n. (Bot.) (a) A genus of ferns (Ophioglossum), whose seeds are produced on a spike resembling a serpent's tongue. (b) The yellow dogtooth violet. Gray. [ 1913 Webster ]

(Bot.) A plant with flowers shaped like buttons; especially, several species of Ranunculus, and the cornflower (Centaurea cyanus) and globe amaranth (Gomphrena). [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ Bachelor's buttons, a name given to several flowers “from their similitude to the jagged cloathe buttons, anciently worne in this kingdom, ” according to Johnson's Gerarde, p. 472 (1633); but by other writers ascribed to “a habit of country fellows to carry them in their pockets to divine their success with their sweethearts.” Dr. Prior. [ 1913 Webster ]

[ From Dr. Barker, the inventor. ] A machine, invented in the 17th century, worked by a form of reaction wheel. The water flows into a vertical tube and gushes from apertures in hollow horizontal arms, causing the machine to revolve on its axis. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. (Bot.) The English cow parsnip (Heracleum sphondylium) Dr. Prior. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. a widely cultivated southern European acanthus (Acanthus mollis) with whitish purple-veined flowers. See Acanthus, n., 1.
Syn. -- bear's breech, bear's-breech, bear's breeches, sea holly. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. (Bot.) A kind of primrose (Primula auricula), so called from the shape of the leaf. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Bot.) A species of hellebore (Helleborus fœtidus), with digitate leaves. It has an offensive smell and acrid taste, and is a powerful emetic, cathartic, and anthelmintic. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Zool.) A large bivalve shell of the East Indies (Hippopus maculatus), often used as an ornament. [ 1913 Webster ]

(Bot.) The prickly fruit or seed of certain plants (as some species of Echinospermum and Cynoglossum) which cling to the clothing of those who brush by them. [ 1913 Webster ]

The bur marigold (Bidens) and its achenes, which are armed with barbed awns, and adhere to clothing and fleeces with unpleasant tenacity; -- also called beggar-ticks. [ 1913 Webster ]

(Bot.) A genus of plants (Ruscus); esp. Ruscus aculeatus, which has large red berries and leaflike branches. See Cladophyll. [ 1913 Webster ]

(Banking) A check drawn by a bank upon its own funds, signed by the cashier. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

(Polit. Econ.) Economic goods that directly satisfy human wants or desires, such as food, clothes, pictures, etc.; -- called also consumption goods, or goods of the first order, and opposed to producer's goods. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

. (Polit. econ.) The excess that a purchaser would be willing to pay for a commodity over that he does pay, rather than go without the commodity; -- called also
consumer's rent.

The price which a person pays for a thing can never exceed, and seldom comes up to, that which he would be willing to pay rather than go without it. . . . The excess of the price which he would be willing to pay rather than go without it, over that which he actually does pay, is the economic measure of this surplus satisfaction. It has some analogies to a rent; but is perhaps best called simply consumer's surplus. Alfred Marshall. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

[ After the discoverer, William Cowper, an English surgeon. ] (Anat.) Two small glands discharging into the male urethra. [ 1913 Webster ]

{ or . [ So called after a Dr. Culver, who used it. ] (Bot.) The root of a handsome erect herb (Leptandra Virginica syn. Veronica Virginica) common in most moist woods of North America , used as an active cathartic and emetic; also, the plant itself. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

n. any of various tall perennial herbs constituting the genus Frasera; it is widely distributed in warm dry upland areas of the US Pacific states.
Syn. -- columbo, American columbo, deer's-ears, pyramid plant, American gentian. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. (Bot.) A plant (Liatris odoratissima) whose fleshy leaves give out a fragrance compared to vanilla. Wood. [ 1913 Webster ]

[ From Dr. Dover, an English physician. ] (Med.) A powder of ipecac and opium, compounded, in the United States, with sugar of milk, but in England (as formerly in the United States) with sulphate of potash, and in France (as in Dr. Dover's original prescription) with nitrate and sulphate of potash and licorice. It is an anodyne diaphoretic. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. small Eurasian shrub (Genista tinctoria) having clusters of yellow flowers that yield a dye; common as weed in England and U.S.; sometimes grown as an ornamental.
Syn. -- woodwaxen, dyer's greenweed, dyer's weed, dyer's rocket, dyeweed, greenweed, whin, woadwaxen, Genista tinctoria. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

An aqueous solution of arsenite of potassium, of such strength that one hundred parts represent one part of arsenious acid, or white arsenic; -- named from Fowler, an English physician who first brought it into use. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Bot.) A tuberous perennial (Arisarum vulgare) having a cowl-shaped maroon or violet-black spathe; -- found in the Mediterranean, Canaries, and Azores.
Syn. -- friars' cowl, Arisarum vulgare. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

it>or /mhw>. [ G. glaubersalz, from Glauber, a German chemist who discovered it. See Glauberite. ] Sulphate of soda, a well-known cathartic. It is a white crystalline substance, with a cooling, slightly bitter taste, and is commonly called “salts.” [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ It occurs naturally and abundantly in some mineral springs, and in many salt deposits, as the mineral mirabilite. It is manufactured in large quantities as an intermediate step in the “soda process, ” and also for use in glass making. [ 1913 Webster ]

(Surveying) The chain ordinarily used in measuring land. See Chain, n., 4, and Gunter's scale. [ 1913 Webster ]

A logarithmic line on Gunter's scale, used for performing the multiplication and division of numbers mechanically by the dividers; -- called also line of lines, and line of numbers. [ 1913 Webster ]

A thin quadrant, made of brass, wood, etc., showing a stereographic projection on the plane of the equator. By it are found the hour of the day, the sun's azimuth, the altitude of objects in degrees, etc. See Gunter's scale. [ 1913 Webster ]

A scale invented by the Rev. Edmund Gunter (1581-1626), a professor of astronomy at Gresham College, London, who invented also Gunter's chain, and Gunter's quadrant. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ Gunter's scale is a wooden rule, two feet long, on one side of which are marked scales of equal parts, of chords, sines, tangents, rhombs, etc., and on the other side scales of logarithms of these various parts, by means of which many problems in surveying and navigation may be solved, mechanically, by the aid of dividers alone. [ 1913 Webster ]

/mhw>. The diameter or breadth of a hair; a very small distance; sometimes, definitely, the forty-eighth part of an inch. [ Also spelled hairsbreadth. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Every one could sling stones at an hairbreadth and not miss. Judg. xx. 16. [ 1913 Webster ]

See under Chart, and see Mercator's projection, under Projection. [ 1913 Webster ]

(Chem.) A pigment of a green color, the chief constituent of which is oxide of chromium. [ 1913 Webster ]

. A day appointed for the honor and uplift of motherhood by the loving remembrance of each person of his mother through the performance of some act of kindness, visit, tribute, or letter. The founder of the day is Anna Jarvis, of Philadelphia, who designated the second Sunday in May, or for schools the second Friday, as the time, and a white carnation as the badge. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

{ . A set of rods, made of bone or other material, each divided into nine spaces, and containing the numbers of a column of the multiplication table; -- a contrivance of Baron Napier, the inventor of logarithms, for facilitating the operations of multiplication and division. [ 1913 Webster ]

the first day of a calendar year; the first day of January. Often colloquially abbreviated to New year's or new year. [ 1913 Webster ]

(Biol.) An artificial nutrient fluid invented by Pasteur for the study of alcoholic fermentation, but used also for the cultivation of bacteria and other organisms. It contains all the elements of protoplasm, and was originally made of the ash of yeast, some ammonia compound, sugar, and water. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

(Elec.) A cross formed of two strips of different metals, to illustrate the Peltier effect. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

[ So called from J. K. Peyer, who described them in 1677. ] (Anat.) Patches of lymphoid nodules, in the walls of the small intestiness; agminated glands; -- called also Peyer's patches. In typhoid fever they become the seat of ulcers which are regarded as the characteristic organic lesion of that disease. [ 1913 Webster ]

(Polit. Econ.) Goods that satisfy wants only indirectly as factors in the production of other goods, such as tools and raw material; -- called also instrumental goods, auxiliary goods, intermediate goods, or goods of the second and higher orders, and disting. from consumers' goods. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

. (Polit. Econ.) Any profit above the normal rate of interest and wages accruing to a producer on account of some monopoly (temporary or permanent) of the means or materials of production; -- called also . [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

An acknowledgement of indebtedness made by a receiver under order of court to obtain funds for the preservation of the assets held by him, as for operating a railroad. Receivers' certificates are ordinarily a first lien on the assets, prior to that of bonds or other securities. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

[ Named from E. Reissner, A German anatomist. ] (Anat.) The thin membrane which separates the canal of the cochlea from the vestibular scala in the internal ear. [ 1913 Webster ]

[ So named from its first describer, J. C. Rosenmüller, a German anatomist. ] (Anat.) The parovarium. [ 1913 Webster ]

{ or }. (Zool.) The silken web which is formed by most kinds of spiders, particularly the web spun to entrap their prey; -- also called cobweb. See Geometric spider, Triangle spider, under Geometric, and Triangle. [ 1913 Webster ]

prop. n. [ After Geo. W. Steller, a German naturalist. ] (Zool.) The rytina; -- called also stellerine and steller. See rytina. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Bot.) A name given to some species of morning-glory (Ipomoea) having the leaves lobed in pedate fashion. [ 1913 Webster ]

. (Law) An implied lien (that is, one not created by mortgage or other express agreement) given in equity to a vendor of lands for the unpaid purchase money. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

(Philol.) A statement, propounded by the Danish philologist Karl Verner in 1875, which explains certain apparent exceptions to Grimm's law by the original position of the accent. Primitive Indo-European k, t, p, became first in Teutonic h, th, f, and appear without further change in old Teutonic, if the accent rested on the preceding syllable; but these sounds became voiced and produced g, d, b, if the accent was originally on a different syllable. Similarly s either remained unchanged, or it became z and later r. Example: Skt. saptā (accent on ultima), Gr. 'e`pta, Gothic sibun (seven). Examples in English are dead by the side of death, to rise and to rear. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

(Bot.) The aromatic bark of tree (Drimys Winteri syn. Drymis Winteri) of the Magnolia family, which is found in Southern Chile. It was first used as a cure for scurvy by its discoverer, Captain John Winter, vice admiral to sir Francis Drake, in 1577. [ 1913 Webster ]

The amount that is yielded by the annual income of property; -- used in expressing the value of a thing in the number of years required for its income to yield its purchase price, in reckoning the amount to be paid for annuities, etc. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

[ So called after Friedrich Zöllner, a German physicist. ] Parallel lines that are made to appear convergent or divergent by means of oblique intersections. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]