Search the Dictionary

A small wax candle; a small lighted wax candle; hence, a small light. Get me a taper in my study, Lucius. Shak.

Lighted with a taper or tapers; as, a tapered choir. [R.] T. Warton.

Becoming gradually smaller toward one end. -- Ta"per*ing*ly, adv.

The quality or state of being taper; tapering form; taper. Shenstone.

The great woolly mullein (Verbascum Thapsus).

A plant of the genus Verbascum (V. Thapsus); the common mullein. [Also high-taper and hag-taper.]

A plant with a tall flowering stem; esp. the great mullein, or hag-taper, and the golden-rod.

One of the functionaries who light and trim the tapers.

Tapering to a point; pointed; as, acuminate leaves, teeth, etc.

A sharpening; termination in a sharp point; a tapering point. Bp. Pearson.

Among the ancients, a two-handled vessel, tapering at the bottom, used for holding wine, oil, etc.

A fossil bird, of the Jurassic period, remarkable for having a long tapering tail of many vertebræ with feathers along each side, and jaws armed with teeth, with other reptilian characteristics.

A conical calcareous fossil, tapering to a point at the lower extremity, with a conical cavity at the other end, where it is ordinarily broken; but when perfect it contains a small chambered cone, called the phragmocone, prolonged, on one side, into a delicate concave blade; the thunderstone. It is the internal shell o…

nstead of a head; also, a small wire nail, with a flat circular head; sometimes, a small, tapering, square-bodied finishing nail, with a countersunk head.

A tool of steel, generally tapering, and of a polygonal form, with from four to eight cutting edges, for smoothing or enlarging holes in metal; sometimes made smooth or without edges, as for burnishing pivot holes in watches; a reamer. The broach for gun barrels is commonly square and without taper.…

boat can be dispatched to save them. -- Nut or Nun buoy, a buoy large in the middle, and tapering nearly to a point at each end. -- To stream the buoy, to let the anchor buoy fall by the ship's side into the water, before letting go the anchor. -- Whistling buoy, a buoy fitted with a whistle that is blown by the act…

In a shotgun, a bore which is tapered to a slightly smaller diameter at a short distance (usually 2½ to 3 inches) to the rear of the muzzle, in order to prevent the rapid dispersion of the shot.

A heavy staff of wood, usually tapering, and wielded the hand; a weapon; a cudgel. But make you ready your stiff bats and clubs; Rome and her rats are at the point of battle. Shak.

line always passing through that vertical point; a solid having a circle for its base and tapering to a point or vertex.

to form; to mingle or mix. [Obs.] Of this were confected the famous everlasting lamps and tapers. Sir T. Herbert. [My joys] are still confected with some fears. Stirling.