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A part, or character, performed by an actor in a drama; hence, a part of function taken or assumed by any one; as, he has now taken the rôle of philanthropist. Title rôle, the part, or character, which gives the title to a play, as the part of Hamlet in the play of that name.

A limpid, colorless, highly volatile liquid, obtained by the dehydration of glycerin, or the destructive distillation of neutral fats containing glycerin. Its vapors are intensely irritating. Watts.

A genus of fishes, some of which were eighteen or twenty feet long, found in a fossil state in the Old Red Sandstone. Hugh Miller.

The Neapolitan medlar (Cratægus azarolus), a shrub of southern Europe; also, its fruit.

or streamer. [Written also bannerol.] From the extremity of which fluttered a small banderole or streamer bearing a cross. Sir W. Scott.

A small round dish with a handle, usually of porcelain.

Having the food yolk placed at the center of the ovum, segmentation being either regular or unequal. Balfour.

Same as Chloroplastid.

A controller; a public officer whose duty it is to examine certify accounts.

Having a red color and oily appearance; -- applied to a purple semifluid substance said to be obtained from archil.

A red substance obtained from litmus.

A hole or spot in a volcanic or other region, from which fumes issue.

A molding generally placed under the echinus or quarter round of capitals in the Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian orders of architecture.

Same as Glycerite.

A genus of ganoid fishes, found in strata of the new red sandetone, and the lias bone beds. Agassiz.

A polymeric modification of acrolein obtained by heating it with caustic potash. It is a crystalline substance having an aromatic odor.

A tribe of Lepidoptera, including a vast number of minute species, as the plume moth, clothes moth, etc.

An extinct genus of small Triassic mammals, the oldest yet found in European strata.

The nose band of a horse's bridle.

Nitroglycerin.