n. [ L. aculeus, dim. of acus needle. ] A small spiny outgrowth on the wings of certain insects. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

a. [ L. aculeatus, fr. aculeus, dim. of acus needle. ] 1. (Zool.) Having a sting; covered with prickles; sharp like a prickle. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Bot.) Having prickles, or sharp points; beset with prickles. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Severe or stinging; incisive. [ R. ] Bacon. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Having a sharp point; armed with prickles; prickly; aculeate. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Like a prickle. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. aculeolus little needle. ] (Bot.) Having small prickles or sharp points. Gray. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Aculeate. [ Obs. ] Sir T. Browne. [ 1913 Webster ]

‖n.; pl. Aculei [ L., dim. of acus needle. ] 1. (Bot.) A prickle growing on the bark, as in some brambles and roses. Lindley. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Zool.) A sting. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ As if fr. a L. animalculum, dim. of animal. ] 1. A small animal, as a fly, spider, etc. [ Obs. ] Ray. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Zool.) An animal, invisible, or nearly so, to the naked eye. See Infusoria. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ Many of the so-called animalcules have been shown to be plants, having locomotive powers something like those of animals. Among these are Volvox, the Desmidiacæ, and the siliceous Diatomaceæ. [ 1913 Webster ]

Spermatic animalcules. See Spermatozoa. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ F. ] (Fort.) See Bascule. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ F., a seesaw. ] In mechanics, an apparatus on the principle of the seesaw, in which one end rises as the other falls. [ 1913 Webster ]

Bascule bridge, a counterpoise or balanced drawbridge, which is opened by sinking the counterpoise and thus lifting the footway into the air. [ 1913 Webster ]

(Zool.) An infusorian of the family Vorticellidæ, common in fresh-water ponds. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ F. calcul, fr. L. calculus. See Calculus. ] Reckoning; computation. [ Obs. ] Howell. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. To calculate [ Obs. ] Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Canicula. Addison. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A circlet. [ Obs. ] Spenser. [ 1913 Webster ]

{ , n. [ L. corculum a little heart, dim. of cor heart. ] (Bot.) The heart of the seed; the embryo or germ. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A corpuscle. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

{ } n. [ L. crepusculum, fr. creper dusky, dark: cf. F. crépuscule. ] Twilight. Bailey. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Bot.) See Culrage. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ L., a gnat. ] (Zool.) A genus of mosquitoes of the family Culicidae, to which most of the North American species belong. Some members of this genus are exceedingly annoying, as Culex sollicitans, which breeds in enormous numbers in the salt marshes of the Atlantic coast, and Culex pipiens, the common house mosquito, breeding very widely in the fresh waters of North America. (For characters distinguishing these from the malaria mosquitoes, see Anopheles, above). The yellow-fever mosquito is now placed in another genus, Stegomyia. This genus formerly (ca. 1900) included the gnat as well as the mosquito. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. +PJC ]

n. [ Dim. of cyst. ] (Anat.) An appendage of the vestibular ear sac of fishes. Owen. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. esculentus, fr. escare to eat, fr. esca food, fr. edere to eat: cf. F. esculent. See Eat. ] Suitable to be used by man for food; eatable; edible; as, esculent plants; esculent fish. [ 1913 Webster ]

Esculent grain for food. Sir W. Jones. [ 1913 Webster ]

Esculent swallow (Zoöl.), the swallow which makes the edible bird's-nest. See Edible bird's-nest, under Edible. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Anything that is fit for eating; that which may be safely eaten by man. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ See Fascicle. ] A small bunch or bundle; a fascicle; as, a fascicule of fibers, hairs, or spines. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

n. [ L. faeculentia dregs, filth: cf. F. féculence. ] 1. The state or quality of being feculent; muddiness; foulness. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. That which is feculent; sediment; lees; dregs. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Feculence. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. faeculentus, fr. faecula: cf. F. féculent. See Fecula. ] Foul with extraneous or impure substances; abounding with sediment or excrementitious matter; muddy; thick; turbid. [ 1913 Webster ]

Both his hands most filthy feculent. Spenser. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ See Flocculus. ] 1. A detached mass of loosely fibrous structure like a shredded tuft of wool. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

2. (Chem.) Specif.: A small particle of an insoluble substance formed in a liquid by the union of smaller particles. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

n. The state of being flocculent. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ See Flock of wool. ] 1. Clothed with small flocks or flakes; woolly. Gray. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Zool.) Applied to the down of newly hatched or unfledged birds. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Chem.) Having a structure like shredded wool, as some precipitates. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

n. [ L. flosculus, dim. of flos flower: cf. F. floscule. ] (Bot.) A floret. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ F. See Graticulation. ] A design or draught which has been divided into squares, in order to reproduce it in other dimensions. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. herculeus, fr. Hercules: cf. F. herculéen. See Hercules. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

1. Requiring the strength of Hercules; hence, very great, difficult, or dangerous; as, an Herculean task. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Having extraordinary strength or size; as, Herculean limbs. “Herculean Samson.” Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. (Gr. Myth.) A hero, fabled to have been the son of Jupiter and Alcmena, and celebrated for great strength, esp. for the accomplishment of his twelve great tasks or “labors.” [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Astron.) A constellation in the northern hemisphere, near Lyra. [ 1913 Webster ]

Hercules' beetle (Zool.), any species of Dynastes, an American genus of very large lamellicorn beetles, esp. Dynastes hercules of South America, which grows to a length of six inches. --
Hercules powder, an explosive containing nitroglycerin; -- used for blasting. [ 1913 Webster ]

prop. n. 1. (Bot.) A densely spiny ornamental tree (Zanthoxylum clava-herculis) of the rue family, growing in southeast U. S. and West Indies. [ wns=1 ] It belongs to the same genus as one of the trees (Zanthoxylum Americanum) called prickly ash.
Syn. -- Hercules'-clubs, Hercules-club, Zanthoxylum clava-herculis. [ 1913 Webster + WordNet 1.5 ]

2. A small, prickly, deciduous clump-forming tree or shrub (Aralia spinosa) of eastern U.S.; also called Angelica tree and prickly ash. [ wns=2 ]
Syn. -- American angelica tree, devil's walking stick, Aralia spinosa. [ 1913 Webster + WordNet 1.5 ]

3. A variety of the common gourd (Lagenaria vulgaris). Its fruit sometimes exceeds five feet in length. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Cf. F. locule. See Loculus. ] (Zool.) A little hollow; a loculus. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ L. lodicula. dim, of lodix, lodicis, a coverlet: cf. F. lodicule. ] (Bot.) One of the two or three delicate membranous scales which are next to the stamens in grasses. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Dim. fr. L. lux, lucis, light. ] (Astron.) A spot or fleck on the sun brighter than the surrounding surface. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. luculentus, from lux, lucis, light. ] 1. Lucid; clear; transparent. Thomson. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Clear; evident; luminous. “ Most luculent testimonies.” Hooker. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Bright; shining in beauty. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Most debonair and luculent lady. B. Jonson. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. In a luculent manner; clearly. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Chem., Biochem.) A very large molecule, especially a polymer having from hundreds to many thousands of atoms, such as DNA, RNA, protein, polysaccharide, polyethylene, polycarbonate, etc. [ PJC ]

n. [ F. macule. See Macula. ] 1. A spot. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Print.) A blur, or an appearance of a double impression, as when the paper slips a little; a mackle. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ Cf. F. maculer. See Maculate, v. ] To blur; especially (Print.), to blur or double an impression from type. See Mackle. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Cf. F. majuscule. See Majusculae. ] A capital letter; especially, one used in ancient manuscripts. See Majusculae. [ 1913 Webster ]

Majuscule writing, writing composed wholly of capital letters, especially the style which prevailed in Europe from the third to the sixth century. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ L. minusculus rather small, fr. minus less: cf. F. minuscule. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

1. Any very small, minute object. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A small Roman letter which is neither capital nor uncial; a manuscript written in such letters. [ 1913 Webster ]

adj. a. Of or relating to a minuscule{ 2 } or of a script written in minuscules{ 2 }; of the size and style of minuscules{ 2 }; written in minuscules{ 2 }; minuscular. [ 1913 Webster + WordNet 1.5 ]

These minuscule letters are cursive forms of the earlier uncials. I. Taylor (The Alphabet). [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Dim. fr. L. moles a mass: cf. F. molécule. See 3d Mole. ] 1. One of the very small invisible particles of which all ordinary matter is supposed to consist. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Physics) The smallest part of any substance which possesses the characteristic properties and qualities of that substance, and which can exist alone in a free state. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Chem.) A group of atoms so united and combined by chemical affinity that they form a complete, integrated whole, being the smallest portion of any particular compound that can exist in a free state; as, a molecule of water consists of two atoms of hydrogen and one of oxygen. Cf. Atom. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ See Monocular. ] (Zool.) A small crustacean with one median eye. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. See Monticle. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. muculentus, fr. mucus. ] Slimy; moist, and moderately viscous. [ 1913 Webster ]