Dictionary
An American Dictionary of the English Language
Revised and enlarged (Goodrich & Porter)
Springfield, Mass. · G. & C. Merriam · 1865
- Entries
- 95,912
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- 2,133
Look up a word as the writers of the time used it.
Tăn'ta-līz'er, n. p. 1353One who tantalizes.Tăn'ta-līz'ing-ly, adv. p. 1353In a tantalizing manner; by tantalizing.Tăn'ta-lŭm, n. p. 1353(Chem.) The metal columbium. See COLUMBIUM. [Written also tantalium.]Tăn'ta-lŭs, n. p. 1353(Myth.) A Phrygian king who was condemned to be plunged in water, with choice fruits hanging over him, without the power of reaching them to satisfy his hunger or his thirst. 2. (Ornith.) A genus of…Tăn'ta-mount', a. p. 1353Equivalent in value or signification; equal; as, a sum tantamount to all our expenses; silence is sometimes tantamount to consent. “The certainty that delay, under these circumstances, was tantamount…Tăn'ta-mount', v. i. p. 1353To be tantamount or equivalent. [Obs.] Bp. Taylor.Tan-tĭv'ȳ or Tăn'ti-vy, adv. p. 1353Swiftly; speedily; rapidly;—a hunting term. To ride tantivy, to ride with great speed. Johnson.Tan-tīv'y, n. p. 1353A rapid, violent gallop. [Rare.]Tăn′tle, v. i. p. 1353To fondle; to caress; to pet. [Prov. Eng.]Tănt'ling, n. p. 1353One exposed to be tantalized; one seized with the hope of pleasure unattainable. [Obs.]Tăn’trum, n. p. 1353A whim or burst of ill-humor; an affected air. [Colloq.] Thackeray.Tăn'-vät, n. p. 1353A vat in which hides are steeped in liquor with tan.Tăn'-yärd, n. p. 1353An inclosure where the tanning of leather is carried on.Tāp, v. t. p. 1353To strike with something small, or to strike with a very gentle blow; to touch gently; as, to tap one with the hand; to tap one on the shoulder with a cane. 2. To put a new sole or heel on, as a shoe…Tăp, n. p. 1353A gentle blow; a slight blow with a small thing. She gives her right-hand woman a tap on the shoulder. Addison. 2. The piece of leather fastened upon the bottom of a boot or shoe in tapping it, or in…Tăp, v. i. p. 1353To strike a gentle blow; as, he tapped at the door.Tāp, v. t. p. 1353To pierce so as to let out a fluid, as a cask, a tree, a humor, or any thing which contains a pent-up fluid. 2. Hence, to draw from in any analogous way.Tāp, n. p. 1353A hole or pipe through which liquor is drawn. 2. A plug or spile for stopping a hole pierced in a cask, or the like. 3. Liquor which is measured out, as through a tap. 4. A place where liquor is…Tāp'-bōlt, n. p. 1353A bolt with a head on one end and a thread on the other end, to be screwed into some fixed part, instead of passing through the part and receiving a nut.Tāpe, n. p. 1353A narrow fillet or band; a narrow piece of woven fabric used for strings and the like; as, curtains tied with tape.Tāpe'-line, n. p. 1353A painted tape, marked with inches, &c., and inclosed in a case, used by engineers and others in measuring.Tā'per, n. p. 1353A small wax-candle; a small lighted wax-candle, or a small light. Get me a taper in my study, Lucius. Shak. 2. A tapering form; gradual diminution of thickness in an elongated object; as, the taper…Tā'per, a. p. 1353Regularly narrowed toward the point; becoming small toward one end; conical; pyramidal; as, taper fingers.Tā'per, v. i. p. 1353To diminish or become gradually smaller toward one end; as, a sugar loaf tapers toward one end.Tā'per, v. t. p. 1353To make or cause to taper. 2. To illuminate with a taper or tapers. [Rare.]Tā'per-ing-ly, adv. p. 1353In a tapering manner.Tā'per-ness, n. p. 1353The state of being taper.Tāp'es-try, n. p. 1353A kind of woven hangings of wool and silk, often enriched with gold and silver, representing various figures. 2. A hiding-place. [Obs.] Chapman. Tapestry carpet, an elegant and cheap kind of two-ply…Tăp'es-try, v. t. p. 1353To adorn with tapestry, or as if with tapestry. The Trosachs wound, as now, between gigantic walls of rock tapestried with broom and wild roses. Macaulay.Tāp'et, n. p. 1354Worked or figured stuff; tapestry. Spenser.Tāp'e-tĭ, n. p. 1354(Zoöl.) An animal of the hare kind; the Lepus Brasiliensis, a rodent mammal inhabiting South America.Tāpe'-worm, n. p. 1354(Med.) A broad, flat, many-jointed worm, often many feet in length, found in the intestines of man and other vertebrate animals. See TÆNIA.Tāp'-house, n. p. 1354A house where liquors are retailed.Tāp'in-age, n. p. 1354The act of hiding or skulking; lurking or hiding secretly. [Obs.]Tāp'i-ō'ēā, n. p. 1354A coarsely granular substance obtained by heating, and thus partly changing, the moistened starch obtained from the roots of the Janipha manihot, a plant which is a native of Brazil. Cassava or…Tā'pir, n. p. 1354(Zoöl.) A hoofed mammal of the genus Tapirus, somewhat like a pig, but having a short proboscis. One species is found in Sumatra, and there are one or more in South America.Tā'pir-oid, a. p. 1354Allied to the tapir, or the tapir family.Tā'pīs, n. p. 1354Carpeting; tapestry; formerly, the cover of a council-table. Upon the tapis, on the table, or under consideration.Tāp'is, v. t. p. 1354To cover or work with figures like tapestry.Tāp'ish or Tāp'pīs, v. i. p. 1354To lie close to the ground, so as to be concealed; to squat; to crouch; hence, to hide one's self. [Written also tappice.] [Obs. and rare.] As a hound that, having roused a hart, Although he tapish…Tāp'-lāsh, n. p. 1354Bad small beer. [Prov. Eng.] 2. The refuse or dregs of liquor. “The tap-lash of strong ale and wine.” Halliwell.Tāp'lings, n. pl. p. 1354The strong double leathers made fast to the ends of each piece of a flail. Halliwell.Tāp'net, n. p. 1354A kind of basket made of rushes, in which figs are imported. Simmonds.Tāp'pet, n. p. 1354(Mach.) A small lever or projection intended to tap or touch lightly something else, with a view to change or regulate motion. Francis.Tappet-motion p. 1354a valve-motion worked by tappets from a reciprocating part, without an eccentric or cam.Tāp’pit-hēn, n. p. 1354A crested hen. [Scot.] 2. A drinking-cup holding three quarts (according to some authors, one quart);—so called from the knob on the lid supposed to resemble a crested hen. [Scot.] W. Scott. 3. A…Tāp'-rōōm, n. p. 1354A room where liquors are kept on tap; a bar-room. The embassador was put one night into a miserable tap-room, full of soldiers smoking. Macaulay.Tāp'-rōōt, n. p. 1354(Bot.) The root of a plant which penetrates the earth directly downward to a considerable depth without dividing.Tāp’ster, n. p. 1354One whose business is to draw ale or other liquor.Tā'qua-nūt, n. p. 1354(Bot.) The nut of the tree Phytelephas macrocarpa, from which vegetable ivory is obtained. Baird.Tār, n. p. 1354A thick, impure, resinous substance, of a dark brown or black color, obtained from pine and fir-trees, by burning the wood with a close, smothering heat. 2. A sailor;—so called from his tarred…Tār, v. t. p. 1354To smear with tar; as, to tar ropes. 2. To stimulate; to provoke. [Obs.] Shak.Tār'a-nīs, n. p. 1354A Celtic divinity, regarded as the evil principle, but confounded by the Romans with Jupiter. Brande.Tār'an-tē'lā, n. p. 1354A peculiar Italian dance, named after the spider called tarantula.Tār'ant-īsm, n. p. 1354(Med.) A fabulous disease supposed to be produced by the bite of a certain spider, the Lycosa Tarantula, and considered to be incapable of cure except by protracted dancing to appropriate music.Ta-răn′tu-lă, n. p. 1354(Zoöl.) A species of spider; the Lycosa tarantula. Its bite sometimes produces a trifling effect, about equal to the sting of a wasp, and is popularly supposed to be cured by music.Ta-răn′tu-lā′ted, a. p. 1354Bitten by a tarantula; affected with tarantism.Tar-dā'tion, n. p. 1354The act of retarding or delaying; retardation. [Obs.]Tär'di-grā'dă, n. pl. p. 1354(Zoöl.) (a.) A family of edentate mammals, remarkable for the slowness of their motions; the sloths. (b.) A family of minute animals of the class Arachnidae; the water-bears. Baird.Tär'di-grāde, n. p. 1354(Zoöl.) One of the Tardigrada; as, (a.) A sloth, or animal of the sloth tribe. (b.) One of a family of minute arachnidans; — called also water-bear.