Trench, n.

A deep ditch cut for defense, or to interrupt the approach of an enemy. To open the trenches, to begin to dig, or to form the lines of approach.

Burden, n.

The verse repeated in a song, or the return of the theme at the end of each verse; the chorus; so called from the application of this word to the drone or base, and the pipe or string which plays it, in an instrument. A chord which is to be divided, to perform the intervals of music, when open and undivided, is also called the burden.

Sally-port, n.

A large port on each quarter of a fireship for the escape of the men into boats when the train is fired.

Intrigue, n.

A plot or scheme of a complicated nature. The word is usually applied to affairs of love or of government.

Quarry, n.

A place, cavern or pit where stones are dug from the earth, or separated from a large mass of rocks. We generally apply the word mine to the pit from which are taken metals and coal; from quarries are taken stones for building, as marble, freestone, slate, &c. In Paris, the quarries are a vast cavern under the city, several miles in extent.

Prester, n.

A meteor thrown from the clouds with such violence, that by collision it is set on fire.

Avenue, n.

An alley, or walk in a garden, planted with trees, and leading to a house, gate, wood, &c., and generally terminated by some distant object. The trees may be in rows on the sides, or, according to the more modern practice, in clumps at some distance from each other.

Into, prep.

Noting the passing of a thing from one form or state to another. Compound substances may be resolved into others which are more simple; ice is convertible into water, and water into vapor. Men are more easily drawn than forced into compliance. We reduce many distinct substances into one mass. We are led by evidence into belief of truth. Men are often enticed into the commision of crimes. Children are sometimes frightened into fits, and we are all liable to be seduced into error and folly.

Pressure, n.

Mutual pressure may be caused by the meeting of moving bodies, or by the motion of one body against another at rest, and the resistance or elastic force of the latter. The degree of pressure is in proportion to the weight of the pressing body, or to the power applied, or to the elastic force of resisting bodies.

Atteration, n.

The operation of forming land by the wearing of the sea, and the wearing of the earth in one place and deposition of it in another.

Intrenchment, n.

Properly, a trench or ditch only; but as the earth thrown out of a trench forms a part, and often the most necessary and useful part of a fortification; hence intrenchment is generally understood to signify a ditch and parapet, and sometimes it signifies fascines covered with earth, gabions, bags filled with earth, or other materials collected to cover men from an enemy's fire.

Swim, v.i.

To move progressively in water by means of the motion of the hands and feet, or of fins. In Paris, boys are taught to swim by instructors appointed for that purpose.

Print, n.

A mark made by impression; any line, character, figure or indentation of any form, made by the pressure of one body or thing on another; as the print of the tooth or of the nails in flesh; the print of the foot in sand or snow; the print of a wheel; the print of types on paper.

Interval, n.

A tract of low or plain ground between hills, or along the banks of rivers, usually alluvial land enriched by the overflowing of rivers, or by fertilizing deposits of earth from the adjacent hills.

Broad-cast, n.

Among farmers, a casting or throwing seed from the hand for dispersion in sowing.

Interlucate, v.t.

To let in light by cutting away branches of trees.

Ascian, n.

A person, who, at certain times of the year, has no shadow at noon.

Brimstone, n.

A hard, brittle, imflammable substance, of a lemon yellow color, which has no smell, unless heated, and which becomes negatively electric by heat and friction. It is found, in great quantities, and sometimes pure, in the neighborhood of volcanoes.

Articulate, a.

Formed by jointing or articulation of the organs of speech; applied to sound. An articulate sound is made by closing and opening the organs of speech. The junction or closing of the organs forms a joint or articulation, as in the syllables ab, ad, ap; in passing from one articulation to another, the organs are, or may be opened, and a vowel is uttered, as in attune; and the different articulations, with the intervening vocal sounds, form what is called articulate sounds; sounds distinct, separate, and modified by articulation or jointing. This articulation constitutes the prominent difference between the human voice and that of brutes. Brutes open the mouth and make vocal sounds, but have either not at all, or very imperfectly, the power of articulation.

Cast, n.

The distance passed by a thing thrown; or the space through which a thing thrown may ordinarily pass; as, about a stone's cast. A flight; a number of hawks let go at once.

Injection, n.

The act of filling the vessels of an animal body with some colored substance, in order to render visible their figures and ramifications.

Brush, n.

A tail, as the brush of a fox.

Purl, v.i.

To murmur, as a small stream flowing among stones or other obstructions, which occasion a continued series of broken sounds. It is applied only to small streams. Large streams running in like manner, are said to roar. In descriptions of rural scenery, the poets seldom omit a purling brook or stream.

Incidence, n.

The manner of falling on, or the direction in which one body falls on or strikes another. The angle which the line of falling, or the direction of a moving body striking another, makes with the plane struck, is called the angle of incidence.

Broth, n.

Liquor in which flesh is boiled and macerated, usually with rice and herbs, or some ingredient to give it a better relish. In America, the word is often applied to foaming water, and especially to a mixture of snow and water in the highways which is called snow-broth.

Puppet, n.

A small image in the human form, moved by a wire in a mock drama; a wooden tragedian.

Sputter, v.i.

To throw out moisture in small detached parts.

Spine, n.

A thorn; a sharp process from the woody part of a plant. It differs from a prickle, which proceeds from the bark. The wild apple and pear are armed with thorns; the rose, bramble, gooseberry, &c. are armed with prickles.