n. [ OE. ancle, anclow, AS. ancleow; akin to Icel. ökkla, ökli, Dan. and Sw. ankel, D. enklaauw, enkel, G. enkel, and perh. OHG. encha, ancha thigh, shin: cf. Skr. anga limb, anguri finger. Cf. Haunch. ] The joint which connects the foot with the leg; the tarsus. [ 1913 Webster ]

Ankle bone, the bone of the ankle; the astragalus. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Having ankles; -- used in composition; as, well-ankled. Beau. & Fl. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. An ornament or a fetter for the ankle; an ankle ring. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. pl. see anklets. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. pl. 1. socks that reach just above the ankle.
Syn. -- anklet, bobbysock, bobbysocks [ WordNet 1.5 ]

a. Without a back. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ OE. ban, bon, bone + stickle prickle, sting. See Bone, n., Stickleback. ] (Zool.) A small fish, the three-spined stickleback. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Destitute of bark. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Bespeckled p. pr. & vb. n. Bespeckling. ] To mark with speckles or spots. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Besprinkled p. pr. & vb. n. Besprinkling ] To sprinkle over; to scatter over. [ 1913 Webster ]

The bed besprinkles, and bedews the ground. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. One who, or that which, besprinkles. [ 1913 Webster ]

, v. t. To coat or to polish with black lead (graphite). [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. A notorious gambler. [ Colloq. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A disease among calves and sheep, characterized by a settling of gelatinous matter in the legs, and sometimes in the neck. [ Eng. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Without books; unlearned. Shenstone. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A little book. T. Arnold. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ OE. brekil, brokel, bruchel, fr. AS. brecan, E. break. Cf. Brittle. ] Brittle; easily broken. [ Obs. or Prov. ] Spenser. [ 1913 Webster ]

As stubborn steel excels the brickle glass. Turbervile. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Brittleness. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A small brook. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A red pimple. [ R. ] Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ OE. bocle buckle, boss of a shield, OF. bocle, F. boucle, boss of a shield, ring, fr. L. buccula a little cheek or mouth, dim. of bucca cheek; this boss or knob resembling a cheek. ] 1. A device, usually of metal, consisting of a frame with one more movable tongues or catches, used for fastening things together, as parts of dress or harness, by means of a strap passing through the frame and pierced by the tongue. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A distortion bulge, bend, or kink, as in a saw blade or a plate of sheet metal. Knight. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. A curl of hair, esp. a kind of crisp curl formerly worn; also, the state of being curled. [ 1913 Webster ]

Earlocks in tight buckles on each side of a lantern face. W. Irving. [ 1913 Webster ]

Lets his wig lie in buckle for a whole half year. Addison. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. A contorted expression, as of the face. [ R. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

'Gainst nature armed by gravity,
His features too in buckle see. Churchill. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Buckled p. pr. & vb. n. Buckling. ] [ OE. boclen, F. boucler. See Buckle, n. ] 1. To fasten or confine with a buckle or buckles; as, to buckle a harness. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To bend; to cause to kink, or to become distorted. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To prepare for action; to apply with vigor and earnestness; -- formerly, generally used reflexively, but by mid 20th century, usually used with down; -- as, the programmers buckled down and worked late hours to finish the project in time for the promised delivery date. [ 1913 Webster +PJC ]

Cartwright buckled himself to the employment. Fuller. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. To join in marriage. [ Scot. ] Sir W. Scott. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. 1. To bend permanently; to become distorted; to bow; to curl; to kink. [ 1913 Webster ]

Buckled with the heat of the fire like parchment. Pepys. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To bend out of a true vertical plane, as a wall. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To yield; to give way; to cease opposing. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

The Dutch, as high as they seem, do begin to buckle. Pepys. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. To enter upon some labor or contest; to join in close fight; to struggle; to contend. [ 1913 Webster ]

The bishop was as able and ready to buckle with the Lord Protector as he was with him. Latimer. [ 1913 Webster ]

In single combat thou shalt buckle with me. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

To buckle to, to bend to; to engage with zeal. [ 1913 Webster ]

To make our sturdy humor buckle thereto. Barrow. [ 1913 Webster ]

Before buckling to my winter's work. J. D. Forbes. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ OE. bocler, OF. bocler, F. bouclier, a shield with a boss, from OF. bocle, boucle, boss. See Buckle, n. ] 1. A kind of shield, of various shapes and sizes, worn on one of the arms (usually the left) for protecting the front of the body. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ In the sword and buckler play of the Middle Ages in England, the buckler was a small shield, used, not to cover the body, but to stop or parry blows. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Zool.) (a) One of the large, bony, external plates found on many ganoid fishes. (b) The anterior segment of the shell of trilobites. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Naut.) A block of wood or plate of iron made to fit a hawse hole, or the circular opening in a half-port, to prevent water from entering when the vessel pitches. [ 1913 Webster ]

Blind buckler (Naut.), a solid buckler. --
Buckler mustard (Bot.), a genus of plants (Biscutella) with small bright yellow flowers. The seed vessel on bursting resembles two bucklers or shields. --
Buckler thorn, a plant with seed vessels shaped like a buckler. See Christ's thorn. --
Riding buckler (Naut.), a buckler with a hole for the passage of a cable. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. To shield; to defend. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Can Oxford, that did ever fence the right,
Now buckler falsehood with a pedigree? Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Having a head like a buckler. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Zool.) A stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus). [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. [ imp. & p. p. Cackled p. pr. & vb. n. Cackling ] [ OE. cakelen; cf. LG. kakeln, D. kakelen, G. gackeln, gackern; all of imitative origin. Cf. Gagle, Cake to cackle. ] 1. To make a sharp, broken noise or cry, as a hen or goose does. [ 1913 Webster ]

When every goose is cackling. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To laugh with a broken noise, like the cackling of a hen or a goose; to giggle. Arbuthnot. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To talk in a silly manner; to prattle. Johnson. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. The sharp broken noise made by a goose or by a hen that has laid an egg. [ 1913 Webster ]

By her cackle saved the state. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Idle talk; silly prattle. [ 1913 Webster ]

There is a buzz and cackle all around regarding the sermon. Thackeray. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. A fowl that cackles. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. One who prattles, or tells tales; a tattler. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. That can not be checked or restrained. [ 1913 Webster ]

adj. having no cheek. Opposite of cheeked. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Chuckled p. pr. & vb. n. Chuckling ] [ From 1st Chuck. ] 1. To call, as a hen her chickens; to cluck. [ Obs. ] Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To fondle; to cocker. [ Obs. ] Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A short, suppressed laugh; the expression of satisfaction, exultation, or derision. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. [ From 1st Chuck. ] To laugh in a suppressed or broken manner, as expressing inward satisfaction, exultation, or derision. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A person with a large head; a numskull; a dunce. [ Low ] Knowles. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Having a large head; thickheaded; dull; stupid. Smart. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Without a clank. Byreon. [ 1913 Webster ]

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

n. [ OE. cockes cockles, AS. s&aemacr_;coccas sea cockles, prob, from Celtic; cf. W. cocs cockles, Gael. cochull husk. Perh. influenced by F. coquille shell, a dim. from the root of E. conch. Cf. Coach. ] 1. (Zool.) A bivalve mollusk, with radiating ribs, of the genus Cardium, especially Cardium edule, used in Europe for food; -- sometimes applied to similar shells of other genera. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A cockleshell. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. The mineral black tourmaline or schorl; -- so called by the Cornish miners. Raymond. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. The fire chamber of a furnace. [ Eng. ] Knight. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. A hop-drying kiln; an oast. Knight. [ 1913 Webster ]

6. The dome of a heating furnace. Knight. [ 1913 Webster ]

Cockle hat, a hat ornamented with a cockleshell, the badge of a pilgrim. Shak. --
Cockle stairs, winding or spiral stairs. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Cockled p. pr. & vb. n. Cockling ] [ Of uncertian origin. ] To cause to contract into wrinkles or ridges, as some kinds of cloth after a wetting. [ 1913 Webster ]

Cockling sea, waves dashing against each other with a short and quick motion. Ham. Nav. Encyc. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ AS. coccel, cocel; cf. Gael. cogall tares, husks, cockle. ] (Bot.) (a) A plant or weed that grows among grain; the corn rose (Luchnis Githage). (b) The Lotium, or darnel. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Bot.) A coarse, composite weed, having a rough or prickly fruit; one of several species of the genus Xanthium; -- called also clotbur. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Inclosed in a shell. [ 1913 Webster ]

The tender horns of cockled snails. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Wrinkled; puckered. [ 1913 Webster ]

Showers soon drench the camlet's cockled grain. Gay. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. One who takes and sells cockles. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. One of the shells or valves of a cockle. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A light boat. [ 1913 Webster ]

To board the cockleshell in those plunding waters. W. Black. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. a European annual (Agrostemma githago) having large trumpet-shaped reddish-purple flowers and poisonous seed; a common weed in grainfields and beside roadways; naturalized in America.
Syn. -- corn cockle, corn-cockle, corn campion, crown-of-the-field, Agrostemma githago. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. a European annual (Vaccaria hispanica) with pale rose-colored flowers; cultivated flower or self-sown grainfield weed; introduced in North America; sometimes classified as a soapwort.
Syn. -- cowherb, cow cockle, Vaccaria hispanica, Vaccaria pyramidata, Saponaria vaccaria. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

v. i. [ Dim. of crack. ] To make slight cracks; to make small, sharp, sudden noises, rapidly or frequently repeated; to crepitate; as, burning thorns crackle. [ 1913 Webster ]

The unknown ice that crackles underneath them. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. The noise of slight and frequent cracks or reports; a crackling. [ 1913 Webster ]

The crackle of fireworks. Carlyle. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Med.) A kind of crackling sound or râle, heard in some abnormal states of the lungs; as, dry crackle; moist crackle. Quain. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Fine Arts) A condition produced in certain porcelain, fine earthenware, or glass, in which the glaze or enamel appears to be cracked in all directions, making a sort of reticulated surface; as, Chinese crackle; Bohemian crackle. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. (Fine Arts) Covered with minute cracks in the glaze; -- said of some kinds of porcelain and fine earthenware. [ 1913 Webster ]