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An instrument formerly used for taking the altitude of the heavenly bodies, but now superseded by the quadrant and sextant; -- so called because the observer turned his back to the body observed.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