n. 1. 1 genus of evergreen trees or shrubs with white funnel-shaped flowers and milky sap; tropical Africa to southeast Asia and Polynesia.
Syn. -- genus Alstonia. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. 1. any of various South American plants of the genus Alstroemeria valued for their handsome umbels of beautiful flowers. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. 1. 1 one of many families or subfamilies into which some classification systems subdivide the Liliaceae but not widely accepted; sometimes included in subfamily Amaryllidaceae.
Syn. -- family Alstroemeriaceae. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

{ } n. One whose occupation is to post handbills or posters in public places. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Bot.) See Sweet gum. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ AS. bolster; akin to Icel. bōlstr, Sw. & Dan. bolster, OHG. bolstar, polstar, G. polster; from the same root as E. bole stem, bowl hollow vessel. Cf. Bulge, Poltroon. ] 1. A long pillow or cushion, used to support the head of a person lying on a bed; -- generally laid under the pillows. [ 1913 Webster ]

And here I'll fling the pillow, there the bolster,
This way the coverlet, another way the sheets. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A pad, quilt, or anything used to hinder pressure, support any part of the body, or make a bandage sit easy upon a wounded part; a compress. [ 1913 Webster ]

This arm shall be a bolster for thy head. Gay. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Anything arranged to act as a support, as in various forms of mechanism, etc. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. (Saddlery) A cushioned or a piece part of a saddle. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. (Naut.) (a) A cushioned or a piece of soft wood covered with tarred canvas, placed on the trestletrees and against the mast, for the collars of the shrouds to rest on, to prevent chafing. (b) Anything used to prevent chafing. [ 1913 Webster ]

6. A plate of iron or a mass of wood under the end of a bridge girder, to keep the girder from resting directly on the abutment. [ 1913 Webster ]

7. A transverse bar above the axle of a wagon, on which the bed or body rests. [ 1913 Webster ]

8. The crossbeam forming the bearing piece of the body of a railway car; the central and principal cross beam of a car truck. [ 1913 Webster ]

9. (Mech.) the perforated plate in a punching machine on which anything rests when being punched. [ 1913 Webster ]

10. (Cutlery) (a) That part of a knife blade which abuts upon the end of the handle. (b) The metallic end of a pocketknife handle. G. Francis. [ 1913 Webster ]

11. (Arch.) The rolls forming the ends or sides of the Ionic capital. G. Francis. [ 1913 Webster ]

12. (Mil.) A block of wood on the carriage of a siege gun, upon which the breech of the gun rests when arranged for transportation. [ See Illust. of Gun carriage. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Bolster work (Arch.), members which are bellied or curved outward like cushions, as in friezes of certain classical styles. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Bolstered p. pr. & vb. n. Bolstering. ] 1. To support with a bolster or pillow. S. Sharp. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To support, hold up, or maintain with difficulty or unusual effort; -- often with up. [ 1913 Webster ]

To bolster baseness. Drayton. [ 1913 Webster ]

Shoddy inventions designed to bolster up a factitious pride. Compton Reade. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. 1. Supported; upheld. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Swelled out. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A supporter. [ 1913 Webster ]

See Buhrstone. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ F. col neck + E. staff. Cf. Coll. ] A staff by means of which a burden is borne by two persons on their shoulders. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Cowl a vessel + staff. ] A staff or pole on which a vessel is supported between two persons. Suckling. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Min.) Crystallized cawk, in which the crystals are small. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Mech.) A contrivance for holding and turning a drill. Knight. [ 1913 Webster ]

prop. n. Sir John Falstaff, a celebrated character in Shakespeare's historical play " Henry IV." (1st and 2d parts), and also in " The Merry Wives of Windsor." He is a very fat, sensual, and witty old knight; a swindler, drunkard, and good-tempered liar; and something of a coward. Falstaff was originally called Sir John Oldcastle. The first actor of the part was John Heminge. [ Century Dict. 1906 ]

☞ Shakespeare found the name of John Oldcastle in the ... older play of "Henry V."; in the Chronicle he found a John Oldcastle, who was page to the Duke of Norfolk who plays a part in "Richard II."; and this, according to Shakespeare, his Falstaff (Oldcastle) had been in his youth. When the poet wrote his "Henry IV." he knew not who this Oldcastle was, whom he had rendered so distinct with the designation as Norfolk's page; he was a Lord Cobham [ Sir John Oldcastle, known as the good lord Cobham ], who had perished as a Lollard and Wickliffite in the persecution of the church under Henry V. The Protestants regarded him as a holy martyr, the Catholics as a heretic; the latter seized with eagerness this description of the fat poltroon, and gave it out as a portrait of Lord Cobham, who was indeed physically and mentally his contrast. The family complained of this misuse of a name dear to them, and Shakespeare declared in the epilogue to "Henry IV." that Cobham was in his sight also a martyr, and that "this was not the man." At the same time, he changed the name to Falstaff, but this was of little use; in spite of the express retraction, subsequent Catholic writers on church history still declared Falstaff to be a portrait of the heretic Cobham. But it is a strange circumstance that even now under the name of Falstaff another historical character is again sought for, just as if it were impossible for such a vigorous form not to be a being of reality. It was referred to John Fastolfe, whose cowardice is more stigmatised in "Henry VI." than history justifies; and this too met with public blame, although Shakespeare could have again asserted that he intended Fastolfe as little as Cobham. Gervinus, Shakespeare Commentaries (tr. by K. E. Bunnett, [ ed. 1880), p. 800. [ Century Dict. 1906 ]

adj. Of or pertaining to Falstaff, a character in Shakespeare's plays. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. [ From G. feldstein, in analogy with E. felspar. ] (Min.) See Felsite. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A concretion, or calculus, formed in the gall bladder or biliary passages. See Calculus, n., 1. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A single particle of ice falling from a cloud; a frozen raindrop; a pellet of hail. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A storm accompanied with hail; a shower of hail. [ 1913 Webster ]

{ , a. Of or pertaining to Hallstatt, Austria, or the Hallstatt civilization. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

--
Hallstatt civilization or
Hallstattian civilization, a prehistoric civilization of central Europe, variously dated at from 1000 to 1500 b. c. and usually associated with the Celtic or Alpine race. It was characterized by expert use of bronze, a knowledge of iron, possession of domestic animals, agriculture, and artistic skill and sentiment in manufacturing pottery, ornaments, etc. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ] The Hallstattian civilization flourished chiefly in Carinthia, southern Germany, Switzerland, Bohemia, Silesia, Bosnia, the southeast of France, and southern Italy. J. Deniker. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ] --
Hallstattian epoch, the first iron age, represented by the Hallstatt civilization. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

n. (Zool.) 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. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

n. A breed of dairy cattle from North Holland and Friesland; they have a black and white color to their fur.
Syn. -- Friesian, Holstein. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. [ D. holster; skin to AS. heolstor den, cave, fr. helan to conceal, and to Icel. hulstr case, Goth. hulistr covering, veil, huljan to cover. √17. See Hele to cover, Hell, and cf. Housing, Houss. ] A leather case for a pistol, carried by a horseman at the bow of his saddle, or worn on the person suspended from a belt or shoulder strap. [ 1913 Webster +PJC ]

a. Bearing holsters. Byron. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Norw., a whirlpool. ] 1. A celebrated whirlpool on the coast of Norway. Hence: any large or powerful whirlpool.
Syn. -- whirlpool, vortex. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Also (Fig.) An uncontrollable agitated or confusedly disordered state or situation; as, a maelstrom of vice. [ 1913 Webster +PJC ]

n. [ G. malerstock; maler a painter + stock stick. ] A long stick that a painter uses to support the hand holding the brush while painting. Same as Maul-stick. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Geol.) A sandy calcareous straum, containing, or impregnated with, iron, and lying between the upper and lower Lias of England. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ G. malerstock; maler a painter + stock stick. ] A stick used by painters as a rest for the hand while working. [ Written also mahl-stick and mahlstick. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. One of two circular stones used for grinding grain or other substance in a mill{ 1 }. [ 1913 Webster ]

No man shall take the nether or the upper millstone to pledge. Deut. xxiv. 6. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ The cellular siliceous rock called buhrstone is usually employed for millstones; also, some kinds of lava, as that Niedermendig, or other firm rock with rough texture. The surface of a millstone has usually a series of radial grooves in which the powdered material collects. [ 1913 Webster ]

Millstone girt (Geol.), a hard and coarse, gritty sandstone, dividing the Carboniferous from the Subcarboniferous strata. See Farewell rock, under Farewell, a., and Chart of Geology. --
To see into a millstone or
To see through a millstone, to see into or through a difficult matter. (Colloq.) [ 1913 Webster ]

‖n. [ Norw. odel odal + ting parliament. ] The lower house of the Norwegian Storthing. See Legislature. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

n. A variety of hone slate, or whetstone, used for whetting tools when lubricated with oil. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A stove that burns oil (such as kerosine) for heating or cooking.
Syn. -- oil-heater, oil heater, kerosene heater, kerosine heater. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. [ Dan. paalstav. ] A peculiar bronze adz, used in prehistoric Europe about the middle of the bronze age. Dawkins. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ D. palsterstaf. ] A pilgrim's staff. [ Obs. ] Halliwell. [ 1913 Webster ]

{ } n. (Min.) A glassy volcanic rock of a grayish color and pearly luster, often having a spherulitic concretionary structure due to the curved cracks produced by contraction in cooling. See Illust. under Perlitic. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ So named after J. G. Ralston of Norristown, Penn. ] (Min.) A fluoride of alumina and soda occurring with the Greenland cryolite in octahedral crystals. [ 1913 Webster ]

n.[ L. solstitium; sol the sun + sistere to cause to stand, akin to stare to stand: cf. F. solstice. See Solar, a., Stand, v. i. ] 1. A stopping or standing still of the sun. [ Obs. ] Sir T. Browne. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Astron.) (a) The point in the ecliptic at which the sun is farthest from the equator, north or south, namely, the first point of the sign Cancer and the first point of the sign Capricorn, the former being the summer solstice, latter the winter solstice, in northern latitudes; -- so called because the sun then apparently stands still in its northward or southward motion. (b) The time of the sun's passing the solstices, or solstitial points, namely, about June 21 and December 21. See Illust. in Appendix. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. solstitialis: cf. F. solsticial. ] 1. Of or pertaining to a solstice. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Happening at a solstice; esp. (with reference to the northern hemisphere), happening at the summer solstice, or midsummer. “Solstitial summer's heat.” Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A standstill. [ R. ] Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The sliding block or support, in a lathe, which carries the dead spindle, or adjustable center. The headstock supports the live spindle. [ 1913 Webster ]

{ } a. Of or pertaining to Tolstoy (1828-1910). -- n. A follower of Tolstoy, who advocates and practices manual labor, simplicity of living, nonresistance, etc., holds that possession of wealth and ownership of property are sinful, and in religion rejects all teachings not coming from Christ himself. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

n. A long, loose overcoat, worn by men and women, originally made of frieze from Ulster, Ireland. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ See Upholsterer. ] To furnish (rooms, carriages, bedsteads, chairs, etc.) with hangings, coverings, cushions, etc.; to adorn with furnishings in cloth, velvet, silk, etc.; as, to upholster a couch; to upholster a room with curtains. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. A broker. [ Obs. ] Caxton. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. An upholsterer. [ Obs. ] Strype. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ A substitution for older upholder, in OE., broker, tradesman, and formerly also written upholster, upholdster. See Upholder, and -ster. ] One who provides hangings, coverings, cushions, curtains, and the like; one who upholsters. [ 1913 Webster ]

Upholsterer bee. (Zool.) See Poppy bee, under Poppy. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The articles or goods supplied by upholsterers; the business or work of an upholsterer. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. [ From Whiles; cf. Amongst. ] While. [ Archaic ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Whilst the emperor lay at Antioch. Gibbon. [ 1913 Webster ]

The whilst, in the meantime; while. [ Archaic. ] Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A heavy wooden hammer for milling cloth. [ 1913 Webster ]