -…

A relater; a storyteller.

One who relates; a relater. "The several relators of this history." Fuller.

An elater; a snap bug, or snapping beetle.

of snapping back the ball. -- Snap beetle, or Snap bug (Zoöl.), any beetle of the family Elateridæ, which, when laid on its back, is able to leap to a considerable height by means of a thoracic spring; -- called also snapping beetle. -- Snap flask (Molding), a flask for small work, having its sides separable and held…

mployed to give the required elasticity. -- Spring beetle (Zoöl.), a snapping beetle; an elater. -- Spring box, the box or barrel in a watch, or other piece of mechanism, in which the spring is contained. -- Spring fly (Zoöl.), a caddice fly; -- so called because it appears in the spring. -- Spring grass (Bot.), a…

A relater of stories; an historian. [Obs.] Bp. Peacock.