Browse dictionary
Showing 1-20 of 448 results in 448 entries
1. Aaron's rod, n. View full entry 1631
...In similative and allusive use: a powerful force which devours or overwhelms everything around it....
2. Abyssinian, n. and adj. View full entry 1660
...Any of the languages spoken by the inhabitants of Abyssinia (now Ethiopia). Now usu. spec.= Amharic...
3. Adam, n.2 View full entry 1846
...attrib. Designating architecture, furniture, etc., in the neoclassical style of Robert and James Adam....
4. Adamesque, adj. View full entry 1881
...Designating architecture, furniture, etc., resembling that designed by the Adam brothers; characteristic of their style. See Adam...
5. Afghanistanism, n. View full entry 1948
...Preoccupation (esp. on the part of journalists) with distant events, as a diversion from controversial domestic issues (see quot. 1950)....
6. Aich's metal, n. View full entry 1861
...A hard alloy of copper, zinc, and iron, used (esp. formerly) in gun-making and marine engineering....
7. Airey, n. View full entry 1945
...attrib. Designating a system for constructing houses from precast concrete sections. Of a house: built using this system....
8. Aldwych farce, n. View full entry 1925
...Any of a series of farces, esp. those written by Ben Travers, presented at the Aldwych Theatre in the 1920s and early 1930s, typically characterized by broad satirical humour and featuring eccentric...
9. Alhambresque, adj. View full entry 1848
...Characteristic or reminiscent of the Alhambra, esp. in having a highly ornate Moorish style; in the architectural style of the Alhambra....
10. anvil, n. View full entry a800
...The block (usually of iron) on which the smith hammers and shapes the metal which he is working....
11. Armco, n. View full entry 1920
...A proprietary name for a soft iron of high purity. Usu. attrib....
12. attle, n. View full entry ?a1849
...‘Rubbish, deads, refuse, or stony matter; impure off-casts in the working of mines.’ Weale Dict. Terms1849....
13. babbitt, n.1 View full entry 1850
...any of various alloys of tin with smaller quantities of antimony, copper, and usually lead, which are typically used as linings in bearings and other mechanisms in order to reduce friction....
14. Babel, n. View full entry a1529
...A confused or discordant medley of sounds, esp. of voices; a hubbub, a din. Perh. influenced by babble2 in later use....
15. bainite, n. View full entry 1935
...A constituent produced at a certain stage in the heat treatment of steel (see quot. 1939)....
16. Ball stamp, n. View full entry 1860
...A stamp mill utilizing a steam hammer, formerly used in the United States for crushing ore....
17. Barff, n. View full entry 1880
...A process for protecting iron and steel from rust by means of a coating of iron oxide produced by the application of steam to the heated surface. See Bower-Barff...
18. bat, n.2 View full entry ?c1225
...A stick, a club, a staff for support and defence. (In 1387 applied to a crosier.) arch. Still dial. (Kent, Sussex, etc.) = staff, walking-stick....
19. Bath, n.2 View full entry 973
...A well-known city in the west of England, so called from its hot springs. Cf. bath13....
20. batter, v.2 View full entry 1398
...intr. Of walls, etc.: To incline from the perpendicular, so as to have a receding slope....
