. A secret organization in the United States, formed in Iowa in 1887, ostensibly for the protection of American institutions by keeping Roman Catholics out of public office. Abbrev. commonly to A. P .A. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

n. [ L. architectus, architecton, Gr. &unr_; chief artificer, master builder; pref. 'archi- (E. archi-) + &unr_; workman, akin to &unr_; art, skill, &unr_; to produce: cf. F. architecte, It. architetto. See Technical. ] 1. A person skilled in the art of building; one who understands architecture, or makes it his occupation to form plans and designs of buildings, and to superintend the artificers employed. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A contriver, designer, or maker. [ 1913 Webster ]

The architects of their own happiness. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

A French woman is a perfect architect in dress. Coldsmith. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Used in building; proper for building. Derham. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Cf. F. architectonique. ] 1. The science of architecture. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. The act of arranging knowledge into a system. [ 1913 Webster ]

{ } a. [ L. architectonicus, Gr. &unr_;. See Architect. ] 1. Pertaining to a master builder, or to architecture; evincing skill in designing or construction; constructive. “Architectonic wisdom.” Boyle. [ 1913 Webster ]

These architectonic functions which we had hitherto thought belonged. J. C. Shairp. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Relating to the systemizing of knowledge. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The science of architecture. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. An architect. [ Obs. ] North. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A female architect. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Of or pertaining to the art of building; conformed to the rules of architecture. -- Ar`chi*tec"tur*al*ly, adv. [1913 Webster]

n. [ L. architectura, fr. architectus: cf. F. architecture. See Architect. ] 1. The art or science of building; especially, the art of building houses, churches, bridges, and other structures, for the purposes of civil life; -- often called civil architecture. [ 1913 Webster ]

Many other architectures besides Gothic. Ruskin. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Construction, in a more general sense; frame or structure; workmanship. [ 1913 Webster ]

The architecture of grasses, plants, and trees. Tyndall. [ 1913 Webster ]

The formation of the first earth being a piece of divine architecture. Burnet. [ 1913 Webster ]

Military architecture, the art of fortifications. --
Naval architecture, the art of building ships. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ L. contegere, -tectum, to cover up. ] A covering. [ Obs. ] Sir T. Browne. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. detectus, p. p. of detegere to uncover, detect; de + tegere to cover. See Tegument. ] Detected. [ Obs. ] Fabyan. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Detected; p. pr. & vb. n. Detecting. ] 1. To uncover; to discover; to find out; to bring to light; as, to detect a crime or a criminal; to detect a mistake in an account. [ 1913 Webster ]

Plain good intention . . . is as easily discovered at the first view, as fraud is surely detected at last. Burke. [ 1913 Webster ]

Like following life through creatures you dissect,
You lose it in the moment you detect. Pope. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To inform against; to accuse. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

He was untruly judged to have preached such articles as he was detected of. Sir T. More.

Syn. -- To discover; find out; lay bare; expose.

n. One who, or that which, detects or brings to light; one who finds out what another attempts to conceal; a detector. [ 1913 Webster ]

{ } a. Capable of being detected or found out; as, parties not detectable. “Errors detectible at a glance.” Latham. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ L. detectio an uncovering, revealing. ] The act of detecting; the laying open what was concealed or hidden; discovery; as, the detection of a thief; the detection of fraud, forgery, or a plot. [ 1913 Webster ]

Such secrets of guilt are never from detection. D. Webster. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Fitted for, or skilled in, detecting; employed in detecting crime or criminals; as, a detective officer. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. One who business it is so detect criminals or discover matters of secrecy. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ L., a revealer. ] One who, or that which, detects; a detecter. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

A deathbed's detector of the heart. Young. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Specifically: (a) An indicator showing the depth of the water in a boiler. (b) (Elec.) A galvanometer, usually portable, for indicating the direction of a current. (c) (Elec.) Any of various devices for detecting the presence of electric waves. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

Bank-note detector, a publication containing a description of genuine and counterfeit bank notes, designed to enable persons to discriminate between them. --
Detector lock. See under Lock. [ 1913 Webster ]

. (Railroads) A bar, connected with a switch, longer than the distance between any two consecutive wheels of a train (45 to 50 feet), laid inside a rail and operated by the wheels so that the switch cannot be thrown until all the train is past the switch. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

a. [ Gr. e'y`thktos easily melted; e'y^ well + th`kein to melt. ] (Physics) Of maximum fusibility; -- said of an alloy or mixture which has the lowest melting point which it is possible to obtain by the combination of the given components. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

n. a mixture of substances having a composition providing the minimum melting point ofr mixtures of those substances. Called also a eutectic mixture.
Syn. -- eutectic mixture. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

. British or British colonial architecture of the period of the four Georges, especially that of the period before 1800. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

. All that architecture which, since the beginning of the Italian Renaissance, about 1420, has been designed with deliberate imitation of Greco-Roman buildings. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

a. [ L. obtectus, p. p. of obtegere to cover over. ] 1. Covered; protected. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Zool.) Covered with a hard chitinous case, as the pupa of certain flies; also called obtect. [ 1913 Webster +PJC ]

n. (Geol.) A geological theory which holds that the crust of the earth (the lithosphere) is divided into a small number of large separate plates which float and move slowly around on the more plastic asthenosphere, breaking apart and moving away from each other at points where magma upwells from below, and, driven by such upwellings and other currents on the athenosphere, sliding past each other, colliding with each other, and in some cases being submerged (subducted) one below the other. This theory is now widely accepted, and explains many geological phenomena such as the clustered locations of earthquakes, mountain building, volcanism, and the similarities observed between the geology of continents, such as South America and Africa which are now far apart, but, according to the theory, were once joined together. The motions of such tectonic plates are very slow, typically only several centimeters per year, but over tens and hundreds of millions of years, cause very large changes in the relative positions of the continents. The consequence of such movement of plates is called continental drift. [ PJC ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Protected; p. pr. & vb. n. Protecting. ] [ L. protectus, p. p. of protegere, literally, to cover in front; pro before + tegere to cover. See Tegument. ] To cover or shield from danger or injury; to defend; to guard; to preserve in safety; as, a father protects his children. [ 1913 Webster ]

The gods of Greece protect you! Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

Syn. -- To guard; shield; preserve. See Defend. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. By way of protection; in a protective manner. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ L. protectio: cf. F. protection. ] 1. The act of protecting, or the state of being protected; preservation from loss, injury, or annoyance; defense; shelter; as, the weak need protection. [ 1913 Webster ]

To your protection I commend me, gods. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. That which protects or preserves from injury; a defense; a shield; a refuge. [ 1913 Webster ]

Let them rise up . . . and be your protection. Deut. xxxii. 38. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. A writing that protects or secures from molestation or arrest; a pass; a safe-conduct; a passport. [ 1913 Webster ]

He . . . gave them protections under his hand. Macaulay. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. (Polit. Econ.) A theory, or a policy, of protecting the producers in a country from foreign competition in the home market by the imposition of such discriminating duties on goods of foreign production as will restrict or prevent their importation; -- opposed to free trade. [ 1913 Webster ]

Writ of protection. (Law) (a) A writ by which the king formerly exempted a person from arrest; -- now disused. [ Eng. ] Blackstone. (b) A judicial writ issued to a person required to attend court, as party, juror, etc., intended to secure him from arrest in coming, staying, and returning. [ 1913 Webster ]

Syn. -- Preservation; defense; guard; shelter; refuge; security; safety. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Polit. Econ.) The doctrine or policy of protectionists. See Protection, 4. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Polit. Econ.) One who favors protection. See Protection, 4. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ Cf. F. protectif. ] Affording protection; sheltering; defensive. “ The favor of a protective Providence.” Feltham. [ 1913 Webster ]

Protective coloring (Zool.), coloring which serves for the concealment and preservation of a living organism. Cf. Mimicry. Wallace. --
Protective tariff (Polit. Econ.), a tariff designed to secure protection (see Protection, 4.), as distinguished from a tariff designed to raise revenue. See Tariff, and Protection, 4. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The quality or state of being protective. W. Pater. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ L.: cf. F. protecteur. ] 1. One who, or that which, defends or shields from injury, evil, oppression, etc.; a defender; a guardian; a patron. [ 1913 Webster ]

For the world's protector shall be known. Waller. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Eng. Hist.) One having the care of the kingdom during the king's minority; a regent. [ 1913 Webster ]

Is it concluded he shall be protector ! Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (R. C. Ch.) A cardinal, from one of the more considerable Roman Catholic nations, who looks after the interests of his people at Rome; also, a cardinal who has the same relation to a college, religious order, etc. [ 1913 Webster ]

Lord Protector (Eng. Hist.), the title of Oliver Cromwell as supreme governor of the British Commonwealth (1653-1658). [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Of or pertaining to a protector; protectorial; as, protectoral power. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Cf. F. protectorat. ] 1. Government by a protector; -- applied especially to the government of England by Oliver Cromwell. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. The authority assumed by a superior power over an inferior or a dependent one, whereby the former protects the latter from invasion and shares in the management of its affairs. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ Cf. L. protectorius. ] Same as Protectoral. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Having no protector; unprotected. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The office of a protector or regent; protectorate. [ 1913 Webster ]

{ } n. [ NL. protectrix. ] A woman who protects. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ L. retegere, retectum, to uncover; pref. re- + tegere to cover. ] Act of disclosing or uncovering something concealed. [ Obs. ] Boyle. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Pref. sub- + L. tectum a roof. ] A space under a roof; a tabernacle; a dwelling. [ Obs. ] Davies (Holy Roode). [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Zool.) One of the Tectibranchiata. Also used adjectively. [ 1913 Webster ]

‖n. pl. [ NL. ] Same as Tectibranchiata. [ 1913 Webster ]

‖n. pl. [ NL., fr. L. tectus (p. p. of tegere to cover) + Gr. &unr_; a gill. ] (Zool.) An order, or suborder, of gastropod Mollusca in which the gills are usually situated on one side of the back, and protected by a fold of the mantle. When there is a shell, it is usually thin and delicate and often rudimentary. The aplysias and the bubble shells are examples. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. tectus (p. p. of tegere to cover) + E. branchiate. ] (Zool.) Having the gills covered by the mantle; of or pertaining to the Tectibranchiata. -- n. A tectibranchiate mollusk. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. [ L. tectus covered, fr. tegere to cover. ] Covertly; privately; secretly. [ Obs. ] Holinshed. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Gr. &unr_; a carpenter + -logy. ] (Biol.) A division of morphology created by Haeckel; the science of organic individuality constituting the purely structural portion of morphology, in which the organism is regarded as composed of organic individuals of different orders, each organ being considered an individual. See Promorphology, and Morphon. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. tectonicus, Gr. &unr_;, fr. &unr_;, &unr_;, a carpenter, builder. ] 1. Of or pertaining to building or construction; architectural. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Biol.) Structural. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

3. (Geol. & Phys. Geog.) Of, pert. to, or designating, the rock structures and external forms resulting from the deformation of the earth's crust; as, tectonic arches or valleys; tectonic plates. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. +PJC ]

n. 1. The science, or the art, by which implements, vessels, dwellings, or other edifices, are constructed, both agreeably to the end for which they are designed, and in conformity with artistic sentiments and ideas. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Geol. & Phys. Geog.) the branch of geology concerned with the rock structures and external forms resulting from the deformation of the earth's crust; also, similar studies of other planets. Also called structural geology. [ PJC ]

plate tectonics a geological theory which considers the earth's crust as divided into a number of large relatively rigid plates, which move relatively independently on the more plastic asthenosphere under the influence of magmatic upwellings, so as to drift apart, slide past, or collide with each other, causing the formation, breakup, or merging of continents, and causing volcanism, the building of mountain ranges, and the subduction of one plate beneath another. In recent decades a large body of data have accumulated to support the theory and provide some details of the mechanisms at work. One set of supporting observations consists of data showing that the continents have slowly moved relative to each other over long periods of time, a phenomenon called continental drift. Africa and South America, for example, have apparently moved apart from a connected configuration at about 2 to 3 cm per year over tens of millions of years. [ PJC ]