n. (Min.) Alum stone. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ F. alun alum + -gen. ] (Min.) 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. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. an apparatus containing compressed air or other oxygen-gas mixture, permitting a person to breathe under water; -- also called a scuba.
Syn. -- scuba [ WordNet 1.5 +PJC ]

n. (Med.) the popular name for a form of the chronic lung disease pneumoconiosis which is observed among coal miners, and is caused by the inhalation of coal dust. It is thus named because of the black appearance of the lungs (pneumomelanosis) of those affected with the disease. See also the related condition anthracosis. [ PJC. ]

v. i. [ imp. & p. p. Blundered p. pr. & vb. n. Blundering. ] [ OE. blunderen, blondren, to stir, confuse, blunder; perh. allied to blend to mix, to confound by mixture. ] 1. To make a gross error or mistake; as, to blunder in writing or preparing a medical prescription. Swift. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To move in an awkward, clumsy manner; to flounder and stumble. [ 1913 Webster ]

I was never distinguished for address, and have often even blundered in making my bow. Goldsmith. [ 1913 Webster ]

Yet knows not how to find the uncertain place,
And blunders on, and staggers every pace. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

To blunder on. (a) To continue blundering. (b) To find or reach as if by an accident involving more or less stupidity, -- applied to something desirable; as, to blunder on a useful discovery. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. 1. To cause to blunder. [ Obs. ] “To blunder an adversary.” Ditton. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To do or treat in a blundering manner; to confuse. [ 1913 Webster ]

He blunders and confounds all these together. Stillingfleet. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. Confusion; disturbance. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A gross error or mistake, resulting from carelessness, stupidity, or culpable ignorance. [ 1913 Webster ]

Syn. -- Blunder, Error, Mistake, Bull. An error is a departure or deviation from that which is right or correct; as, an error of the press; an error of judgment. A mistake is the interchange or taking of one thing for another, through haste, inadvertence, etc.; as, a careless mistake. A blunder is a mistake or error of a gross kind. It supposes a person to flounder on in his course, from carelessness, ignorance, or stupidity. A bull is a verbal blunder containing a laughable incongruity of ideas. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Either fr. blunder + D. bus tube, box, akin to G. büchse box, gun, E. box; or corrupted fr. D. donderbus (literally) thunder box, gun, musket. ] 1. A short gun or firearm, with a large bore, capable of holding a number of balls, and intended to do execution without exact aim. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A stupid, blundering fellow. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. One who is apt to blunder. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Blunder + head. ] A stupid, blundering fellow. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Characterized by blunders. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. In a blundering manner. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. To amalgamate and blend; to beat up or mix in water, as clay. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Corrupted from plunger. ] A wooden blade with a cross handle, used for mi&unr_;ing the clay in potteries; a plunger. Tomlinson. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The process of mixing clay in potteries with a blunger. Tomlinson. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ Cf. Prov. G. bludde a dull or blunt knife, Dan. blunde to sleep, Sw. & Icel. blunda; or perh. akin to E. blind. ] 1. Having a thick edge or point, as an instrument; dull; not sharp. [ 1913 Webster ]

The murderous knife was dull and blunt. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Dull in understanding; slow of discernment; stupid; -- opposed to acute. [ 1913 Webster ]

His wits are not so blunt. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Abrupt in address; plain; unceremonious; wanting the forms of civility; rough in manners or speech. “Hiding his bitter jests in blunt behavior.” “A plain, blunt man.” Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. Hard to impress or penetrate. [ R. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

I find my heart hardened and blunt to new impressions. Pope. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ Blunt is much used in composition, as blunt-edged, blunt-sighted, blunt-spoken. [ 1913 Webster ]

Syn. -- Obtuse; dull; pointless; curt; short; coarse; rude; brusque; impolite; uncivil. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Blunted; p. pr. & vb. n. Blunting. ] 1. To dull the edge or point of, by making it thicker; to make blunt. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To repress or weaken, as any appetite, desire, or power of the mind; to impair the force, keenness, or susceptibility, of; as, to blunt the feelings. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. A fencer's foil. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A short needle with a strong point. See Needle. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Money. [ Cant ] Beaconsfield. [ 1913 Webster ]

adj. 1. made dull or blunt.
Syn. -- dulled. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

2. reduced in force or effectiveness. [ PJC ]

a. Somewhat blunt. -- Blunt"ish*ness, n. [1913 Webster]

adv. In a blunt manner; coarsely; plainly; abruptly; without delicacy, or the usual forms of civility. [ 1913 Webster ]

Sometimes after bluntly giving his opinions, he would quietly lay himself asleep until the end of their deliberations. Jeffrey. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. Want of edge or point; dullness; obtuseness; lack of sharpness. [ 1913 Webster ]

The multitude of elements and bluntness of angles. Holland. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Abruptness of address; rude plainness. “Bluntness of speech.” Boyle. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Dull; stupid. [ 1913 Webster ]

Blunt-witted lord, ignoble in demeanor! Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

‖n. [ G.; bund confederacy + versammlung assembly. ] See Legislature, Switzerland. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

n. a genus having only one species.
Syn. -- genus Calluna. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. [ Perh. fr. clinch to make fast ] 1. (Mining) Indurated clay. See Bind, n., 3. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. One of the hard beds of the lower chalk. Dana. [ 1913 Webster ]

imp. & p. p. of Cling. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ Prop. p. p. fr. OE. clingen to wither. See Cling, v. i. ] Wasted away; shrunken. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Eccl. Hist.) A monk of the reformed branch of the Benedictine Order, founded in 912 at Cluny (or Clugny) in France. -- Also used as a. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Cluniac. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ From the native name. ] (Zool.) The great gray crane of India (Grus cinerea). [ Also written coolen and cullum. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Mullein. [ 1913 Webster ]

‖n. [ Native name. ] (Zool.) An East Indian carnivorous mammal (Prionodon gracilis), resembling the civets, but without scent pouches. It is handsomely spotted. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ F. demi- lune. ] 1. (Fort.) A work constructed beyond the main ditch of a fortress, and in front of the curtain between two bastions, intended to defend the curtain; a ravelin. See Ravelin. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Physiol.) A crescentic mass of granular protoplasm present in the salivary glands. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ Each crescent is made of polyhedral cells which under some circumstances are supposed to give rise to new salivary cells. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ Cf. Implunge. ] To plunge; to implunge. [ Obs. ] Spenser. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ From Fahlun, a place in Sweden. ] (Min.) A hydrated silica of alumina, resulting from the alteration of iolite. [ 1913 Webster ]

‖n. [ F. ] (Geol.) A series of strata, of the Middle Tertiary period, of France, abounding in shells, and used by Lyell as the type of his Miocene subdivision. [ 1913 Webster ]

adj. widely spread or distributed; as, the far-flung corners of the Empire. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

imp. & p. p. of Fling. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. [ imp. & p. p. Flunked p. pr. & vb. n. Flunking. ] [ Cf. Funk. ] To fail, as on a lesson; to back out, as from an undertaking, through fear. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. 1. To fail in; to fail to pass (a test, examination, or course of study). [ Colloq. U.S. ] [ 1913 Webster +PJC ]

2. To shirk, as a task or duty. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A failure or backing out; specifically (College cant), a total failure in a recitation. [ U.S. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. to be dismissed (from a school or course of study) due to failure to perform up to the minimum standard.
Syn. -- fail out; wash out. [ PJC ]

n.; pl. Flunkies [ Prob. fr. or akin to flank. ] [ Written also flunkey. ] 1. A contemptuous name for a liveried servant or a footman. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. One who is obsequious or cringing; a snob. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. One easily deceived in buying stocks; an inexperienced and unwary jobber. [ Cant, U.S. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The place or region of flunkies. C. Kingsley. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The quality or characteristics of a flunky; readiness to cringe to those who are superior in wealth or position; toadyism. Thackeray. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Gael. gabair talker + lunndair idler. ] A beggar with a wallet; a licensed beggar. [ Scot. ] Sir W. Scott. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ Cf. Glump. ] Frowning; sulky; sullen. Sir W. Scott. -- n. A sullen, angry look; a look of disdain or dislike. [ Prov. Eng. & Scot. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. To plunge. Fuller. [ 1913 Webster ]

{ } a. [ Pref. inter- + lunar: cf. L. interlunis. ] Belonging or pertaining to the time when the moon, at or near its conjunction with the sun, is invisible. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]