Browse dictionary
Showing 1-20 of 488 results in 488 entries
1. Act of Parliament, n. View full entry 1456
...Originally: a law made by the British monarch with the advice of Parliament (now hist.). In later use: a statute passed by a parliament....
2. alarm, int., n., and adv. View full entry c1400
...Used as a call to arms or warning of imminent danger, esp. of being attacked. Now literary (chiefly arch. and hist.)....
3. all-or-nothing, adj. and n. View full entry 1764
...Watchmaking. all-or-nothing piece...
4. anchor, n.1 View full entry c880
...An appliance for holding a ship, etc., fixed in a particular place, by mooring it to the bottom of the sea or river; now consisting of ‘a heavy iron, composed of a...
5. arbor, n.1 View full entry 1659
...The main support or beam of a machine (e.g. of a crane or windmill)....
6. astronomical, adj. and n. View full entry 1551
...Of or relating to astronomy; connected with or dealing with astronomy; = astronomic1....
7. atomic, adj. and n. View full entry 1678
...Hist. Sci. Designating the doctrine of atoms taught by Leucippus and his pupil Democritus in the 5th cent. b.c.; relating to this doctrine. Cf. atom3....
8. balance, n.1 View full entry 1297
...An apparatus for weighing, consisting of a beam poised so as to move freely on a central pivot, with a scale pan at each end....
9. banjo, n. View full entry 1764
...A stringed musical instrument, played with the fingers, having a head and neck like a guitar, and a body like a tambourine; a modification of the bandore....
10. bank, v.1 View full entry 1590
...trans. To form a bank to; to border, edge, hem in as a bank....
11. banking, n. View full entry 1610
...The business of a banker; the keeping or management of a bank....
12. bar, n.1 View full entry c1175
...gen. A straight piece of wood, metal, or other rigid material, long in proportion to its thickness....
13. barrel, n. View full entry c1300
...A cylindrical wooden vessel, generally bulging in the middle and of greater length than breadth, formed of curved staves bound together by hoops, and having flat ends or heads; a cask....
14. beat, n.1 View full entry a1625
...A stroke or blow in beating....
15. beat, v.1 View full entry c885
...trans. To strike with repeated blows. to beat the breast: i.e. in sign of sorrow....
16. beating, n. View full entry ?c1225
...The infliction of repeated blows; spec. the action of inflicting blows in punishment; the dashing of waves against the shore; the whipping up of a fluid; the flapping of wings;...
17. behind, adv., prep., and n. View full entry c900
...In a place whence those to whom the reference is made have departed; remaining after the others have gone. Esp. used with leave3a (letobs.), remain...
18. bell, n.1 View full entry a1000
...A hollow body of cast metal, formed to ring, or emit a clear musical sound, by the sonorous vibration of its entire circumference, when struck by a clapper, hammer, or other appliance....
19. bench, n. View full entry OE
...A long seat, with or without a back, usually of wood, but also of stone, etc. ‘Distinguished from a stool by its greater length’ (Johnson)....
20. bezel, n. View full entry 1611
...A slope, a sloping edge or face: esp. that of a chisel or other cutting tool (commonly basil.)...
