Leak, n.

A crack, crevice, fissure, or hole in a vessel, that admits water, or permits a fluid to escape.

Mother-water, n.

A fluid remaining after the evaporation of salt water, and containing deliquescent salts and impurities.

Abruption, n.

A sudden breaking off; a violent separation of bodies.

Rub, v.i.

To move or pass with difficulty; as, to rub through woods, as huntsmen; to rub through the world.

Ouch, n.

The blow given by a boar's tusk.

Elastic, a.

Springing back; having the power of returning to the form from which it is bent, extended, pressed or distorted; having the inherent property of recovering its former figure, after any external pressure, which has altered that figure, is removed; rebounding; flying back. Thus a bow is elastic, and when the force which bends it is removed, it instantly returns to its former shape. The air is elastic; vapors are elastic; and when the force compressing them is removed, they instantly expand or dilate, and recover their former state.

Vis-a-vis, n.

A carriage in which two persons sit face to face.

Nose, n.

The prominent part of the face which is the organ of smell, consisting of two similar cavities called nostrils. The nose serves also to modulate the voice in speaking, and to discharge the tears which flow through the lachrymal ducts. Through this organ also the air usually passes in respiration, and it constitutes no small part of the beauty of the face.

Volatile, a.

Flying; passing through the air on wings, or by the buoyant force of the atmosphere.

Ed. Note

The caretaker is finishing graduate school, getting married, and moving to a new country. Webster's Daily will be on auto-pilot and will be every-other-daily until July. Please stay tuned. We'll be back to daily definitions soon.

Emergency, n.

The act of rising out of a fluid or other covering or surrounding matter.

Balker, n.

In fishery, balkers are persons who stand on rocks and eminences to espy the sholes of herring, and to give notice to the men in boats, which way they pass.

Flame, n.

A blaze; burning vapor; vapor in combustion; or according to modern chimistry, hydrogen or any inflammable gas, in a state of combustion, and naturally ascending in a stream from burning bodies, being specifically lighter than common air.

Temper, vt.

In music, to modify or amend a false or imperfect concord by transferring to it a part of the beauty of a perfect one, that is, by dividing the tones.

Damps, n.

Noxious exhalations issuing from the earth, and deleterious or fatal to animal life. These are often known to exist in wells, which continue long covered and not used, and in mines and coal-pits; and sometimes they issue from the old lavas of volcanos.