Words whose 8th letter is N

Abhorrent (a.) Contrary or repugnant; discordant; inconsistent; -- followed by to.

Abstinence (n.) The act or practice of abstaining; voluntary forbearance of any action, especially the refraining from an indulgence of appetite, or from customary gratifications of animal or sensual propensities. Specifically, the practice of abstaining from intoxicating beverages, -- called also total abstinence.

Abstinence (n.) The practice of self-denial by depriving one's self of certain kinds of food or drink, especially of meat.

Abutilon (n.) A genus of malvaceous plants of many species, found in the torrid and temperate zones of both continents; -- called also Indian mallow.

Accompany (v. t.) To go with or attend as a companion or associate; to keep company with; to go along with; -- followed by with or by; as, he accompanied his speech with a bow.

Accordant (a.) Agreeing; consonant; harmonious; corresponding; conformable; -- followed by with or to.

Accordantly (adv.) In accordance or agreement; agreeably; conformably; -- followed by with or to.

Addition (n.) The act of adding two or more things together; -- opposed to subtraction or diminution.

Addition (n.) Something added to a coat of arms, as a mark of honor; -- opposed to abatement.

Aforehand (a.) Prepared; previously provided; -- opposed to behindhand.

Aforementioned (a.) Previously mentioned; before-mentioned.

Agrarian (a.) Wild; -- said of plants growing in the fields.

Alignment (n.) The ground-plan of a railway or other road, in distinction from the grades or profile.

Alkarsin (n.) A spontaneously inflammable liquid, having a repulsive odor, and consisting of cacodyl and its oxidation products; -- called also Cadel's fuming liquid.

Alunogen (n.) A white fibrous mineral frequently found on the walls of mines and quarries, chiefly hydrous sulphate of alumina; -- also called feather alum, and hair salt.

Amblygon (n.) An obtuse-angled figure, esp. and obtuse-angled triangle.

Amblygonal (a.) Obtuse-angled.

Amelcorn (n.) A variety of wheat from which starch is produced; -- called also French rice.

American (n.) A native of America; -- originally applied to the aboriginal inhabitants, but now applied to the descendants of Europeans born in America, and especially to the citizens of the United States.

Amidogen (n.) A compound radical, NH2, not yet obtained in a separate state, which may be regarded as ammonia from the molecule of which one of its hydrogen atoms has been removed; -- called also the amido group, and in composition represented by the form amido.

Amphigen (n.) An element that in combination produces amphid salt; -- applied by Berzelius to oxygen, sulphur, selenium, and tellurium.

Anglicanism (n.) The principles of the established church of England; also, in a restricted sense, the doctrines held by the high-church party.

Animating (a.) Causing animation; life-giving; inspiriting; rousing.

Apneumona (n. pl.) An order of holothurians in which the internal respiratory organs are wanting; -- called also Apoda or Apodes.

Apollyon (n.) The Destroyer; -- a name used (Rev. ix. 11) for the angel of the bottomless pit, answering to the Hebrew Abaddon.

Appendant (v. t.) Appended by prescription, that is, a personal usage for a considerable time; -- said of a thing of inheritance belonging to another inheritance which is superior or more worthy; as, an advowson, common, etc. , which may be appendant to a manor, common of fishing to a freehold, a seat in church to a house.

Archchancellor (n.) A chief chancellor; -- an officer in the old German empire, who presided over the secretaries of the court.

Argentine (n.) A siliceous variety of calcite, or carbonate of lime, having a silvery-white, pearly luster, and a waving or curved lamellar structure.

Ascendant (n.) An ancestor, or one who precedes in genealogy or degrees of kindred; a relative in the ascending line; a progenitor; -- opposed to descendant.

Asterion (n.) The point on the side of the skull where the lambdoid, parieto-mastoid and occipito-mastoid sutures.

Athermanous (a.) Not transmitting heat; -- opposed to diathermanous.

Atonement (n.) Satisfaction or reparation made by giving an equivalent for an injury, or by doing of suffering that which will be received in satisfaction for an offense or injury; expiation; amends; -- with for. Specifically, in theology: The expiation of sin made by the obedience, personal suffering, and death of Christ.

Augustinian (a.) Of or pertaining to St. Augustine, bishop of Hippo in Northern Africa (b. 354 -- d. 430), or to his doctrines.

Aurocyanide (n.) A double cyanide of gold and some other metal or radical; -- called also cyanaurate.

Barracan (n.) A thick, strong stuff, somewhat like camlet; -- still used for outer garments in the Levant.

Baudekin (n.) The richest kind of stuff used in garments in the Middle Ages, the web being gold, and the woof silk, with embroidery : -- made originally at Bagdad.

Belladonna (n.) An herbaceous European plant (Atropa belladonna) with reddish bell-shaped flowers and shining black berries. The whole plant and its fruit are very poisonous, and the root and leaves are used as powerful medicinal agents. Its properties are largely due to the alkaloid atropine which it contains. Called also deadly nightshade.

Bicarbonate (n.) A carbonate in which but half the hydrogen of the acid is replaced by a positive element or radical, thus making the proportion of the acid to the positive or basic portion twice what it is in the normal carbonates; an acid carbonate; -- sometimes called supercarbonate.

Bigaroon (n.) The large white-heart cherry.

Blackband (n.) An earthy carbonate of iron containing considerable carbonaceous matter; -- valuable as an iron ore.

Bohemian (n.) A restless vagabond; -- originally, an idle stroller or gypsy (as in France) thought to have come from Bohemia; in later times often applied to an adventurer in art or literature, of irregular, unconventional habits, questionable tastes, or free morals.

Brambling (n.) The European mountain finch (Fringilla montifringilla); -- called also bramble finch and bramble.

Brevipennate (a.) Short-winged; -- applied to birds which can not fly, owing to their short wings, as the ostrich, cassowary, and emu.

Briarean (a.) Pertaining to, or resembling, Briareus, a giant fabled to have a hundred hands; hence, hundred-handed or many-handed.

Brodekin (n.) A buskin or half-boot.

Cacholong (n.) An opaque or milk-white chalcedony, a variety of quartz; also, a similar variety of opal.

Cacophonious (a.) Harsh-sounding.

Cambrian (a.) Of or pertaining to the lowest subdivision of the rocks of the Silurian or Molluscan age; -- sometimes described as inferior to the Silurian. It is named from its development in Cambria or Wales. See the Diagram under Geology.

Cappeline (n.) A hood-shaped bandage for the head, the shoulder, or the stump of an amputated limb.

Capuchin (n.) A long-tailed South American monkey (Cabus capucinus), having the forehead naked and wrinkled, with the hair on the crown reflexed and resembling a monk's cowl, the rest being of a grayish white; -- called also capucine monkey, weeper, sajou, sapajou, and sai.

Cardamine (n.) A genus of cruciferous plants, containing the lady's-smock, cuckooflower, bitter cress, meadow cress, etc.

Catechin (n.) One of the tannic acids, extracted from catechu as a white, crystalCelandine (n.) A perennial herbaceous plant (Chelidonium majus) of the poppy family, with yellow flowers. It is used as a medicine in jaundice, etc., and its acrid saffron-colored juice is used to cure warts and the itch; -- called also greater celandine and swallowwort.

Celebrant (n.) One who performs a public religious rite; -- applied particularly to an officiating priest in the Roman Catholic Church, as distinguished from his assistants.

Cenation (n.) Meal-taking; dining or supping.

Cerulean (a.) Sky-colored; blue; azure.

Chaetognatha (n. pl.) An order of free-swimming marine worms, of which the genus Sagitta is the type. They have groups of curved spines on each side of the head.

Chaldean (n.) A learned man, esp. an astrologer; -- so called among the Eastern nations, because astrology and the kindred arts were much cultivated by the Chaldeans.

Chatoyant (n.) A hard stone, as the cat's-eye, which presents on a polished surface, and in the interior, an undulating or wary light.

Chelidonius (n.) A small stone taken from the gizzard of a young swallow. -- anciently worn as a medicinal charm.

Chondrin (n.) A colorless, amorphous, nitrogenous substance, tasteless and odorless, formed from cartilaginous tissue by long-continued action of boiling water. It is similar to gelatin, and is a large ingredient of commercial gelatin.

Cisalpine (a.) On the hither side of the Alps with reference to Rome, that is, on the south side of the Alps; -- opposed to transalpine.

Cisatlantic (a.) On this side of the Atlantic Ocean; -- used of the eastern or the western side, according to the standpoint of the writer.

Clearwing (n.) A lepidopterous insect with partially transparent wings, of the family Aegeriadae, of which the currant and peach-tree borers are examples.

Cloisonne (a.) Inlaid between partitions: -- said of enamel when the lines which divide the different patches of fields are composed of a kind of metal wire secured to the ground; as distinguished from champleve enamel, in which the ground is engraved or scooped out to receive the enamel.

Coachman (n.) A tropical fish of the Atlantic ocean (Dutes auriga); -- called also charioteer. The name refers to a long, lashlike spine of the dorsal fin.

Coelodont (a.) Having hollow teeth; -- said of a group lizards.

Cohesion (n.) That from of attraction by which the particles of a body are united throughout the mass, whether like or unlike; -- distinguished from adhesion, which unites bodies by their adjacent surfaces.

Columbine (a.) Of or pertaining to a dove; dovelike; dove-colored.

Competent (a.) Rightfully or properly belonging; incident; -- followed by to.

Complain (v. i.) To give utterance to expression of grief, pain, censure, regret. etc.; to lament; to murmur; to find fault; -- commonly used with of. Also, to creak or squeak, as a timber or wheel.

Complaint (n.) Expression of grief, regret, pain, censure, or resentment; lamentation; murmuring; accusation; fault-finding.

Confidence (n.) The act of confiding, trusting, or putting faith in; trust; reliance; belief; -- formerly followed by of, now commonly by in.

Confidence (n.) The state of mind characterized by one's reliance on himself, or his circumstances; a feeling of self-sufficiency; such assurance as leads to a feeling of security; self-reliance; -- often with self prefixed.

Confidence (n.) Having self-reliance; bold; undaunted.

Conscientious (a.) Influenced by conscience; governed by a strict regard to the dictates of conscience, or by the known or supposed rules of right and wrong; -- said of a person.

Conscientious (a.) Characterized by a regard to conscience; conformed to the dictates of conscience; -- said of actions.

Consonant (a.) Having agreement; congruous; consistent; according; -- usually followed by with or to.

Continency (n.) Self-restraint; self-command.

Corallin (n.) A yellow coal-tar dyestuff which probably consists chiefly of rosolic acid. See Aurin, and Rosolic acid under Rosolic.

Coralline (n.) Formerly any slender coral-like animal; -- sometimes applied more particulary to bryozoan corals.

Corrugent (a.) Drawing together; contracting; -- said of the corrugator.

Coterminous (a.) Bordering; conterminous; -- followed by with.

Cotquean (n.) A she-cuckold; a cucquean; a henhussy.

Cottolene (n.) A product from cotton-seed, used as lard.

Coumarin (n.) The concrete essence of the tonka bean, the fruit of Dipterix (formerly Coumarouna) odorata and consisting essentially of coumarin proper, which is a white crystalCrackling (n.) The well-browned, crisp rind of roasted pork.

Creationism (n.) The doctrine that a soul is specially created for each human being as soon as it is formed in the womb; -- opposed to traducianism.

Crinoline (n.) A kind of stiff cloth, used chiefly by women, for underskirts, to expand the gown worn over it; -- so called because originally made of hair.

Croissante (a.) Terminated with crescent; -- said of a cross the ends of which are so terminated.

Culverin (n.) A long cannon of the 16th century, usually an 18-pounder with serpent-shaped handles.

Cyanogen (n.) A colorless, inflammable, poisonous gas, C2N2, with a peach-blossom odor, so called from its tendency to form blue compounds; obtained by heating ammonium oxalate, mercuric cyanide, etc. It is obtained in combination, forming an alkaDachshund (n.) One of a breed of small dogs with short crooked legs, and long body; -- called also badger dog. There are two kinds, the rough-haired and the smooth-haired.

Dalesman (n.) One living in a dale; -- a term applied particularly to the inhabitants of the valleys in the north of England, Norway, etc.

Dearborn (n.) A four-wheeled carriage, with curtained sides.

Death (v. i.) Personified: The destroyer of life, -- conventionally represented as a skeleton with a scythe.

Decrement (n.) The quantity lost by gradual diminution or waste; -- opposed to increment.

Decurrent (a.) Extending downward; -- said of a leaf whose base extends downward and forms a wing along the stem.

Defendant (n.) A person required to make answer in an action or suit; -- opposed to plaintiff.

Demicannon (n.) A kind of ordnance, carrying a ball weighing from thirty to thirty-six pounds.

Demirelievo (n.) Half relief. See Demi-rilievo.

Dependent (a.) Relying on, or subject to, something else for support; not able to exist, or sustain itself, or to perform anything, without the will, power, or aid of something else; not self-sustaining; contingent or conditioned; subordinate; -- often with on or upon; as, dependent on God; dependent upon friends.

Dependent (n.) One who depends; one who is sustained by another, or who relies on another for support of favor; a hanger-on; a retainer; as, a numerous train of dependents.

Derision (n.) An object of derision or scorn; a laughing-stock.

Desmodont (n.) A member of a group of South American blood-sucking bats, of the genera Desmodus and Diphylla. See Vampire.

Determination (n.) The addition of a differentia to a concept or notion, thus limiting its extent; -- the opposite of generalization.

Determine (v. t.) To fix the course of; to impel and direct; -- with a remoter object preceded by to; as, another's will determined me to this course.

Determine (v. i.) To come to a decision; to decide; to resolve; -- often with on.

Detriment (n.) That which injures or causes damage; mischief; harm; diminution; loss; damage; -- used very generically; as, detriments to property, religion, morals, etc.

Diffidence (n.) Distrust of one's self or one's own powers; lack of self-reliance; modesty; modest reserve; bashfulness.

Diffident (a.) Wanting confidence in one's self; distrustful of one's own powers; not self-reliant; timid; modest; bashful; characterized by modest reserve.

Diminuendo (adv.) In a gradually diminishing manner; with abatement of tone; decrescendo; -- expressed on the staff by Dim., or Dimin., or the sign.

Diphthong (n.) A coalition or union of two vowel sounds pronounced in one syllable; as, ou in out, oi in noise; -- called a proper diphthong.

Diphthong (n.) A vowel digraph; a union of two vowels in the same syllable, only one of them being sounded; as, ai in rain, eo in people; -- called an improper diphthong.

Disadvantageous (a.) Attended with disadvantage; unfavorable to success or prosperity; inconvenient; prejudicial; -- opposed to advantageous; as, the situation of an army is disadvantageous for attack or defense.

Dissonant (a.) Disagreeing; incongruous; discrepant, -- with from or to.

Divergent (a.) Receding farther and farther from each other, as lines radiating from one point; deviating gradually from a given direction; -- opposed to convergent.

Draconin (n.) A red resin forming the essential basis of dragon's blood; -- called also dracin.

Dragoman (n.) An interpreter; -- so called in the Levant and other parts of the East.

Drunkenness (n.) The state of being drunken with, or as with, alcoholic liquor; intoxication; inebriety; -- used of the casual state or the habit.

Dynactinometer (n.) An instrument for measuring the intensity of the photogenic (light-producing) rays, and computing the power of object glasses.

Dyslysin (n.) A resinous substance formed in the decomposition of cholic acid of bile; -- so called because it is difficult to solve.

Ekaboron (n.) The name given by Mendelejeff in accordance with the periodic law, and by prediction, to a hypothetical element then unknown, but since discovered and named scandium; -- so called because it was a missing analogue of the boron group. See Scandium.

Ekaluminium (n.) The name given to a hypothetical element, -- later discovered and called gallium. See Gallium, and cf. Ekabor.

Election (a.) Divine choice; predestination of individuals as objects of mercy and salvation; -- one of the "five points" of Calvinism.

Eliminant (n.) The result of eliminating n variables between n homogeneous equations of any degree; -- called also resultant.

Elopement (n.) The act of eloping; secret departure; -- said of a woman and a man, one or both, who run away from their homes for marriage or for cohabitation.

Emblazon (v. t.) To depict or represent; -- said of heraldic bearings. See Blazon.

Emblement (n.) The growing crop, or profits of a crop which has been sown or planted; -- used especially in the plural. The produce of grass, trees, and the like, is not emblement.

Endochondral (a.) Growing or developing within cartilage; -- applied esp. to developing bone.

Endowment (n.) That which is given or bestowed upon the person or mind; gift of nature; accomplishment; natural capacity; talents; -- usually in the plural.

Enneagynous (a.) Having or producing nine pistils or styles; -- said of a flower or plant.

Erythrina (n.) A genus of leguminous plants growing in the tropics; coral tree; -- so called from its red flowers.

Eudaemonics (n.) That part of moral philosophy which treats of happiness; the science of happiness; -- contrasted with aretaics.

Eudaemonism (n.) That system of ethics which defines and enforces moral obligation by its relation to happiness or personal well-being.

Eupittone (n.) A yellow, crystalExcellence (n.) A title of honor or respect; -- more common in the form excellency.

Excellent (a.) Superior in kind or degree, irrespective of moral quality; -- used with words of a bad significance.

Excellently (adv.) In a high or superior degree; -- in this literal use, not implying worthiness.

Exertion (n.) The act of exerting, or putting into motion or action; the active exercise of any power or faculty; an effort, esp. a laborious or perceptible effort; as, an exertion of strength or power; an exertion of the limbs or of the mind; it is an exertion for him to move, to-day.

Expediency (n.) The quality of being expedient or advantageous; fitness or suitableness to effect a purpose intended; adaptedness to self-interest; desirableness; advantage; advisability; -- sometimes contradistinguished from moral rectitude.

Expedient (a.) Hastening or forward; hence, tending to further or promote a proposed object; fit or proper under the circumstances; conducive to self-interest; desirable; advisable; advantageous; -- sometimes contradistinguished from right.

Experientialism (n.) The doctrine that experience, either that ourselves or of others, is the test or criterion of general knowledge; -- opposed to intuitionists.

Faintling (a.) Timorous; feeble-minded.

Falchion (n.) A broad-bladed sword, slightly curved, shorter and lighter than the ordinary sword; -- used in the Middle Ages.

Fergusonite (n.) A mineral of a brownish black color, essentially a tantalo-niobate of yttrium, erbium, and cerium; -- so called after Robert Ferguson.

Firestone (n.) A stone which will bear the heat of a furnace without injury; -- especially applied to the sandstone at the top of the upper greensand in the south of England, used for lining kilns and furnaces.

Firstling (n.) The first produce or offspring; -- said of animals, especially domestic animals; as, the firstlings of his flock.

Fixation (n.) The act of uniting chemically with a solid substance or in a solid form; reduction to a non-volatile condition; -- said of gaseous elements.

Fixation (n.) A state of resistance to evaporation or volatilization by heat; -- said of metals.

Flowering (a.) Having conspicuous flowers; -- used as an epithet with many names of plants; as, flowering ash; flowering dogwood; flowering almond, etc.

Footstone (n.) The stone at the foot of a grave; -- opposed to headstone.

Fourdrinier (n.) A machine used in making paper; -- so named from an early inventor of improvements in this class of machinery.

Fraction (v. t.) To separate by means of, or to subject to, fractional distillation or crystallization; to fractionate; -- frequently used with out; as, to fraction out a certain grade of oil from pretroleum.

Franklin stove () A kind of open stove introduced by Benjamin Franklin, the peculiar feature of which was that a current of heated air was directly supplied to the room from an air box; -- now applied to other varieties of open stoves.

Frankpledge (n.) A pledge or surety for the good behavior of freemen, -- each freeman who was a member of an ancient decennary, tithing, or friborg, in England, being a pledge for the good conduct of the others, for the preservation of the publ Freestone (n.) A stone composed of sand or grit; -- so called because it is easily cut or wrought.

Freethinker (n.) One who speculates or forms opinions independently of the authority of others; esp., in the sphere or religion, one who forms opinions independently of the authority of revelation or of the church; an unbeliever; -- a term assumed by deists and skeptics in the eighteenth century.

Freethinker (n.) One who speculates or forms opinions independently of the authority of others; esp., in the sphere or religion, one who forms opinions independently of the authority of revelation or of the church; an unbeliever; -- a term assumed by deists and skeptics in the eighteenth century.

Furfuran (n.) A colorless, oily substance, C4H4O, obtained by distilling certain organic substances, as pine wood, salts of pyromucic acid, etc.; -- called also tetraphenol.

Furzeling (n.) An English warbler (Melizophilus provincialis); -- called also furze wren, and Dartford warbler.

Gainpain (n.) Bread-gainer; -- a term applied in the Middle Ages to the sword of a hired soldier.

Galatian (a.) Of or pertaining to Galatia or its inhabitants. -- A native or inhabitant of Galatia, in Asia Minor; a descendant of the Gauls who settled in Asia Minor.

Galician (n.) A native of Galicia in Spain; -- called also Gallegan.

Galilean (n.) One of the party among the Jews, who opposed the payment of tribute to the Romans; -- called also Gaulonite.

Galilean (n.) A Christian in general; -- used as a term of reproach by Mohammedans and Pagans.

Ganglion (n.) A globular, hard, indolent tumor, situated somewhere on a tendon, and commonly formed by the effusion of a viscid fluid into it; -- called also weeping sinew.

Gelsemine (n.) An alkaloid obtained from the yellow jasmine (Gelsemium sempervirens), as a bitter white semicrystalGentisin (n.) A tasteless, yellow, crystalGladstone (n.) A four-wheeled pleasure carriage with two inside seats, calash top, and seats for driver and footman.

Goldfinny (n.) One of two or more species of European labroid fishes (Crenilabrus melops, and Ctenolabrus rupestris); -- called also goldsinny, and goldney.

Goosewinged (a.) Said of a fore-and-aft rigged vessel with foresail set on one side and mainsail on the other; wing and wing.

Gopher (n.) One of several North American burrowing rodents of the genera Geomys and Thomomys, of the family Geomyidae; -- called also pocket gopher and pouched rat. See Pocket gopher, and Tucan.

Gorgerin (n.) In some columns, that part of the capital between the termination of the shaft and the annulet of the echinus, or the space between two neck moldings; -- called also neck of the capital, and hypotrachelium. See Illust. of Column.

Granatin (n.) Mannite; -- so called because found in the pomegranate.

Greenfinch (n.) A European finch (Ligurinus chloris); -- called also green bird, green linnet, green grosbeak, green olf, greeny, and peasweep.

Halichondriae (n. pl.) An order of sponges, having simple siliceous spicules and keratose fibers; -- called also Keratosilicoidea.

Hallucinate (v. i.) To wander; to go astray; to err; to blunder; -- used of mental processes.

Hamilton period () A subdivision of the Devonian system of America; -- so named from Hamilton, Madison Co., New York. It includes the Marcellus, Hamilton, and Genesee epochs or groups. See the Chart of Geology.

Harridan (n.) A worn-out strumpet; a vixenish woman; a hag.

Hatchment (n.) A sort of panel, upon which the arms of a deceased person are temporarily displayed, -- usually on the walls of his dwelling. It is lozenge-shaped or square, but is hung cornerwise. It is used in England as a means of giving public notification of the death of the deceased, his or her rank, whether married, widower, widow, etc. Called also achievement.

Hecdecane (n.) A white, semisolid, spermaceti-like hydrocarbon, C16H34, of the paraffin series, found dissolved as an important ingredient of kerosene, and so called because each molecule has sixteen atoms of carbon; -- called also hexadecane.

Heighten (v. t.) To carry forward; to advance; to increase; to augment; to aggravate; to intensify; to render more conspicuous; -- used of things, good or bad; as, to heighten beauty; to heighten a flavor or a tint.

Heliocentrical (a.) pertaining to the sun's center, or appearing to be seen from it; having, or relating to, the sun as a center; -- opposed to geocentrical.

Hendecane (n.) A hydrocarbon, C11H24, of the paraffin series; -- so called because it has eleven atoms of carbon in each molecule. Called also endecane, undecane.

Henpeck (v. t.) To subject to petty authority; -- said of a wife who thus treats her husband. Commonly used in the past participle (often adjectively).

Herisson (n.) A beam or bar armed with iron spikes, and turning on a pivot; -- used to block up a passage.

Hexactinellid (a.) Having six-rayed spicules; belonging to the Hexactinellinae.

Hexactinelline (a.) Belonging to the Hexactinellinae, a group of sponges, having six-rayed siliceous spicules.

Hidebound (a.) Having the skin adhering so closely to the ribs and back as not to be easily loosened or raised; -- said of an animal.

Hidebound (a.) Having the bark so close and constricting that it impedes the growth; -- said of trees.

Histogenesis (n.) The formation and development of organic tissues; histogeny; -- the opposite of histolysis.

Histogenetic (a.) Tissue-producing; connected with the formation and development of the organic tissues.

Histrionical (a.) Of or relating to the stage or a stageplayer; befitting a theatre; theatrical; -- sometimes in a bad sense.

Hornstone (n.) A siliceous stone, a variety of quartz, closely resembling flint, but more brittle; -- called also chert.

Horseman (n.) A West Indian fish of the genus Eques, as the light-horseman (E. lanceolatus).

Houseline (n.) A small Huronian (a.) Of or pertaining to certain non-fossiliferous rocks on the borders of Lake Huron, which are supposed to correspond in time to the latter part of the Archaean age.

Hurricane (n.) A violent storm, characterized by extreme fury and sudden changes of the wind, and generally accompanied by rain, thunder, and lightning; -- especially prevalent in the East and West Indies. Also used figuratively.

Hydrachnid (n.) An aquatic mite of the genus Hydrachna. The hydrachnids, while young, are parasitic on fresh-water mussels.

Hydrogenium (n.) Hydrogen; -- called also in view of its supposed metallic nature.

Hydrogenize (v. t.) To combine with hydrogen; to treat with, or subject to the action of, hydrogen; to reduce; -- contrasted with oxidize.

Hydrokinetic (a.) Of or pertaining to the motions of fluids, or the forces which produce or affect such motions; -- opposed to hydrostatic.

Hydromancy (n.) Divination by means of water, -- practiced by the ancients.

Hypnogenic (a.) Relating to the production of hypnotic sleep; as, the so-called hypnogenic pressure points, pressure upon which is said to cause an attack of hypnotic sleep.

Hypoblast (n.) The inner or lower layer of the blastoderm; -- called also endoderm, entoderm, and sometimes hypoderm. See Illust. of Blastoderm, Delamination, and Ectoderm.

Hypothenuse (n.) The side of a right-angled triangle that is opposite to the right angle.

Immigrant (n.) One who immigrates; one who comes to a country for the purpose of permanent residence; -- correlative of emigrant.

Impatiens (n.) A genus of plants, several species of which have very beautiful flowers; -- so called because the elastic capsules burst when touched, and scatter the seeds with considerable force. Called also touch-me-not, jewelweed, and snapweed. I. Balsamina (sometimes called lady's slipper) is the common garden balsam.

Impatient (a.) Not patient; not bearing with composure; intolerant; uneasy; fretful; restless, because of pain, delay, or opposition; eager for change, or for something expected; hasty; passionate; -- often followed by at, for, of, and under.

Incontinently (adv.) In an incontinent manner; without restraint, or without due restraint; -- used esp. of the passions or appetites.

Increment (n.) Matter added; increase; produce; production; -- opposed to decrement.

Incumbent (a.) Leaning or resting; -- said of anthers when lying on the inner side of the filament, or of cotyledons when the radicle lies against the back of one of them.

Infusionism (n.) The doctrine that the soul is preexistent to the body, and is infused into it at conception or birth; -- opposed to tradicianism and creationism.

Insolvent (n.) One who is insolvent; as insolvent debtor; -- in England, before 1861, especially applied to persons not traders.

Internuncial (a.) Communicating or transmitting impressions between different parts of the body; -- said of the nervous system.

Interoperculum (n.) The postero-inferior opercular bone, in fishes.

Intervene (v. i.) To come between, or to be between, persons or things; -- followed by between; as, the Mediterranean intervenes between Europe and Africa.

Intestine (a.) Internal; inward; -- opposed to external.

Intestine (a.) Internal with regard to a state or country; domestic; not foreign; -- applied usually to that which is evil; as, intestine disorders, calamities, etc.

Intramundane (a.) Being within the material world; -- opposed to extramundane.

Iridoline (n.) A nitrogenous base C10H9N, extracted from coal-tar naphtha, as an oily liquid. It is a member of the quinoIrrational (a.) Not capable of being exactly expressed by an integral number, or by a vulgar fraction; surd; -- said especially of roots. See Surd.

Isopogonous (a.) Having the two webs equal in breath; -- said of feathers.

Jamaicine (n.) An alkaloid said to be contained in the bark of Geoffroya inermis, a leguminous tree growing in Jamaica and Surinam; -- called also jamacina.

Karyokinesis (n.) The indirect division of cells in which, prior to division of the cell protoplasm, complicated changes take place in the nucleus, attended with movement of the nuclear fibrils; -- opposed to karyostenosis. The nucleus becomes enlarged and convoluted, and finally the threads are separated into two groups which ultimately become disconnected and constitute the daughter nuclei. Called also mitosis. See Cell development, under Cell.

Keelivine (n.) A pencil of black or red lead; -- called also keelyvine pen.

Kinnikinic (n.) Prepared leaves or bark of certain plants; -- used by the Indians of the Northwest for smoking, either mixed with tobacco or as a substitute for it. Also, a plant so used, as the osier cornel (Cornus stolonijra), and the bearberry (Arctostaphylus Uva-ursi).

Kneejoint (n.) A toggle joint; -- so called because consisting of two pieces jointed to each other end to end, making an angle like the knee when bent.

Knoppern (n.) A kind of gall produced by a gallfly on the cup of an acorn, -- used in tanning and dyeing.

Krumhorn (a.) A reed stop in the organ; -- sometimes called cremona.

Landsman (n.) One who lives on the land; -- opposed to seaman.

Lansquenet (n.) A German foot soldier in foreign service in the 15th and 16th centuries; a soldier of fortune; -- a term used in France and Western Europe.

Lazzaroni (n. pl.) The homeless idlers of Naples who live by chance work or begging; -- so called from the Hospital of St. Lazarus, which serves as their refuge.

Lengthen (v. t.) To extent in length; to make longer in extent or duration; as, to lengthen a Lewisson (n.) An iron dovetailed tenon, made in sections, which can be fitted into a dovetail mortise; -- used in hoisting large stones, etc.

Libethenite (n.) A mineral of an olive-green color, commonly in orthorhombic crystals. It is a hydrous phosphate of copper.

Lineament (n.) One of the outlines, exterior features, or distinctive marks, of a body or figure, particularly of the face; feature; form; mark; -- usually in the plural.

Linen (n.) Thread or cloth made of flax or (rarely) of hemp; -- used in a general sense to include cambric, shirting, sheeting, towels, tablecloths, etc.

Liriodendron (n.) A genus of large and very beautiful trees of North America, having smooth, shining leaves, and handsome, tuliplike flowers; tulip tree; whitewood; -- called also canoewood. Liriodendron tulipifera is the only extant species, but there were several others in the Cretaceous epoch.

Lithogenous (a.) Stone-producing; -- said of polyps which form coral.

Littorina (n.) A genus of small pectinibranch mollusks, having thick spiral shells, abundant between tides on nearly all rocky seacoasts. They feed on seaweeds. The common periwinkle is a well-known example. See Periwinkle.

Longhorn (n.) A long-horned animal, as a cow, goat, or beetle. See Long-horned.

Longspun (a.) Spun out, or extended, to great length; hence, long-winded; tedious.

Madbrain (a.) Hot-headed; rash.

Madbrain (n.) A rash or hot-headed person.

Madbrained (a.) Disordered in mind; hot-headed.

Malignant (n.) One of the adherents of Charles L. or Charles LL.; -- so called by the opposite party.

Mandarin (n.) A small orange, with easily separable rind. It is thought to be of Chinese origin, and is counted a distinct species (Citrus nobilis)mandarin orange; tangerine --.

Mastodyny (n.) Pain occuring in the mamma or female breast, -- a form of neuralgia.

Medialuna (n.) See Half-moon.

Melanian (n.) One of a family of fresh-water pectinibranchiate mollusks, having a turret-shaped shell.

Melodeon (n.) A kind of small reed organ; -- a portable form of the seraphine.

Menaccanite (n.) An iron-black or steel-gray mineral, consisting chiefly of the oxides of iron and titanium. It is commonly massive, but occurs also in rhombohedral crystals. Called also titanic iron ore, and ilmenite.

Menhaden (n.) An American marine fish of the Herring familt (Brevoortia tyrannus), chiefly valuable for its oil and as a component of fertilizers; -- called also mossbunker, bony fish, chebog, pogy, hardhead, whitefish, etc.

Metalline (n.) A substance of variable composition, but resembling a soft, dark-colored metal, used in the bearings of machines for obviating friction, and as a substitute for lubricants.

Methylene (n.) A hydrocarbon radical, CH2, not known in the free state, but regarded as an essential residue and component of certain derivatives of methane; as, methylene bromide, CH2Br2; -- formerly called also methene.

Minargent (n.) An alloy consisting of copper, nickel, tungsten, and aluminium; -- used by jewelers.

Minnesinger (n.) A love-singer; specifically, one of a class of German poets and musicians who flourished from about the middle of the twelfth to the middle of the fourteenth century. They were chiefly of noble birth, and made love and beauty the subjects of their verses.

Molybdenite (n.) A mineral occurring in soft, lead-gray, foliated masses or scales, resembling graphite; sulphide of molybdenum.

Molybdenum (n.) A rare element of the chromium group, occurring in nature in the minerals molybdenite and wulfenite, and when reduced obtained as a hard, silver-white, difficulty fusible metal. Symbol Mo. Atomic weight 95.9.

Monoclinal (a.) Having one oblique inclination; -- applied to strata that dip in only one direction from the axis of elevation.

Monoclinic (a.) Having one oblique intersection; -- said of that system of crystallization in which the vertical axis is inclined to one, but at right angles to the other, lateral axis. See Crystallization.

Monophonic (a.) Single-voiced; having but one part; as, a monophonic composition; -- opposed to polyphonic.

Monseigneur (n.) My lord; -- a title in France of a person of high birth or rank; as, Monseigneur the Prince, or Monseigneur the Archibishop. It was given, specifically, to the dauphin, before the Revolution of 1789. (Abbrev. Mgr.)

Moonblind (a.) Dim-sighted; purblind.

Moonblink (n.) A temporary blindness, or impairment of sight, said to be caused by sleeping in the moonlight; -- sometimes called nyctalopia.

Moonshiner (n.) A person engaged in illicit distilling; -- so called because the work is largely done at night.

Moravian (n.) One of a religious sect called the United Brethren (an offshoot of the Hussites in Bohemia), which formed a separate church of Moravia, a northern district of Austria, about the middle of the 15th century. After being nearly extirpated by persecution, the society, under the name of The Renewed Church of the United Brethren, was reestablished in 1722-35 on the estates of Count Zinzendorf in Saxony. Called also Herrnhuter.

Morintannic (a.) Pertaining to, or designating, a variety of tannic acid extracted from fustic (Maclura, formerly Morus, tinctoria) as a yellow crystalMothering (n.) A rural custom in England, of visiting one's parents on Midlent Sunday, -- supposed to have been originally visiting the mother church to make offerings at the high altar.

Myristin (n.) The myristate of glycerin, -- found as a vegetable fat in nutmeg butter, etc.

Myrmidon (n.) A soldier or a subordinate civil officer who executes cruel orders of a superior without protest or pity; -- sometimes applied to bailiffs, constables, etc.

Narcotine (n.) An alkaloid found in opium, and extracted as a white crystalNectarine (n.) A smooth-skinned variety of peach.

Negation (adv.) The act of denying; assertion of the nonreality or untruthfulness of anything; declaration that something is not, or has not been, or will not be; denial; -- the opposite of affirmation.

Nemertina (n. pl.) An order of helminths usually having a long, slender, smooth, often bright-colored body, covered with minute vibrating cilia; -- called also Nemertea, Nemertida, and Rhynchocoela.

Nicotiana (n.) A genus of American and Asiatic solanaceous herbs, with viscid foliage and funnel-shaped blossoms. Several species yield tobacco. See Tobacco.

Nigrosine (n.) A dark blue dyestuff, of the induNitratine (n.) A mineral occurring in transparent crystals, usually of a white, sometimes of a reddish gray, or lemon-yellow, color; native sodium nitrate. It is used in making nitric acid and for manure. Called also soda niter.

Nitrophnol (n.) Any one of a series of nitro derivatives of phenol. They are yellow oily or crystalNolition (n.) Adverse action of will; unwillingness; -- opposed to volition.

Nondecane (n.) A hydrocarbon of the paraffin series, a white waxy substance, C19H40; -- so called from the number of carbon atoms in the molecule.

Nonjuring (a.) Not swearing allegiance; -- applied to the party in Great Britain that would not swear allegiance to William and Mary, or their successors.

Northerner (n.) A native or inhabitant of the Northern States; -- contradistinguished from Southerner.

Noumenon (n.) The of itself unknown and unknowable rational object, or thing in itself, which is distinguished from the phenomenon through which it is apprehended by the senses, and by which it is interpreted and understood; -- so used in the philosophy of Kant and his followers.

Advancing edge () The front edge (in direction of motion) of a supporting surface; -- contr. with following edge, which is the rear edge.

Advancing surface () The first of two or more surfaces arranged in tandem; -- contr. with following surface, which is the rear surface.

American plan () In hotels, aplan upon which guests pay for both room and board by the day, week, or other convenient period; -- contrasted with European plan.

Amylogenic (a.) Forming starch; -- applied specif. to leucoplasts.

Anthracnose (n.) Any one of several fungus diseases, caused by parasitic species of the series Melanconiales, attacking the bean, grape, melon, cotton, and other plants. In the case of the grape, brown concave spots are formed on the stem and fruit, and the disease is called bird's-eye rot.

Apartment house () A building comprising a number of suites designed for separate housekeeping tenements, but having conveniences, such as heat, light, elevator service, etc., furnished in common; -- often distinguished in the United States from a flat house.

Arecoline () Alt. of -lin

Argentamine () Alt. of -min

Autohypnotic (a.) Pert. to autohypnotism; self-hypnotizing.

Autotransformer (n.) A transformer in which part of the primary winding is used as a secondary winding, or vice versa; -- called also a compensator or balancing coil.

Banjorine (n.) A kind of banjo, with a short neck, tuned a fourth higher than the common banjo; -- popularly so called.

Barnburner (n.) A member of the radical section of the Democratic party in New York, about the middle of the 19th century, which was hostile to extension of slavery, public debts, corporate privileges, etc., and supported Van Buren against Cass for president in 1848; -- opposed to Hunker.

Barramundi (n.) A remarkable Australian fresh-water ganoid fish of the genus Ceratodus.

Billabong (n.) In Australia, a blind channel leading out from a river; -- sometimes called an anabranch. This is the sense of the word as used in the Public Works Department; but the term has also been locally applied to mere back-waters forming stagnant pools and to certain water channels arising from a source.

California jack () A game at cards, a modification of seven-up, or all fours.

Carborundum () A beautiful crystalContinental drive () A transmission arrangement in which the longitudinal crank shaft drives the rear wheels through a clutch, change-speed gear, countershaft, and two parallel side chains, in order.

Crownland (n.) In Austria-Hungary, one of the provinces, or largest administrative divisions of the monarchy; as, the crownland of Lower Austria.

Electron () One of those particles, having about one thousandth the mass of a hydrogen atom, which are projected from the cathode of a vacuum tube as the cathode rays and from radioactive substances as the beta rays; -- called also corpuscle. The electron carries (or is) a natural unit of negative electricity, equal to 3.4 x 10-10 electrostatic units. It has been detected only when in rapid motion; its mass, which is electromagnetic, is practically constant at the lesser speeds, but increases > Experience table () A table of mortality computed from the experience of one or more life-insurance companies.

Following edge () See Advancing-edge, above.

Following surface () See Advancing-surface, above.

Fraulein (n.sing. & pl.) In Germany, a young lady; an unmarried woman; -- as a title, equivalent to Miss.

Holstein (n.) One of a breed of cattle, originally from Schleswig-Holstein, valued for the large amount of milk produced by the cows. The color is usually black and white in irregular patches.

Iconomania (n.) A mania or infatuation for icons, whether as objects of devotion, bric-a-brac, or curios.

Inductance (n.) Capacity for induction; the coefficient of self-induction.

Inpatient (n.) A patient who receives lodging and food, as well as treatment, in a hospital or an infirmary; -- distinguished from outpatient.

Larrikin (n.) A rowdy street loafer; a rowdyish or noisy ill-bred fellow; -- variously applied, as to a street blackguard, a street Arab, a youth given to horse-play, etc.

Mountain State () Montana; -- a nickname.

Mutation (n.) As now employed (first by de Vries), a sudden variation (the offspring differing from its parents in some well-marked character or characters) as distinguished from a gradual variations in which the new characters become fully developed only in the course of many generations. The occurrence of mutations, and the hereditary transmission, under some conditions, of the characters so appearing, are well-established facts; whether the process has played an important part in the evolut> Nonunion (a.) Not recognizing or favoring trades unions or trades-unionists; as, a nonunion contractor.

Pentosan () Alt. of -sane

Pentose (n.) Any of a group of sugars of the formula C5H10O5, as arabinose; -- so called from the five carbon atoms in the molecule. They are not fermented by yeast.

Percaline (n.) A fine kind of cotton goods, usually of one color, and with a glossy surface, -- much use for linings.

Photosynthesis (n.) The process of constructive metabolism by which carbohydrates are formed from water vapor and the carbon dioxide of the air in the chlorophyll-containing tissues of plants exposed to the action of light. It was formerly called assimilation, but this is now commonly used as in animal physiology. The details of the process are not yet clearly known. Baeyer's theory is that the carbon dioxide is reduced to carbon monoxide, which, uniting with the hydrogen of the water in the c> Phrygian cap () A close-fitting cap represented in Greek art as worn by Orientals, assumed to have been conical in shape. It has been adopted in modern art as the so-called liberty cap, or cap of liberty.

Pithecanthropus (n.) A genus consisting of an primate (P. erectus) apparently intermediate between man and the existing anthropoid apes, known from bones of a single individual found in Java (hence called Java man) in 1891-92. These bones include a thigh bone of the human type, two molar teeth intermediate between those of man and the anthropoids, and the calvaria of the skull, indicating a brain capacity of about 900 cubic centimeters, and resembling in form that of the Neanderthal man.

Reconcentrado (n.) Lit., one who has been reconcentrated; specif., in Cuba, the Philippines, etc., during the revolution of 1895-98, one of the rural noncombatants who were concentrated by the military authorities in areas surrounding the fortified towns, and later were reconcentrated in the smaller limits of the towns themselves.

Reconcentration (n.) The act of reconcentrating or the state of being reconcentrated; esp., the act or policy of concentrating the rural population in or about towns and villages for convenience in political or military administration, as in Cuba during the revolution of 1895-98.

Stillson wrench () A pipe wrench having an adjustable L-shaped jaw piece sliding in a sleeve that is pivoted to, and loosely embraces, the handle. Pressure on the handle increases the grip.

Submarine (n.) A submarine boat; esp., Nav., a submarine torpedo boat; -- called specif. submergible submarine when capable of operating at various depths and of traveling considerable distances under water, and submersible submarine when capable of being only partly submerged, i.e., so that the conning tower, etc., is still above water. The latter type and most of the former type are submerged as desired by regulating the amount of water admitted to the ballast tanks and sink on an even keel;> Tennysonian (a.) Of or pertaining to Alfred (Lord) Tennyson, the English poet (1809-92); resembling, or having some of the characteristics of, his poetry, as simplicity, pictorial quality, sensuousness, etc.

Tetrazine () Alt. of -in

Thermoanaesthesia (n.) Alt. of -anesthesia

Thermomotor (n.) A heat engine; a hot-air engine.

Traction wheel () A smooth-rimmed friction wheel for giving motion to an endless link belt or the like.

Weismannism (n.) The theories and teachings in regard to heredity propounded by the German biologist August Weismann, esp. in regard to germ plasm as the basis of heredity and the impossibility of transmitting acquired characteristics; -- often called neo-Darwinism.

Wolverene State () Michigan; -- a nickname.

Wrestling (n.) Act of one who wrestles; specif., the sport consisting of the hand-to-hand combat between two unarmed contestants who seek to throw each other.

Y current () The current through one branch of the star arrangement of a three-phase circuit.

Observance (n.) The act or practice of observing or noticing with attention; a heeding or keeping with care; performance; -- usually with a sense of strictness and fidelity; as, the observance of the Sabbath is general; the strict observance of duties.

Observant (a.) Submissively attentive; obediently watchful; regardful; mindful; obedient (to); -- with of, as, to be observant of rules.

Observantine (n.) One of a branch of the Order of Franciscans, who profess to adhere more strictly than the Conventuals to the intention of the founder, especially as to poverty; -- called also Observants.

Obtundent (n.) A substance which sheathes a part, or blunts irritation, usually some bland, oily, or mucilaginous matter; -- nearly the same as demulcent.

Occasion (n.) An occurrence or condition of affairs which brings with it some unlooked-for event; that which incidentally brings to pass an event, without being its efficient cause or sufficient reason; accidental or incidental cause.

Occasionalism (n.) The system of occasional causes; -- a name given to certain theories of the Cartesian school of philosophers, as to the intervention of the First Cause, by which they account for the apparent reciprocal action of the soul and the body.

Orthogonal (a.) Right-angled; rectangular; as, an orthogonal intersection of one curve with another.

Orthotone (a.) Retaining the accent; not enclitic; -- said of certain indefinite pronouns and adverbs when used interrogatively, which, when not so used, are ordinarilly enclitic.

Paedogenetic (a.) Producing young while in the immature or larval state; -- said of certain insects, etc.

Palingenesy (n.) A new birth; a re-creation; a regeneration; a continued existence in different manner or form.

Palingenesy (n.) That form of evolution in which the truly ancestral characters conserved by heredity are reproduced in development; original simple descent; -- distinguished from kenogenesis. Sometimes, in zoology, the abrupt metamorphosis of insects, crustaceans, etc.

Pangolin (n.) Any one of several species of Manis, Pholidotus, and related genera, found in Africa and Asia. They are covered with imbricated scales, and feed upon ants. Called also scaly ant-eater.

Paraffine (n.) A white waxy substance, resembling spermaceti, tasteless and odorless, and obtained from coal tar, wood tar, petroleum, etc., by distillation. It is used as an illuminant and lubricant. It is very inert, not being acted upon by most of the strong chemical reagents. It was formerly regarded as a definite compound, but is now known to be a complex mixture of several higher hydrocarbons of the methane or marsh-gas series; hence, by extension, any substance, whether solid, liquid, o> Parillin (n.) A glucoside resembling saponin, found in the root of sarsaparilla, smilax, etc., and extracted as a bitter white crystalParkesine (n.) A compound, originally made from gun cotton and castor oil, but later from different materials, and used as a substitute for vulcanized India rubber and for ivory; -- called also xylotile.

Parsimony (n.) Closeness or sparingness in the expenditure of money; -- generally in a bad sense; excessive frugality; niggardliness.

Pathogene (n.) One of a class of virulent microorganisms or bacteria found in the tissues and fluids in infectious diseases, and supposed to be the cause of the disease; a pathogenic organism; a pathogenic bacterium; -- opposed to zymogene.

Patient (a.) Undergoing pains, trails, or the like, without murmuring or fretfulness; bearing up with equanimity against trouble; long-suffering.

Pedarian (n.) One of a class eligible to the office of senator, but not yet chosen, who could sit and speak in the senate, but could not vote; -- so called because he might indicate his opinion by walking over to the side of the party he favored when a vote was taken.

Peterman (n.) A fisherman; -- so called after the apostle Peter.

Petition (n.) A formal written request addressed to an official person, or to an organized body, having power to grant it; specifically (Law), a supplication to government, in either of its branches, for the granting of a particular grace or right; -- in distinction from a memorial, which calls certain facts to mind; also, the written document.

Peucedanin (n.) A tasteless white crystalPhatagin (n.) The long-tailed pangolin (Manis tetradactyla); -- called also ipi.

Philogynist (n.) A lover or friend of women; one who esteems woman as the higher type of humanity; -- opposed to misogynist.

Philogyny (n.) Fondness for women; uxoriousness; -- opposed to misogyny.

Phosphene (n.) A luminous impression produced through excitation of the retina by some cause other than the impingement upon it of rays of light, as by pressure upon the eyeball when the lids are closed. Cf. After-image.

Phosphorus (n.) A poisonous nonmetallic element of the nitrogen group, obtained as a white, or yellowish, translucent waxy substance, having a characteristic disagreeable smell. It is very active chemically, must be preserved under water, and unites with oxyg Planipennia (n. pl.) A suborder of Neuroptera, including those that have broad, flat wings, as the ant-lion, lacewing, etc. Called also Planipennes.

Planoblast (n.) Any free-swimming gonophore of a hydroid; a hydroid medusa.

Planorbis (n.) Any fresh-water air-breathing mollusk belonging to Planorbis and other allied genera, having shells of a discoidal form.

Plectognathic (a.) Alt. of Plec-tognathous

Poinciana (n.) A prickly tropical shrub (Caesalpinia, formerly Poinciana, pulcherrima), with bipinnate leaves, and racemes of showy orange-red flowers with long crimson filaments.

Poltroon (n.) An arrant coward; a dastard; a craven; a mean-spirited wretch.

Polverine (n.) Glassmaker's ashes; a kind of potash or pearlash, brought from the Levant and Syria, -- used in the manufacture of fine glass.

Polyacid (a.) Capable of neutralizing, or of combining with, several molecules of a monobasic acid; having more than one hydrogen atom capable of being replaced by acid radicals; -- said of certain bases; as, calcium hydrate and glycerin are polyacid bases.

Polyphonic (a.) Consisting of several tone series, or melodic parts, progressing simultaneously according to the laws of counterpoint; contrapuntal; as, a polyphonic composition; -- opposed to homophonic, or monodic.

Polyphony (n.) Composition in mutually related, equally important parts which share the melody among them; contrapuntal composition; -- opposed to homophony, in which the melody is given to one part only, the others filling out the harmony. See Counterpoint.

Porcelanite (n.) A semivitrified clay or shale, somewhat resembling jasper; -- called also porcelain jasper.

Position (n.) A method of solving a problem by one or two suppositions; -- called also the rule of trial and error.

Postfrontal (a.) Situated behind the frontal bone or the frontal region of the skull; -- applied especially to a bone back of and below the frontal in many animals.

Postprandial (a.) Happening, or done, after dinner; after-dinner; as, postprandial speeches.

Preceding (a.) Going before; -- opposed to following.

Priapean (n.) A species of hexameter verse so constructed as to be divisible into two portions of three feet each, having generally a trochee in the first and the fourth foot, and an amphimacer in the third; -- applied also to a regular hexameter verse when so constructed as to be divisible into two portions of three feet each.

Pricksong (v. t.) Music written, or noted, with dots or points; -- so called from the points or dots with which it is noted down.

Prochronism (n.) The dating of an event before the time it happened; an antedating; -- opposed to metachronism.

Propaganda (n.) The college of the Propaganda, instituted by Urban VIII. (1623-1644) to educate priests for missions in all parts of the world.

Propidene (n.) The unsymmetrical hypothetical hydrocarbon radical, CH3.CH2.CH, analogous to ethylidene, and regarded as the type of certain derivatives of propane; -- called also propylidene.

Proterandrous (a.) Having the stamens come to maturity before the pistil; -- opposed to proterogynous.

Proteranthous (a.) Having flowers appearing before the leaves; -- said of certain plants.

Protocanonical (a.) Of or pertaining to the first canon, or that which contains the authorized collection of the books of Scripture; -- opposed to deutero-canonical.

Provident (a.) Foreseeing wants and making provision to supply them; prudent in preparing for future exigencies; cautious; economical; -- sometimes followed by of; as, aprovident man; an animal provident of the future.

Puddening (n.) A quantity of rope-yarn, or the like, placed, as a fender, on the bow of a boat.

Pusillanimous (a.) Destitute of a manly or courageous strength and firmness of mind; of weak spirit; mean-spirited; spiritless; cowardly; -- said of persons, as, a pussillanimous prince.

Pycnogonida (n. pl.) A class of marine arthropods in which the body is small and thin, and the eight legs usually very long; -- called also Pantopoda.

Pyrothonide (n.) A kind of empyreumatic oil produced by the combustion of textures of hemp, linen, or cotton in a copper vessel, -- formerly used as a remedial agent.

Quadroon (n.) The offspring of a mulatto and a white person; a person quarter-blooded.

Quartern (n.) A loaf of bread weighing about four pounds; -- called also quartern loaf.

Quinquenerved (a.) Having five nerves; -- said of a leaf with five nearly equal nerves or ribs rising from the end of the petiole.

Quintain (n.) An object to be tilted at; -- called also quintel.

Ravissant (a.) In a half-raised position, as if about to spring on prey.

Recipiangle (n.) An instrument with two arms that are pivoted together at one end, and a graduated arc, -- used by military engineers for measuring and laying off angles of fortifications.

Reckoning (n.) The calculation of a ship's position, either from astronomical observations, or from the record of the courses steered and distances sailed as shown by compass and log, -- in the latter case called dead reckoning (see under Dead); -- also used for dead reckoning in contradistinction to observation.

Recompensation (n.) Used to denote a case where a set-off pleaded by the defendant is met by a set-off pleaded by the plaintiff.

Recording (a.) Keeping a record or a register; as, a recording secretary; -- applied to numerous instruments with an automatic appliance which makes a record of their action; as, a recording gauge or telegraph.

Recursant (a.) Displayed with the back toward the spectator; -- said especially of an eagle.

Reluctancy (n.) The state or quality of being reluctant; repugnance; aversion of mind; unwillingness; -- often followed by an infinitive, or by to and a noun, formerly sometimes by against.

Remontant (a.) Rising again; -- applied to a class of roses which bloom more than once in a season; the hybrid perpetual roses, of which the Jacqueminot is a well-known example.

Representative (a.) Similar in general appearance, structure, and habits, but living in different regions; -- said of certain species and varieties.

Repugnant (a.) Disposed to fight against; hostile; at war with; being at variance; contrary; inconsistent; refractory; disobedient; also, distasteful in a high degree; offensive; -- usually followed by to, rarely and less properly by with; as, all rudeness was repugnant to her nature.

Resistance (n.) A certain hindrance or opposition to the passage of an electrical current or discharge offered by conducting bodies. It bears an inverse relation to the conductivity, -- good conductors having a small resistance, while poor conductors or insulators have a very high resistance. The unit of resistance is the ohm.

Revolving (a.) Making a revolution or revolutions; rotating; -- used also figuratively of time, seasons, etc., depending on the revolution of the earth.

Ridgeband (n.) The part of a harness which passes over the saddle, and supports the shafts of a cart; -- called also ridgerope, and ridger.

Ridgeling (n.) A half-castrated male animal.

Rigadoon (n.) A gay, lively dance for one couple, -- said to have been borrowed from Provence in France.

Ritardando (a.) Retarding; -- a direction for slower time; rallentado.

Sabbaton (n.) A round-toed, armed covering for the feet, worn during a part of the sixteenth century in both military and civil dress.

Sacrament (n.) The oath of allegiance taken by Roman soldiers; hence, a sacred ceremony used to impress an obligation; a solemn oath-taking; an oath.

Sacred (a.) Consecrated; dedicated; devoted; -- with to.

Safranin (n.) An orange-red dyestuff extracted from the saffron.

Safranin (n.) A red dyestuff extracted from the safflower, and formerly used in dyeing wool, silk, and cotton pink and scarlet; -- called also Spanish red, China lake, and carthamin.

Safranin (n.) An orange-red dyestuff prepared from certain nitro compounds of creosol, and used as a substitute for the safflower dye.

Safranine (n.) An orange-red nitrogenous dyestuff produced artificially by oxidizing certain aniSallyman (n.) The velella; -- called also saleeman.

Santoninic (a.) Of or pertaining to santonin; -- used specifically to designate an acid not known in the free state, but obtained in its salts.

Sarcoline (a.) Flesh-colored.

Saturnine (a.) Heavy; grave; gloomy; dull; -- the opposite of mercurial; as, a saturnine person or temper.

Schizognathous (a.) Having the maxillo-palatine bones separate from each other and from the vomer, which is pointed in front, as in the gulls, snipes, grouse, and many other birds.

Scorpion (n.) Any one of numerous species of pulmonate arachnids of the order Scorpiones, having a suctorial mouth, large claw-bearing palpi, and a caudal sting.

Secularness (n.) The quality or state of being secular; worldliness; worldly-minded-ness.

Secundine (n.) The afterbirth, or placenta and membranes; -- generally used in the plural.

Secure (a.) Overconfident; incautious; careless; -- in a bad sense.

Selfishness (n.) The quality or state of being selfish; exclusive regard to one's own interest or happiness; that supreme self-love or self-preference which leads a person to direct his purposes to the advancement of his own interest, power, or happiness, without regarding those of others.

Semiiannual (a.) Half-yearly.

Semiquintile (n.) An aspect of the planets when distant from each other half of the quintile, or thirty-six degrees.

Sentimental (a.) Inclined to sentiment; having an excess of sentiment or sensibility; indulging the sensibilities for their own sake; artificially or affectedly tender; -- often in a reproachful sense.

Serpiginous (a.) Creeping; -- said of lesions which heal over one portion while continuing to advance at another.

Shaveling (n.) A man shaved; hence, a monk, or other religious; -- used in contempt.

Shoehorn (n.) Alt. of Shoeing-horn

Siciliano (n.) A Sicilian dance, resembling the pastorale, set to a rather slow and graceful melody in 12-8 or 6-8 measure; also, the music to the dance.

Signorina (n.) Miss; -- a title of address among the Italians.

Silurian (a.) Of or pertaining to the country of the ancient Silures; -- a term applied to the earliest of the Paleozoic eras, and also to the strata of the era, because most plainly developed in that country.

Skeletonizer (n.) Any small moth whose larva eats the parenchyma of leaves, leaving the skeleton; as, the apple-leaf skeletonizer.

Slattern (v. t.) To consume carelessly or wastefully; to waste; -- with away.

Smilodon (n.) An extinct genus of saber-toothed tigers. See Mach/rodus.

Solferino (n.) A brilliant deep pink color with a purplish tinge, one of the dyes derived from aniline; -- so called from Solferino in Italy, where a battle was fought about the time of its discovery.

Solution (n.) The act of solving, or the state of being solved; the disentanglement of any intricate problem or difficult question; explanation; clearing up; -- used especially in mathematics, either of the process of solving an equation or problem, or the result of the process.

Spalpeen (n.) A scamp; an Irish term for a good-for-nothing fellow; -- often used in good-humored contempt or ridicule.

Sparteine (n.) A narcotic alkaloid extracted from the tops of the common broom (Cytisus scoparius, formerly Spartium scoparium), as a colorless oily liquid of aniline-like odor and very bitter taste.

Sphaerenchyma (n.) Vegetable tissue composed of thin-walled rounded cells, -- a modification of parenchyma.

Spodumene (n.) A mineral of a white to yellowish, purplish, or emerald-green color, occuring in prismatic crystals, often of great size. It is a silicate of aluminia and lithia. See Hiddenite.

Spontoon (n.) A kind of half-pike, or halberd, formerly borne by inferior officers of the British infantry, and used in giving signals to the soldiers.

Spoondrift (n.) Spray blown from the tops waves during a gale at sea; also, snow driven in the wind at sea; -- written also spindrift.

Squireen (n.) One who is half squire and half farmer; -- used humorously.

Stellion (n.) A lizard (Stellio vulgaris), common about the Eastern Mediterranean among ruins. In color it is olive-green, shaded with black, with small stellate spots. Called also hardim, and star lizard.

Stellionate (n.) Any fraud not distinguished by a more special name; -- chiefly applied to sales of the same property to two different persons, or selling that for one's own which belongs to another, etc.

Stemmy (a.) Abounding in stems, or mixed with stems; -- said of tea, dried currants, etc.

Sternson (n.) The end of a ship's keelson, to which the sternpost is bolted; -- called also stern knee.

Sterrink (n.) The crab-eating seal (Lobodon carcinophaga) of the Antarctic Ocean.

Stimulant (n.) An agent which produces a temporary increase of vital activity in the organism, or in any of its parts; -- sometimes used without qualification to signify an alcoholic beverage used as a stimulant.

Stonehenge (n.) An assemblage of upright stones with others placed horizontally on their tops, on Salisbury Plain, England, -- generally supposed to be the remains of an ancient Druidical temple.

Stonesmickle (n.) The stonechat; -- called also stonesmitch.

Straiten (v. t.) To restrict; to distress or embarrass in respect of means or conditions of life; -- used chiefly in the past participle; -- as, a man straitened in his circumstances.

Stricken (v. t.) Whole; entire; -- said of the hour as marked by the striking of a clock.

Stubborn (a.) Firm as a stub or stump; stiff; unbending; unyielding; persistent; hence, unreasonably obstinate in will or opinion; not yielding to reason or persuasion; refractory; harsh; -- said of persons and things; as, stubborn wills; stubborn ore; a stubborn oak; as stubborn as a mule.

Stycerin (n.) A triacid alcohol, related to glycerin, and obtained from certain styryl derivatives as a yellow, gummy, amorphous substance; -- called also phenyl glycerin.

Styrolene (n.) An unsaturated hydrocarbon, C8H8, obtained by the distillation of storax, by the decomposition of cinnamic acid, and by the condensation of acetylene, as a fragrant, aromatic, mobile liquid; -- called also phenyl ethylene, vinyl benzene, styrol, styrene, and cinnamene.

Subapennine (a.) Under, or at the foot of, the Apennine mountains; -- applied, in geology, to a series of Tertiary strata of the older Pliocene period.

Subdominant (n.) The fourth tone above, or fifth below, the tonic; -- so called as being under the dominant.

Subordinate (n.) One who stands in order or rank below another; -- distinguished from a principal.

Sulphion (n.) A hypothetical radical, SO4, regarded as forming the acid or negative constituent of sulphuric acid and the sulphates in electrolytic decomposition; -- so called in accordance with the binary theory of salts.

Sulphoarsenic (a.) Of, pertaining to, or containing, sulphur and arsenic; -- said of an acid which is the same as arsenic acid with the substitution of sulphur for oxygen.

Sumpitan (n.) A kind of blowgun for discharging arrows, -- used by the savages of Borneo and adjacent islands.

Superannuate (v. i.) To last beyond the year; -- said of annual plants.

Superlunary (a.) Being above the moon; not belonging to this world; -- opposed to sublunary.

Supermundane (a.) Being above the world; -- opposed to inframundane.

Syntonin (n.) A proteid substance (acid albumin) formed from the albuminous matter of muscle by the action of dilute acids; -- formerly called musculin. See Acid albumin, under Albumin.

Syringin (n.) A glucoside found in the bark of the lilac (Syringa) and extracted as a white crystalTalapoin (n.) A small African monkey (Cercopithecus, / Miopithecus, talapoin) -- called also melarhine.

Teaspoonful (n.) As much as teaspoon will hold; enough to fill a teaspoon; -- usually reckoned at a fluid dram or one quarter of a tablespoonful.

Terebrant (a.) Boring, or adapted for boring; -- said of certain Hymenoptera, as the sawflies.

Tergeminous (a.) Threefold; thrice-paired.

Termagant (n.) A boisterous, brawling, turbulent person; -- formerly applied to both sexes, now only to women.

Testament (n.) One of the two distinct revelations of God's purposes toward man; a covenant; also, one of the two general divisions of the canonical books of the sacred Scriptures, in which the covenants are respectively revealed; as, the Old Testament; the New Testament; -- often limited, in colloquial language, to the latter.

Tetrylene (n.) Butylene; -- so called from the four carbon atoms in the molecule.

Thiophenol (n.) A colorless mobile liquid, C6H5.SH, of an offensive odor, and analogous to phenol; -- called also phenyl sulphydrate.

Thirteenth (a.) Next in order after the twelfth; the third after the tenth; -- the ordinal of thirteen; as, the thirteenth day of the month.

Ticketing (n.) A periodical sale of ore in the English mining districts; -- so called from the tickets upon which are written the bids of the buyers.

Ticpolonga (n.) A very venomous viper (Daboia Russellii), native of Ceylon and India; -- called also cobra monil.

Toadstone (n.) A local name for the igneous rocks of Derbyshire, England; -- said by some to be derived from the German todter stein, meaning dead stone, that is, stone which contains no ores.

Tragopan (n.) Any one of several species of Asiatic pheasants of the genus Ceriornis. They are brilliantly colored with a variety of tints, the back and breast are usually covered with white or buff ocelli, and the head is ornamented with two bright-colored, fleshy wattles. The crimson tragopan, or horned pheasant (C. satyra), of India is one of the best-known species.

Trainband (n.) A band or company of an organized military force instituted by James I. and dissolved by Charles II.; -- afterwards applied to the London militia.

Transcendent (a.) Transcending, or reaching beyond, the limits of human knowledge; -- applied to affirmations and speculations concerning what lies beyond the reach of the human intellect.

Translunary (a.) Being or lying beyond the moon; hence, ethereal; -- opposed to sublunary.

Trikosane (n.) A hydrocarbon, C23H48, of the methane series, resembling paraffin; -- so called because it has twenty-three atoms of carbon in the molecule.

Trisplanchnic (a.) Of or pertaining to the three great splanchnic cavities, namely, that of the head, the chest, and the abdomen; -- applied to the sympathetic nervous system.

Trivalent (a.) Having a valence of three; capable of being combined with, substituted for, or compared with, three atoms of hydrogen; -- said of triad atoms or radicals; thus, nitrogen is trivalent in ammonia.

Tubicorn (n.) Any ruminant having horns composed of a bony axis covered with a horny sheath; a hollow-horned ruminant.

Tungsten (n.) A rare element of the chromium group found in certain minerals, as wolfram and scheelite, and isolated as a heavy steel-gray metal which is very hard and infusible. It has both acid and basic properties. When alloyed in small quantities with steel, it greatly increases its hardness. Symbol W (Wolframium). Atomic weight, 183.6. Specific gravity, 18.

Turanian (a.) Of, pertaining to, or designating, an extensive family of languages of simple structure and low grade (called also Altaic, Ural-Altaic, and Scythian), spoken in the northern parts of Europe and Asia and Central Asia; of pertaining to, or designating, the people who speak these languages.

Turlupin (n.) One of the precursors of the Reformation; -- a nickname corresponding to Lollard, etc.

Ultramontanism (n.) The principles of those within the Roman Catholic Church who maintain extreme views favoring the pope's supremacy; -- so used by those living north of the Alps in reference to the Italians; -- rarely used in an opposite sense, as referring to the views of those living north of the Alps and opposed to the papal claims. Cf. Gallicanism.

Unbending (a.) Not bending; not suffering flexure; not yielding to pressure; stiff; -- applied to material things.

Unbending (a.) Unyielding in will; not subject to persuasion or influence; inflexible; resolute; -- applied to persons.

Unbending (a.) Unyielding in nature; unchangeable; fixed; -- applied to abstract ideas; as, unbending truths.

Underhand (adv.) In an underhand manner; -- said of pitching or bowling.

Underhanded (a.) Insufficiently provided with hands or workers; short-handed; sparsely populated.

Underhung (a.) Resting on a track at the bottom, instead of being suspended; -- said of a sliding door.

Undermanned (a.) Insufficiently furnished with men; short-handed.

Unfeeling (a.) Without kind feelings; cruel; hard-hearted.

Univalent (a.) Having a valence of one; capable of combining with, or of being substituted for, one atom of hydrogen; monovalent; -- said of certain atoms and radicals.

Unseasonable (a.) Not seasonable; being, done, or occurring out of the proper season; ill-timed; untimely; too early or too late; as, he called at an unseasonable hour; unseasonable advice; unseasonable frosts; unseasonable food.

Unseasoned (a.) Untimely; ill-timed.

Valentinian (n.) One of a school of Judaizing Gnostics in the second century; -- so called from Valentinus, the founder.

Veinstone (n.) The nonmetalliferous mineral or rock material which accompanies the ores in a vein, as quartz, calcite, barite, fluor spar, etc.; -- called also veinstuff.

Vermilinguia (n. pl.) A tribe of edentates comprising the South American ant-eaters. The tongue is long, slender, exsertile, and very flexible, whence the name.

Versemonger (n.) A writer of verses; especially, a writer of commonplace poetry; a poetaster; a rhymer; -- used humorously or in contempt.

Waterlandian (n.) One of a body of Dutch Anabaptists who separated from the Mennonites in the sixteenth century; -- so called from a district in North Holland denominated Waterland.

Waterman (n.) A man who plies for hire on rivers, lakes, or canals, or in harbors, in distinction from a seaman who is engaged on the high seas; a man who manages fresh-water craft; a boatman; a ferryman.

Welshman (n.) The large-mouthed black bass. See Black bass.

Whinstone (n.) A provincial name given in England to basaltic rocks, and applied by miners to other kind of dark-colored unstratified rocks which resist the point of the pick. -- for example, to masses of chert. Whin-dikes, and whin-sills, are names sometimes given to veins or beds of basalt.

Whitewing (n.) The chaffinch; -- so called from the white bands on the wing.

Whoreson (n.) A bastard; colloquially, a low, scurvy fellow; -- used generally in contempt, or in coarse humor. Also used adjectively.

Wolffian (a.) Discovered, or first described, by Caspar Friedrich Wolff (1733-1794), the founder of modern embryology.

Worldliness (n.) The quality of being worldly; a predominant passion for obtaining the good things of this life; covetousness; addictedness to gain and temporal enjoyments; worldly-mindedness.

Xanthian (a.) Of or pertaining to Xanthus, an ancient town on Asia Minor; -- applied especially to certain marbles found near that place, and now in the British Museum.

Xyloidin (n.) A substance resembling pyroxylin, obtained by the action of nitric acid on starch; -- called also nitramidin.

Xylorcin (n.) A derivative of xylene obtained as a white crystalYestreen (n.) Yester-evening; yesternight; last night.

About the author

Mark McCracken Author: Mark McCracken is a corporate trainer and author living in Higashi Osaka, Japan. He is the author of thousands of online articles as well as the Business English textbook, "25 Business Skills in English".

Copyright © 2011 by Mark McCracken, All Rights Reserved.