WordWeight : Weighing the Words

Pronunciation : (a) (Law) The union of property with a freehold so as to become a fixture. Bouvier. (b) (Scots Law) The appropriation of lands or rents to the crown. Wharton.
Source : Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913

Pronunciation : (a) A noisy, rapid, shuffling dance engaged in competitively by a number of persons or pairs in succession, as among the colored people of the Southern United States, and so called, perhaps, because the exercise is continued until most of those who take p
Part of Speech : for
Definition :

we are going to have a breakdown to wind up with. New Eng. Tales.
Source : Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913

Pronunciation : (a) A water-tight box, of timber or iron within which work is carried on in building foundations or structures below the water level. (b) A hollow floating box, usually of iron, which serves to close the entrances of docks and basins. (c) A structure, usu
Part of Speech : placed
Definition : 3. (Arch.)

Defn: A sunk panel of ceilings or soffits. Pneumatic caisson (Engin.), a caisson, closed at the top but open at the bottom, and resting upon the ground under water. The pressure of air forced into the caisson keeps the water out. Men and materials are admitted to the interior through an air lock. See Lock.

beneath a vessel to lift or float it.
Source : Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913

Pronunciation : (a) Converted wholly or partially into sugar or candy; as candied sirup. (b) Conted or more or less with sugar; as
Part of Speech : candidied
Definition : 3. Covered or incrusted with that which resembles sugar or candy. Will the cold brook, Candiedwith ice, caudle thy morning tast Shak.

raisins. (c) Figuratively; Honeyed; sweet; flattering. Let the candied tongue lick absurd pomp. Shak.
Source : Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913

Pronunciation : (a) A coarse cloth so woven as to form regular meshes for working with the needle, as in tapestry, or worsted work. (b) A piece of strong cloth of which the surface has been prepared to receive painting
Part of Speech : commonly
Definition : 3. Something for which canvas is used: (a) A sail, or a collection of sails. (b) A tent, or a collection of tents. (c) A painting, or a picture on canvas. To suit his canvas to the roughness of the see. Goldsmith. Light, rich as that which glows on the canvas of Claude. Macaulay.

4. A rough draft or model of a song, air, or other literary or musical composition; esp. one to show a poet the measure of the verses he is to make. Grabb.

painting in oil. History . . . does not bring out clearly upon the canvas the details which were familiar. J. H. Newman.
Source : Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913

Pronunciation : (a) An instrument with a screw or screws by which work is held in its place or two parts are temporarily held together. (b) (Joinery) A piece of wood placed across another, or inserted into another
Part of Speech : to
Definition : 3. One of a pair of movable pieces of lead, or other soft material, to cover the jaws of a vise and enable it to grasp without bruising.

4. (Shipbuilding)

Defn: A thick plank on the inner part of a ship's side, used to sustuan the ends of beams.

5. A mass of bricks heaped up to be burned; or of ore for roasting, or of coal coking.

6. A mollusk. See Clam. [Obs.] Clamp nails, nails used to fasten on clamps in ships.

bind or strengthen.
Source : Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913

Pronunciation : (a) One elected by the people of a territory to represent them in Congress, where he has the right of debating, but not of voting. (b) One sent by any constituency to act as its representative in a convention; as, a delegate to a convention for nominating
Part of Speech : and
Definition :

the privy council is the immediate court of appeal in such cases. [Eng.]
Source : Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913

Pronunciation : (a) To treat unequally. (b) (Railroads) To impose unequal tariffs for substantially the same service.
Source : Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913

Pronunciation : -- Edible crab (Zo?l.), any species of crab used as food, esp. the American blue crab (Callinectes hastatus). See Crab. -- Edible frog (Zo?l.), the common European frog (Rana esculenta), used as food. -- Edible snail (Zo?l.), any snail used as food
Part of Speech : esp.
Definition :

Helix pomatia and H. aspersa of Europe.
Source : Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913

Pronunciation : -- Electric osmose. (Physics) See under Osmose. -- Electric pen, a hand pen for making perforated stencils for multiplying writings. It has a puncturing needle driven at great speed by a very small magneto-electric engine on the penhandle. -- Electric rai
Part of Speech : the
Definition :

torpedo. -- Electric telegraph. See Telegraph.
Source : Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913

Pronunciation : (a) A machine for raising or moving heavy weights, consisting of a tripod formed of poles united at the top, with a windlass, pulleys, ropes, etc. (b) (Mining) A hoisting drum
Part of Speech : usually
Definition : 3. A machine for separating the seeds from cotton; a cotton gin.

Note: The name is also given to an instrument of torture worked with screws, and to a pump moved by rotary sails. Gin block, a simple form of tackle block, having one wheel, over which a rope runs; -- called also whip gin, rubbish pulley, and monkey wheel. -- Gin power, a form of horse power for driving a cotton gin. -- Gin race, or Gin ring, the path of the horse when putting a gin in motion. Halliwell. -- Gin saw, a saw used in a cotton gin for drawing the fibers through the grid, leaving the seed in the hopper. -- Gin wheel. (a) In a cotton gin, a wheel for drawing the fiber through the grid; a brush wheel to clean away the lint. (b) (Mining) the drum of a whim.

vertical; a whim.
Source : Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913

Pronunciation : (a) An instrument, usually with hinged claws
Part of Speech : for
Definition : Defn: A grappling iron. The iron hooks and grapples keen. Spenser. Grapple plant (Bot.), a South African herb (Herpagophytum leptocarpum) having the woody fruits armed with long hooked or barbed thorns by which they adhere to cattle, causing intense annoyance. -- Grapple shot (Life-saving Service), a projectile, to which are attached hinged claws to catch in a ship's rigging or to hold in the ground; -- called also anchor shot.

seizing and holding fast to an object; a grab. (b) (Naut.)
Source : Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913

Pronunciation : (a) The chief room in a castle or manor house, and in early times the only public room, serving as the place of gathering for the lord's family with the retainers and servants, also for cooking and eating. It was often contrasted with the bower, which was
Part of Speech : in
Definition : 3. A name given to many manor houses because the magistrate's court was held in the hall of his mansion; a chief mansion house. Cowell.

4. A college in an English university (at Oxford, an unendowed college).

5. The apartment in which English university students dine in common; hence, the dinner itself; as, hall is at six o'clock.

6. Cleared passageway in a crowd; -- formerly an exclamation. [Obs.] "A hall! a hall!" B. Jonson.

Syn. -- Entry; court; passage. See Vestibule.

the more elaborated buildings of later times. Hence: (c) Any corridor or passage in a building.
Source : Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913

Pronunciation : (a) (Carp.) A hole or excavation in beams intended to be joined together, to receive the key which fastens them. (b) (Mach.) a mortise for a key or cotter. Keyhole limpet (Zo?l.), a marine gastropod of the genus Fissurella and allied genera. See Fissurell
Part of Speech : and
Definition :

Encope; -- so called because they have one or more perforations resembling keyholes.
Source : Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913

Pronunciation : (a) In feudal times, a man-at-arms serving on horseback and admitted to a certain military rank with special ceremonies, including an oath to protect the distressed, maintain the right, and live a stainless life. (b) One on whom knighthood, a dignity next
Part of Speech : should
Definition : Note: Formerly, when a knight's name was not known, it was customary to address him as Sir Knight. The rank of a knight is not hereditary.

3. A piece used in the game of chess, usually bearing a horse's head.

4. A playing card bearing the figure of a knight; the knave or jack. [Obs.] Carpet knight. See under Carpet. -- Knight of industry. See Chevalier d'industrie, under Chevalier. -- Knight of Malta, Knight of Rhodes, Knight of St. John of Jerusalem. See Hospitaler. -- Knight of the post, one who gained his living by giving false evidence on trials, or false bail; hence, a sharper in general. Nares. "A knight of the post, . . . quoth he, for so I am termed; a fellow that will swear you anything for twelve pence." -- Nash. -- Knight of the shire, in England, one of the representatives of a county in Parliament, in distinction from the representatives of cities and boroughs. -- Knights commanders, Knights grand cross, different classes of the Order of the Bath. See under Bath, and Companion. Knights of labor, a secret organization whose professed purpose is to secure and maintain the rights of workingmen as respects their relations to their employers. [U. S.] -- Knights of Pythias, a secret order, founded in Washington, d.C., in 1864, for social and charitable purposes. -- Knights of the Round Table, knights belonging to an order which, according to the legendary accounts, was instituted by the mythical King Arthur. They derived their common title from the table around which they sat on certain solemn days. Brande & C.

right poor ladies' harms. Shak.
Source : Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913

Pronunciation : (a) A commissioned officer in the army, next below a captain. (b) A commissioned officer in the British navy, in rank next below a commander. (c) A commissioned officer in the United States navy
Part of Speech : in
Definition : Note: Lieutenant is often used, either adjectively or in hyphened compounds, to denote an officer, in rank next below another, especially when the duties of the higher officer may devolve upon the lower one; as, lieutenant general, or lieutenant-general; lieutenant colonel, or lieutenant-colonel; lieutenant governor, etc. Deputy lieutenant, the title of any one of the deputies or assistants of the lord lieutenant of a county. [Eng.] -- Lieutenant colonel, an army officer next in rank above major, and below colonel. -- Lieutenant commander, an officer in the United States navy, in rank next below a commander and next above a lieutenant. -- Lieutenant general. See in Vocabulary. -- Lieutenant governor. (a) An officer of a State, being next in rank to the governor, and in case of the death or resignation of the latter, himself acting as governor. [U. S.] (b) A deputy governor acting as the chief civil officer of one of several colonies under a governor general. [Eng.]

rank next below a lieutenant commander.
Source : Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913

Pronunciation : (a) Melody; a rhythmical and otherwise agreeable succession of tones. (b) Harmony; an accordant combination of simultaneous tones.
Definition : 3. The written and printed notation of a musical composition; the score.

4. Love of music; capacity of enjoying music. The man that hath ni music in himself Nor is not moved with concord of sweet sounds, Is fit for treasons, stratagems, and spoils. Shak.

5. (Zo?l.)

Defn: A more or less musical sound made by many of the lower animals. See Stridulation. Magic music, a game in which a person is guided in finding a hidden article, or in doing a specific art required, by music which is made more loud or rapid as he approaches success, and slower as he recedes. Tennyson. -- Music box. See Musical box, under Musical. -- Music hall, a place for public musical entertainments. -- Music loft, a gallery for musicians, as in a dancing room or a church. -- Music of the spheres, the harmony supposed to be produced by the accordant movement of the celestial spheres. -- Music paper, paper ruled with the musical staff, for the use of composers and copyists. -- Music pen, a pen for ruling at one time the five lines of the musical staff. -- Music shell (Zo?l.), a handsomely colored marine gastropod shell (Voluta musica) found in the East Indies; -- so called because the color markings often resemble printed music. Sometimes applied to other shells similarly marked. -- To face the music, to meet any disagreeable necessity without flinching. [Colloq. or Slang]
Source : Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913

Pronunciation : (a) the science or art of conducting ships or vessels from one place to another, including, more especially, the method of determining a ship's position, course, distance passed over, etc., on the surface of the globe, by the principles of geometry and as
Part of Speech : etc.;
Definition : 3. Ships in general. [Poetic] Shak. A?rial navigation, the act or art of sailing or floating in the air, as by means of ballons; a?ronautic. -- Inland navigation, Internal navigation, navigation on rivers, inland lakes, etc.

the mechanics of traveling by water; seamanship.
Source : Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913

Pronunciation : (a) (Baseball) The act of throwing a ball too high, as over a player's head. (b) (Cricket) A faulty return of the ball by a fielder
Part of Speech : so
Definition :

that striker makes an additional run.
Source : Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913

Pronunciation : (a) (Railroad Cars) A casting secured to the frame of a truck and forming a jaw for holding a journal box. (b) (Mach.) A pillow block; a low housing. (c) (Bridge Building) An iron socket, or support, for the foot of a brace at the end of a truss where it
Part of Speech : --
Definition :

used in a radiator.
Source : Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913

Pronunciation : (a) A measure of length containing five and a half yards; a rod
Part of Speech : or
Definition : 3. A pole connecting the fore gear and hind gear of a spring carriage; a reach.

pole. (b) In land or square measure: A square rod; the 160th part of an acre. (c) In solid measure: A mass 16
Source : Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913

Pronunciation : (a) (Zo?l.) The spongy interior substance of a feather. (b) (Anat.) The spinal cord; the marrow.
Definition : 3. Hence: The which contains the strength of life; the vital or essential part; concentrated force; vigor; strength; importance; as, the speech lacked pith. Enterprises of great pith and moment. Shak. Pith paper. Same as Rice paper, under Rice.
Source : Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913

Pronunciation : (a) To make dense or close, as clay or loam, by working when wet
Part of Speech : so
Definition : 3. To subject to the process of puddling, as iron, so as to convert it from the condition of cast iron to that of wrought iron. Ure. Puddled steel, steel made directly from cast iron by a modification of the puddling process.

as to render impervious to water. (b) To make impervious to liquids by means of puddle; to apply puddle to.
Source : Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913

Pronunciation : (a) (Ch. of Eng.) A clergyman who has the charge and cure of a parish, and has the tithes
Part of Speech : etc.;
Definition : Defn: A clergyman in charge of a parish.

3. The head master of a public school. [Scot.]

4. The chief elective officer of some universities, as in France and Scotland; sometimes, the head of a college; as, the Rector of Exeter College, or of Lincoln College, at Oxford.

5. (R.C.CH.)

Defn: The superior officer or chief of a convent or religious house; and among the Jesuits the superior of a house that is a seminary or college.

the clergyman of a parish where the tithes are not impropriate. See the Note under Vicar. Blackstone. (b) (Prot. Epis. Ch.)
Source : Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913

Pronunciation : (a) An opinion; a decision; a determination; a judgment
Part of Speech : especially
Definition : (b) A philosophical or theological opinion; a dogma; as, Summary of the Sentences; Book of the Sentences.

3. (Law)

Defn: In civil and admiralty law, the judgment of a court pronounced in a cause; in criminal and ecclesiastical courts, a judgment passed on a criminal by a court or judge; condemnation pronounced by a judgical tribunal; doom. In common law, the term is exclusively used to denote the judgment in criminal cases. Received the sentence of the law. Shak.

4. A short saying, usually containing moral instruction; a maxim; an axiom; a saw. Broome.

5. (Gram.)

Defn: A combination of words which is complete as expressing a thought, and in writing is marked at the close by a period, or full point. See Proposition, 4.

Note: Sentences are simple or compound. A simple sentence consists of one subject and one finite verb; as, "The Lord reigns." A compound sentence contains two or more subjects and finite verbs, as in this verse: - He fills, he bounds, connects, and equals all. Pope. Dark sentence, a saving not easily explained. A king . . . understanding dark sentences. Dan. vii. 23.

one of an unfavorable nature. My sentence is for open war. Milton. That by them [Luther's works] we may pass sentence upon his doctrines. Atterbury.
Source : Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913

Pronunciation : (a) A line of goods sold in addition to one's principal articles of trade; a course of business pursued aside from one's regular occupation. (b) A secondary road; esp.
Part of Speech : a
Definition :

byroad at right angles to a main road. [Canada]
Source : Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913

Pronunciation : (a) To remove the nap of (cloth), by passing it rapidly over a red- hot bar, or over a flame
Part of Speech : preliminary
Definition :

to dyeing it. (b) To remove the hair or down from (a plucked chicken or the like) by passing it over a flame.
Source : Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913

Pronunciation : (a) A butt or mark to shoot at, as for practice, or to test the accuracy of a firearm, or the force of a projectile. (b) The pattern or arrangement of a series of hits made by a marksman on a butt or mark; as
Part of Speech : he
Definition : 3. (Surveying)

Defn: The sliding crosspiece, or vane, on a leveling staff.

4. (Railroad)

Defn: A conspicuous disk attached to a switch lever to show its position, or for use as a signal.

made a good target.
Source : Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913

Pronunciation : (a) The melon cactus. [West Indies] (b) Any of several species of Echinocactus. [California]
Definition : 3. A long-handled, round-headed broom for sweeping ceilings, etc. [Colloq. or Dial.]
Source : Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913

Pronunciation : (a) To thicken and shorten, as a heated piece of iron, by hammering on the end. (b) To shorten (a tire) in the process of resetting
Part of Speech : originally
Definition : 3. To overturn, overthrow, or overset; as, to upset a carriage; to upset an argument. "Determined somehow to upset the situation." Mrs. Humphry Ward.

4. To disturb the self-possession of; to disorder the nerves of; to make ill; as, the fright upset her. [Colloq.]

by cutting it and hammering on the ends.
Source : Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913

Pronunciation : (a) (Tennis) To return the ball before it touches the ground. (b) (Cricket) To send the ball full to the top of the wicket. R. A. Proctor.
Source : Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913

Pronunciation : (a) (Arch.) A board extending from the ridge to the eaves along the slope of the gable
Part of Speech : and
Definition :

forming a close junction between the shingling of a roof and the side of the building beneath. (b) A clapboard or feather-edged board used in weatherboarding.
Source : Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913