Bath, n.

A place in which heat is applied to a body immersed in some substance. Thus, a dry bath is made of hot sand, ashes, salt, or other matter, for the purpose of applying heat to a body immersed in them. A vapor bath is formed by filling an apartment with hot steam or vapor, in which the body sweats copiously, as in Russia; or the term is used for the application of hot steam to a diseased part of the body. A metalline bath is water impregnated with iron or other metallic substance, and applied to a diseased part. In chimistry, a wet bath is formed by hot water in which is placed a vessel containing the matter which requires a softer heat than the naked fire. In medicine, the animal bath is made by wrapping the part affected in a warm skin just taken from an animal.

Copple-stones, n.

Lumps and fragments of stone broke from the adjacent cliffs, rounded by being bowled and tumbled to and again by the action of water. We apply the word to small round stones, from the size of an inch or two, to five or six inches or more, in diameter, wherever they may be found.

Air-sacs, n.

Air bags in birds, which are certain receptacles of air, or vesicles lodged in the fleshy parts, in the hollow bones and in the abdomen, which all communicate with the lungs.

Heart-string, n.

A nerve or tendon, supposed to brace and sustain the heart.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Brush, n.

A tail, as the brush of a fox.

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.

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.

Breakwater, n.

The hull of an old vessel sunk at the entrance of a harbor, to break or diminish the force of the waves, to secure the vessels in harbor.

Bow-Grace, n.

A frame or composition of junk, laid out at the sides, stem, or bows of ships to secure them from injury by ice.

Gun, n.

An instrument consisting of a barrel or tube of iron or other metal fixed in a stock, from which balls, shot or other deadly weapons are discharged by the explosion of gunpowder. The larger species of guns are called cannon; and the smaller species are called muskets, carbines, fowling pieces, &c. But one species of fire-arms, the pistol, is never called a gun.

Spark, n.

A small particle of fire or ignited substance, which is emitted from bodies in combustion, and which either ascends with the smoke, or is darted in another direction.

Plowshare, n.

The part of a plow which cuts the ground at the bottom of the furrow, and raises the slice to the mold-board, which turns it over.

Antanaclasis, n.

A repetition of words, beginning a sentence, after a long parenthesis; as, shall that heart, (which not only feels them, but which has all motions of life placed in them,) shall that heart, &c.

Bowlder, n.

A small stone of a roundish form, and of no determinate size, found on the sea shore and on the banks or in the channels of rivers, &c., worn smooth or rounded by the action of water; a pebble.