Lumbar:(From the Latin lumbus, the loin,) relating or pertaining to the loins.
Lunacy, writ of:A judicial proceeding to ascertain whether a person be a lunatic.
Mademoiselle:The French word for miss, a young girl.
Magnesia:A light and white alkaline earth, which enters into the composition of many rocks, communicating to them a greasy or soapy feeling and a striped texture, with sometimes a greenish color.
Malaria:(Italian,mal/aria, bad air,) a noxious vapor or exhalation; a state of the atmosphere or soil, or both, which, in certain regions and in warm weather, produces fever, sometimes of great violence.
Mammon:Riches, the Syrian god of riches. See Luke 16:11-13; St. Matthew 6:24.Mexico:A country situated south-west of the United States and extending to the Pacific Ocean.
Miasms:Such particles or atoms as are supposed to arise from distempered, putrefying, or poisonous bodies.
MichilimackinacorMackinac:(Now frequently corrupted intoMackinaw, which is the usual pronunciation of the name,) a military post in the State of Michigan, situated upon an island, about nine miles in circuit, in the strait which connects Lakes Michigan and Huron. It is much resorted to by Indians and fur-traders. The highest summit of the island is about three hundred feet above the lakes and commands an extensive view of them.
Midsummer:With us, the time when the sun arrives at his greatest distance from the equator, or about the twenty-first of June, called, also the summer solstice, (from the Latinsol, the sunandsto, to stoporstand still,) because when the sun reaches this point he seems to stand still for some time, and then appears to retrace his steps. The days are then longer than at any other time.
Migrate:To remove from one place to another; to change residence.
Mildew:A disease of plants; a mould, spot, or stain in paper, cloths, etc., caused by moisture.
Militate:To oppose, to operate against.
Millinet:A coarse kind of stiff muslin, formerly used for the foundation or basis of bonnets, etc.
Mineralogy:A science which treats of the inorganic natural substances found upon or in the earth, such as earths, salts, metals, etc., and which are called by the general name of minerals.
Minutiae:The smallest particulars.
Monasticism:Monastic life; religiously recluse life in a monastery or house of religious retirement.
Montagu, Lady Mary Wortley:One of the most celebrated among the female literary characters of England. She was daughter of Evelyn, Duke of Kingston, and was born about 1690, at Thoresby, in England She displayed uncommon abilities at a very early age, and was educated by the best masters in the English, Latin, Greek, and French languages. She accompanied her husband (Edward Wortley Montagu) on an embassy to Constantinople, and her correspondence with her friends was published and much admired. She introduced the practice of inoculation for the small-pox into England, which proved of great benefit to millions. She died at the age of seventy-two, A.D. 1762.
Moral Philosophy:The science which treats of the motives and rules of human actions, and of the ends to which they ought to be directed.
_Moreen: A kind of woolen stuff used for curtains, covers of cushions, bed hangings, etc.
_Mortise: A cavity cut into a piece of timber to receive the end of another piece called theTenon.
Mucous:Having the nature of _mucus, a glutinous, sticky, thready, transparent fluid, of a salt savor, produced by different membranes of the body, and serving to protect the membranes and other internal parts against the action of the air, food, etc. The fluid of the mouth and nose is mucus.
_Mucous membrane: That membrane which lines the mouth, nose, intestines, and other open cavities of the body.
_Muriatic acid: An acid composed of chlorine and hydrogen, called also, hydrochloric acid and spirit of salt.
Mush-stick:A stick to use in stirring _mush, which is corn-meal boiled in water.
NankeenorNankin:A light cotton cloth, originally brought from Nankin, in China, whence its name.
Nash, (Richard:)Commonly called _Beau Nash, or King of Bath, a celebrated leader of the fashions in England. He was born at Swansea, in South-Wales, October 8th, 1674, and died in the city of Bath, (England,) February 3d, 1761.
Natural History:The history of animals, plants, and minerals.
Natural Philosophy:The science which treats of the powers of nature, the properties of natural bodies, and their action one upon another. It is sometimes calledphysics.
New-milch cow:A cow which has recently calved.
Newton, (Sir Isaac:)An eminent English philosopher and mathematician, who was born on Christmas day, 1642, and died March. 20th, 1727. He was much distinguished for his very important discoveries in Optics and other branches of Natural Philosophy. See the first volume ofPursuit of Knowledge under Difficulties, forming the fourteenth volume ofThe School Library, larger series.
Night-Soil:Human excrement, so-called because usually removed from privies by night.
Non-bearers:Plants which bear no flowers nor fruit.
Northern States: Those of the United States situated in the northern and eastern part of the country.
Ordinary: SeePhysician in ordinary.
Oil of Vitriol: (sulphuric acid, or vitriolic acid,) an acid composed of oxygen and sulphur.
Oino-mania: A disease of the brain produced by excessive use of alcoholic stimulants; derived from two Greek words,oinos, wine, andmania, madness. The same disease sometimes arises from overuse of tobacco and other stimulants of the nerves.
Orleans, (Elizabeth Charlotte de Baviere) Duchess of: Second wife of Philippe, the brother of Louis XIV., was born at Heidelberg, May 26th, 1652, and died at the palace of St. Cloud, in Paris, December 8th, 1722. She was author of several works; among which wereMemoirs and Anecdotes of the Court of Louis XIV.
Ottoman: A kind of hassock or thick mat for kneeling upon; so-called from being used by the Ottomans or Turks.
Oxalic acid: a vegetable acid, which exists in sorrel.
Oxide: A compound of a substance with oxygen, though not enough oxygen to produce an acid; for example, oxide of iron, or rust of metals.
Oxidize: To combine oxygen with a body without producing acidity.
Oxygen: The vital element of air, a simple and very important substance which exists in the atmosphere and supports the breathing of animals and the burning of combustibles. It was called oxygen from two Greek words, signifying to produce acid, from its power of giving acidity to many compounds in which it predominates.
Oxygenized: Combined with oxygen.
Pancreas: A gland within the abdomen just below and behind the stomach, and providing a fluid to assist digestion. In animals, it is called the sweet-bread.
Pancreatic: Belonging to the pancreas.
Parterre: A level division of ground, a flower-garden.
Pearlash: The common name for impure carbonate of potash, which in a purer form is calledSaleratus.
Peristaltic: Contracting in successive circles; worm-like.
Petroleum: Rock oil, an inflammable, bituminous liquid exuding from rocks or from the earth in the neighborhood of the carboniferous or coal-bearing formation.
Phosphorous: One of the elementary substances.
Physician in Ordinary to the Queen: The physician who attends the Queen in ordinary cases of illness.
Pitt, William: A celebrated English statesman, son of the Earl of Chatham. He was born May 28th, 1759, and at the age of twenty-three was made Chancellor of the Exchequer, and soon afterward Prime Minister. He died January 23d, 1806.
Political Economy: The science which treats of the general causes affecting the production, distribution, and consumption of articles of exchangeable value, in reference to their effects upon national wealth and welfare.
Pollen: The fertilizing dust of flowers, produced by the stamens and falling upon the pistils in order to render a flower capable of producing fruit or seed.
Potter's clay: The clay used in making articles of pottery.
Prairie: A French word, signifying meadow. In the United States, it is applied to the remarkable natural meadows or plains which are found in the Western States. In some of these vast and nearly level plains, the traveler may wander for days without meeting with wood or water, and see no object rising above the plane of the horizon. They are very fertile.
Prime Minister: The person appointed by the ruler of a nation to have the chief direction and management of the public affairs.
Process: A protuberance or projecting part of a bone.
Pulmonary: Belonging to or affecting the lungs.
Pulmonary artery: An artery which passes through the lungs, being divided into several branches, which form a beautiful network over the air-vessels, and finally empty themselves into the left auricle of the heart.
Puritans: A sect which professed to follow the pure word of God in opposition to traditions, human constitutions, and other authorities. In the reign, of Queen Elizabeth, part of the Protestants were desirous of introducing a simpler, and, as they considered it, apurerform of church government and worship than that established by law, from which circumstance they were calledPuritans. In process of time, this party increased in numbers and openly broke off from the church, laying aside the English liturgy, and adopting a service-book published at Geneva by the disciples of Calvin. They were treated with great rigor by the government, and many of them left the kingdom and settled in Holland. Finding themselves not so eligibly situated in that country as they had expected to be, a portion of them embarked for America, and were the first settlers of New England.
Quixotic: Absurd, romantic, ridiculous; fromDon Quixote, the hero of a celebrated fictitious work written by Cervantes, a distinguished Spanish writer, and intended to reform the tastes and opinions of his country-men.
Reeking: Smoking, emitting vapor.
Residue: The remainder or part which remains.
Routine: A round or course of engagements, business, pleasure, etc.
To Run a seam: To lay the two edges of a seam together and pass the threaded needle out and in, with small stitches, a few threads below the edge and on a line with it.
To Run a stocking: To pass a thread of yarn, with a needle, straight along each row of the stocking, as far as is desired, taking up one loop and missing two or three, until tie row is completed, so as to double the thickness at the part which is run.
Sabbatical year: Every seventh year among the Jews, which was a year of rest for the land, when it was to be left without culture. In this year, all debts were to be remitted, and slaves set at liberty. See Exodus 21:2:23:10; Leviticus 25:2, 3, etc.; Deuteronomy 15:12; and other similar passages.
Saleratus: SeePearlash.
Sal ammoniac: A salt, called also muriate of ammonia, which derives its name from a district in Libya, Egypt, where there was a temple of Jupiter Ammon, and where this salt was found.
Scotch Highlanders: Inhabitants of the Highlands of Scotland.
Selvedge: The edge of cloth, a border. Improperly writtenselvage.
Service-book: A book prescribing the order of public services in a church or congregation.
Sharps: SeeBlunts.
Shorts: The coarser part of wheat bran.
Shrubbery: A plantation of shrubs.
Siberia: A large country in the extreme northern part of Asia, having the Frozen Ocean on the north, and the Pacific Ocean on the east, and forming a part of the Russian empire. The northern part is extremely cold, almost uncultivated, and contains but few inhabitants. It furnishes fine skins, and some of the most valuable furs in the world. It also contains rich mines of iron and copper, and several kinds of precious stones.
Sinclair, Sir John: Of whom it was said, "There is no greater name in the annals of agriculture than his," was born in Caithness, Scotland, May 10th, 1754, and became a member of the British Parliament in 1780. He was strongly opposed to the measures of the British government toward America, which produced the American Revolution. He was author of many valuable publications on various subjects. He died December 21st, 1835.
Sirloin: The loin of beef. The appellation "sir" is the title of a knight or baronet, and has been added to the word "loin," when applied to beef, because a king of England, in a freak of good humor, once conferred the honor of knighthood upon a loin of beef.
Slack: To loosen, to relax, to deprive of cohesion.
Soda: An alkali, usually obtained from the ashes of marine plants.
ToSpade: To throw out earth with a spade.
Spermaceti: An oily substance found in the head of a species of whale called the spermaceti whale.
Spindling: Shooting into a long, small stalk.
Spinous process: A process or bony protuberance, resembling a spine or thorn, whence it derives its name.
Spool: A piece of cane or reed or a hollow cylinder of wood, with a ridge at each end, used to wind yarn and thread upon.
Stamen, (plural,stamensandstamina:) Inweaving, the warp, the thread, any thing made of threads. Inbotany, that part of a flower on which the artificial classification is founded, consisting of the filament or stalk, and the anther, which contains the pollen or fructifying powder.
Stigma, (pluralstigmasandstigmata:) The summit or top of the pistil of a flower.
Styleor Stile: The part of the pistil between the germ and the stigma.
Sub-carbonate: An imperfect carbonate.
Sulphate, Sulphates, Sulphites: Salts formed by the combination of some base with sulphuric acid, asSulphate of copper, (blue vitriol or blue stone,) a combination of sulphuric acid with copper.Sulphate of iron: Copperas or green vitriol.Sulphate of lime: Gypsum or plaster of Paris.Sulphate of magnesia: Epsom salts.Sulphate of potash: A chemical salt, composed of sulphuric acid and potash.Sulphate of soda: Glauber's salts.Sulphate of zinc:
White vitriol.Sulphuret: A combination of an alkaline earth or metal with sulphur, asSulphuret of iron, a combination of iron and sulphur.Sulphuric acid: Oil of vitriol, vitriolic acid.
Suture: A sewing; the uniting of parts by stitching; the seamor joint which unites the flat bones of the skull, which are notched like the teeth of a saw, and the notches, being united together, present the appearance of a seam.
Tartar: A substance, deposited on the inside of wine casks, consisting chiefly of tartaric acid and potash.
Cream of tartar: The crude tartar separated from all its impurities by being dissolved in water and then crystallized, when it becomes a perfectly white powder.
Tartaric acid: A vegetable acid which exists in the grape.
Technology: A description of the arts, considered generally in their theory and practice as connected with moral, political, and physical science.
Three-plyortriple ingrain: A kind of carpeting, in which the threads are woven in such a manner as to make three thicknesses of the cloth.
Tic douloureux: A painful affection of the nerves, mostly those of the face.
Tocqueville, (Alexis de:)A celebrated statesman and writer of France, and author of volumes on the political condition, and the penitentiaries of the United States, and other works.
Trachea: The windpipe, so named (from a Greek word signifyingrough) from the roughness or inequalities of the cartilages of which it is formed.
Truckle-bedorTrundle-bed: A bed that runs on wheels.
Tuber: A solid, fleshy, roundish root, like the potato.
Tuberous: Thick and fleshy; composed of or having tubers.
Tucks, (improperlyTacks): Folds in garments.
Turmeric:The root of a plant calledCurcuma longa, a native of the East-Indies, used as a yellow dye.
Twaddle:Idle, foolish talk or conversation.
Unbolted:Unsifted.Unslacked:Not loosened or deprived of cohesion. Lime, when it has been slacked, crumbles to powder from being deprived of cohesion.
Valance:The drapery or fringe hanging round the cover of a bed, couch, or other similar article.
Vascular:Relating to or full of vessels.
Venetian:A kind of carpeting, composed of a striped woolen warp on a thick woof of linen thread,
Verisimilitude:Probability, resemblance to truth.
Verbatim:Word for word.
Vice versa:The side being changed, or the question reversed, or the terms being exchanged.
Viscera, (plural ofviscus:) Organs contained in the great cavities of the body, the skull, the abdomen, and the chest. Generally applied to the contents of the abdomen.
Vitriol:A compound mineral salt of a very caustic taste.Blue Vitriol, sulphate of copper.Green Vitriol, see _Copperas.Oil of Vitriol, sulphuric acid.
White Vitriol, sulphate of zinc.
Waffle-iron:An iron utensil for the purpose of baking waffles, which are thin and soft cakes indented by the iron in which they are baked.
Wash-leather:A soft, pliable leather dressed with oil, and in such a way that it may be washed without shrinking. It is used for various articles of dress, as undershirts, drawers, etc., and also for rubbing silver, and other articles having a high polish. The article known in commerce as chamois or shammy leather is also called wash-leather.
Welting-cord:A cord sewed into the welt or border of a garment.
The WestorWestern World. When used in Europe, or in distinction from the Eastern World, it means America. When used in this country, the West refers to the Western States of the Union.
Western Wilds:The wild, thinly-settled lands of the Western States.
White vitriol:see _Zinc.
Wilton carpet:A kind of carpets made in England, and so called from the place which is the chief seat of their manufacture. They are woolen velvets with variegated colors.
Writ of lunacy. See _Lunacy.
Xantippe:The wife of Socrates, noted for her violent temper and scolding propensities. The name is frequently applied to a shrew, or peevish, turbulent, scolding woman.
Zinc:A bluish-white metal, which is used as a constituent of brass and some other alloys.Sulphate of ZincorWhite vitriol; A combination of Zinc with sulphuric acid.