a. Of or relating to Bishop Berkeley or his system of idealism; as, Berkeleian philosophy. -- Berke"ley*ism, n. [1913 Webster]

n. Bishop George Berkeley; b. 1685, d. 1753. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. [ from the city of Berkeley, California, location of the University of California campus where it was discovered. ] a chemical element of the transuranic series. Chemical symbol Bk; atomic number 97; atomic weight 247. It is a radioactive element, with no stable isotopes; the longest-lived isotope is of mass number 247.07, decaying by alpha-emission with a half-life of 1, 400 years. The isotope with atomic weight 249 has a half-life of 314 days, and was isolated in weighable quantities.
Syn. -- Bk. [ WordNet 1.5 +PJC ]

pos>a. [ See berserk, n. ] frenzied; crazed; usually in predicate position. [ PJC ]

{ } n. [ Icel. berserkr. ] 1. (Scand. Myth.) One of a class of legendary heroes, who fought frenzied by intoxicating liquors, and naked, regardless of wounds. Longfellow. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. One who fights as if frenzied, like a Berserker. [ 1913 Webster ]

A clerk who registers passengers, baggage, etc., for conveyance, as by railway or steamship, or who sells passage tickets at a booking office. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. (Naut.) Having the keel arched upwards, but not actually hogged; -- said of a ship. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Cider + -kin. ] A kind of weak cider made by steeping the refuse pomace in water. [ 1913 Webster ]

Ciderkin is made for common drinking, and supplies the place of small beer. Mortimer. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Either OF. clerc, fr. L. clericus a priest, or AS. clerc, cleric, clerk, priest, fr. L. clericus, fr. Gr. klhriko`s belonging to the clergy, fr. klh^ros lot, allotment, clergy; cf. Deut. xviii. 2. Cf. Clergy. ] 1. A clergyman or ecclesiastic. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

All persons were styled clerks that served in the church of Christ. Ayliffe. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A man who could read; a scholar; a learned person; a man of letters. [ Obs. ] “Every one that could read . . . being accounted a clerk.” Blackstone. [ 1913 Webster ]

He was no great clerk, but he was perfectly well versed in the interests of Europe. Burke. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. A parish officer, being a layman who leads in reading the responses of the Episcopal church service, and otherwise assists in it. [ Eng. ] Hook. [ 1913 Webster ]

And like unlettered clerk still cry “Amen”. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. One employed to keep records or accounts; a scribe; an accountant; as, the clerk of a court; a town clerk. [ 1913 Webster ]

The clerk of the crown . . . withdrew the bill. Strype. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ In some cases, clerk is synonymous with secretary. A clerk is always an officer subordinate to a higher officer, board, corporation, or person; whereas a secretary may be either a subordinate or the head of an office or department. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. An assistant in a shop or store. [ U. S. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A feast for the benefit of the parish clerk. [ Eng. ] T. Warton. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Unlearned. [ Obs. ] E. Waterhouse. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Scholarlike. [ Obs. ] Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Scholarship. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Of or pertaining to a clerk. Cranmer. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. In a scholarly manner. [ Obs. ] Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. State, quality, or business of a clerk. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. A bunch of the keys or samaras of the ash tree. Wright. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. An English meadow plant, perhaps the columbine or the bluebell squill (Scilla nutans). [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

A girl cropping culverkeys and cowslips to make garlands. Walton. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Dark. [ Obs. ] Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ Cf. Irk. ] Slothful. [ Obs. ] Rom. of R. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ D. agurkje, a dim. akin to G. gurke, Dan. agurke; cf. Pol. ogórek, Bohem. okurka, LGr. 'aggoy`rion watermelon, Ar. al-khiyār, Per. khiyār. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

1. (Bot.) A kind of small, prickly cucumber, much used for pickles. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Zool.) See Sea gherkin. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Zool.) A bird of the Heron family; the umber. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ OF. hauberc, halberc, F. haubert, OHG. halsberc; hals neck + bergan to protect, G. bergen; akin to AS. healsbeorg, Icel. hālsbjörg. See Collar, and Bury, v. t. ] A coat of mail; especially, the long coat of mail of the European Middle Ages, as contrasted with the habergeon, which is shorter and sometimes sleeveless. By old writers it is often used synonymously with habergeon. See Habergeon. [ Written variously hauberg, hauberque, hawberk, etc. ] Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]

Helm, nor hawberk's twisted mail. Gray. [ 1913 Webster ]

‖n. [ NL., fr. Gr. "ype`r over + &unr_; motion.] (Med.) Abnormally increased muscular movement; spasm. [1913 Webster]

a. Of or pertaining to hyperkinesis. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. To knit together; to unite closely; to intertwine. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. To know mutually. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Mutual knowledge or acquaintance. [ Obs. ] Bacon. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ Corrupted from Peruv. charqui dried beef. ] To cut into long slices or strips and dry in the sun; as, to jerk beef. See Charqui. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Jerked p. pr. & vb. n. Jerking. ] [ Akin to yerk, and perh. also to yard a measure. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

1. To beat; to strike. [ Obs. ] Florio. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To give a quick and suddenly arrested thrust, push, pull, or twist, to; to yerk; as, to jerk one with the elbow; to jerk a coat off. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To throw with a quick and suddenly arrested motion of the hand; as, to jerk a stone. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. 1. To make a sudden motion; to move with a start, or by starts. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To flout with contempt. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ 1913 Webster ]

1. A short, sudden pull, thrust, push, twitch, jolt, shake, or similar motion. [ 1913 Webster ]

His jade gave him a jerk. B. Jonson. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A sudden start or spring. [ 1913 Webster ]

Lobsters . . . swim backwards by jerks or springs. Grew. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. A foolish, stupid, or otherwise contemptible person. [ Slang ]
Syn. -- jerkoff. [ PJC ]

4. (Sport) The lifting of a weight, in a single rapid motion, from shoulder height until the arms are outstretched above the head; distinguished from press in that the motion in a jerk is more rapid, and the body may be moved under the weight to assist completion of the movement; as, a clean and jerk of two hundred pounds. [ PJC ]

2. Calisthenic exercises, such as push-ups or deep knee bends; also called physical jerks. [ British ] [ PJC ]

n. [ 1913 Webster ]

1. A beater. [ Obs. ] Beau. & Fl. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. One who jerks or moves with a jerk. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Zool.) A North American river chub (Hybopsis biguttatus). [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Dim. of D. jurk a frock. ] A jacket or short coat; a close waistcoat. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Zool.) A male gyrfalcon. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The act of pulling, pushing, or throwing, with a jerk. -- Jerk"ing*ly, adv. [1913 Webster]

n. (Arch.) The hipped part of a roof which is hipped only for a part of its height, leaving a truncated gable. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. A lazy, foolish, stupid, or otherwise contemptible person; -- an offensive and disparaging term. [ vulgar slang ]
Syn. -- jerk. [ PJC ]

v. i. To masturbate. [ vulgar slang ]
Syn. -- whack off. [ PJC ]

adj. [ from jerk + water, a place where it is necessary to draw (jerk) water to supply the boiler of a steam engine. ] 1. small and remote and insignificant; as, a jerkwater college.
Syn. -- one-horse, pokey, poky. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

2. (Railroads) Off the main railroad line. [ Archaic ] [ PJC ]

n. [ Corrupted from Peruv. charqui dried beef. ] Meat, especially beef, that has been cut in strips and dried; meat that has been jerked; see first jerk, v.; as, beef jerky [ PJC ]

a. 1. Moving by jerks and starts; characterized by abrupt transitions; as, a jerky vehicle; a jerky style. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Foolish; ridiculous; stupid. [ slang ] [ PJC ]

n. [ OD. kindeken, kinneken, a small barrel, orig., a little child, fr. kind child; akin to G. kind, and to E. kin. ] A small barrel; an old liquid measure containing eighteen English beer gallons, or nearly twenty-two gallons, United States measure. [ Written also kinderkin. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

. (Physiol.) A jerk or forward kick of the lower part of the leg produced by a blow or sudden strain upon the patellar tendon of the knee, which causes a sudden contraction of the quadriceps muscle; the patellar reflex. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

n. emotional and predictable; -- of certain people and their reactions to events. [ PJC ]

. a person of strong liberal convictions who reacts predictably and emotionally to certain events. [ PJC ]

. an immediate unthinking emotional reaction produced by an event or statement to which the reacting person is highly sensitive; -- in persons with strong feelings on a topic, it may be very predictable. [ PJC ]

n. A pointed wooden tool used in glazing leaden lattice. [ 1913 Webster ]

prop. n. [ Named after a German physician and instrument maker, J. N. Lieberkühn. ] (Optics) A concave metallic mirror attached to the object-glass end of a microscope, to throw down light on opaque objects; a reflector. [ 1913 Webster ]

pos>n. [ See Lieberkuehn. ] (Anat.) The simple tubular glands of the small intestines; -- called also crypts of Lieberkuehn. [ 1913 Webster ]

‖ n. [ G. See Lied, and Grants. ] (Mus.) Lit., wreath of songs; -- used as the title of a group of songs, and esp. as the common name for German vocal clubs of men. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]