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Word Meanings - BACKSTAFF - Book Publishers vocabulary database

An instrument formerly used for taking the altitude of the heavenly bodies, but now superseded by the quadrant and sextant; -- so called because the observer turned his back to the body observed.

Related words: (words related to BACKSTAFF)

  • CALLOSUM
    The great band commissural fibers which unites the two cerebral hemispheres. See corpus callosum, under Carpus.
  • CALLOW
    1. Destitute of feathers; naked; unfledged. An in the leafy summit, spied a nest, Which, o'er the callow young, a sparrow pressed. Dryden. 2. Immature; boyish; "green"; as, a callow youth. I perceive by this, thou art but a callow maid. Old Play .
  • CALLE
    A kind of head covering; a caul. Chaucer.
  • TAKING
    1. Apt to take; alluring; attracting. Subtile in making his temptations most taking. Fuller. 2. Infectious; contageous. Beau. & Fl. -- Tak"ing*ly, adv. -- Tak"ing*ness, n.
  • INSTRUMENTAL
    Pertaining to, made by, or prepared for, an instrument, esp. a musical instrument; as, instrumental music, distinguished from vocal music. "He defended the use of instrumental music in public worship." Macaulay. Sweet voices mix'd with instrumental
  • TURNINGNESS
    The quality of turning; instability; tergiversation. Sir P. Sidney.
  • TURNSTONE
    Any species of limicoline birds of the genera Strepsilas and Arenaria, allied to the plovers, especially the common American and European species . They are so called from their habit of turning up small stones in search of mollusks and
  • TURNING
    The pieces, or chips, detached in the process of turning from the material turned. (more info) 1. The act of one who, or that which, turns; also, a winding; a bending course; a fiexure; a meander. Through paths and turnings often trod
  • QUADRANT
    The quarter of a circle, or of the circumference of a circle, an arc of 90º, or one subtending a right angle at the center. (more info) a whole, fr. quattuor four: cf. F. quadrant, cadran. See Four, and 1. The fourth part; the quarter. Sir T.
  • TURN-SICK
    Giddy. Bacon.
  • FORMERLY
    In time past, either in time immediately preceding or at any indefinite distance; of old; heretofore.
  • OBSERVANCY
    Observance.
  • TURNVEREIN
    A company or association of gymnasts and athletes.
  • TURNHALLE
    A building used as a school of gymnastics.
  • TURNSPIT
    A small breed of dogs having a long body and short crooked legs. These dogs were formerly much used for turning a spit on which meat was roasting. (more info) 1. One who turns a spit; hence, a person engaged in some menial office. His lordship
  • TURNSOLE
    + sole the sun, L. sol. See Turn, Solar, a., and cf. A plant of the genus Heliotropium; heliotrope; -- so named because its flowers are supposed to turn toward the sun. The sunflower. A kind of spurge . The euphorbiaceous plant Chrozophora
  • TURN-BUCKLE
    A loop or sleeve with a screw thread at one end and a swivel at the other, -- used for tightening a rod, stay, etc. A gravitating catch, as for fastening a shutter, the end of a chain, or a hasp.
  • CALL
    callen, AS. ceallin; akin to Icel & Sw. kalla, Dan. kalde, D. kallen 1. To command or request to come or be present; to summon; as, to call a servant. Call hither Clifford; bid him come amain Shak. 2. To summon to the discharge of a particular
  • TURNCOAT
    One who forsakes his party or his principles; a renegade; an apostate. He is a turncoat, he was not true to his profession. Bunyan.
  • TURNBULL'S BLUE
    The double cyanide of ferrous and ferric iron, a dark blue amorphous substance having a coppery luster, used in dyeing, calico printing, etc. Cf. Prussian blue, under Prussian.
  • RE-TURN
    To turn again.
  • GYMNASTICALLY
    In a gymnastic manner.
  • HYPERCRITICALLY
    In a hypercritical manner.
  • UNEMPIRICALLY
    Not empirically; without experiment or experience.
  • SCALLION
    A kind of small onion , native of Palestine; the eschalot, or shallot. 2. Any onion which does not "bottom out," but remains with a thick stem like a leek. Amer. Cyc.
  • UNIVOCALLY
    In a univocal manner; in one term; in one sense; not equivocally. How is sin univocally distinguished into venial and mortal, if the venial be not sin Bp. Hall.
  • PARABOLICALLY
    1. By way of parable; in a parabolic manner. 2. In the form of a parabola.
  • STEREOGRAPHICALLY
    In a stereographical manner; by delineation on a plane.
  • HEMEROCALLIS
    A genus of plants, some species of which are cultivated for their beautiful flowers; day lily.
  • UNMISTAKABLE
    Incapable of being mistaken or misunderstood; clear; plain; obvious; evident. -- Un`mis*tak"a*bly, adv.
  • NOCTURNAL
    1. Of, pertaining to, done or occuring in, the night; as, nocturnal darkness, cries, expedition, etc.; -- opposed to Ant: diurnal. Dryden. 2. Having a habit of seeking food or moving about at night; as, nocturnal birds and insects.
  • ACRONYCALLY
    In an acronycal manner as rising at the setting of the sun, and vise versâ.
  • SATURNISM
    Plumbum. Quain.
  • LEAVE-TAKING
    Taking of leave; parting compliments. Shak.
  • PHYSIOLOGICALLY
    In a physiological manner.
  • DIAMETRICALLY
    In a diametrical manner; directly; as, diametrically opposite. Whose principles were diametrically opposed to his. Macaulay.

 

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