%ha

‖n. pl. [ NL.; Gr. &unr_;, &unr_;, a ray + &unr_; a ring. ] (Zool.) A peculiar larval form of Phoronis, a genus of marine worms, having a circle of ciliated tentacles. [ 1913 Webster ]

‖or ‖/mhw>, n. [ Turk. aghā a great lord, chief master. ] In Turkey, a commander or chief officer. It is used also as a title of respect. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. 1 a genus of epiphytic ferns of tropical Asia.
Syn. -- genus Aglaomorpha. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. a class of eel-shaped chordates with a cartilaginous skeleton lacking jaws, scales, and pelvic fins. Among these are the lampreys and hagfishes. There are some extinct forms.
Syn. -- class Agnatha. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

interj. [ Ah, interj. + ha. ] An exclamation expressing, by different intonations, triumph, mixed with derision or irony, or simple surprise. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A sunk fence. See Ha-ha. Mason. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ L. alpha, Gr. 'a`lfa, from Heb. āleph, name of the first letter in the alphabet, also meaning ox. ] The first letter in the Greek alphabet, answering to A, and hence used to denote the beginning. [ 1913 Webster ]

In am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last. Rev. xxii. 13. [ 1913 Webster ]

Formerly used also denote the chief; as, Plato was the alpha of the wits. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ In cataloguing stars, the brightest star of a constellation in designated by Alpha (α); as, α Lyræ. [ 1913 Webster ]

n.; pl. Amorphas [ Gr. &unr_; shapeless. ] (Bot.) A genus of leguminous shrubs, having long clusters of purple flowers; false or bastard indigo. Longfellow. [ 1913 Webster ]

‖n. [ NL., fr. Gr. 'amfi` + trocho`s a wheel. ] (Zool.) A kind of annelid larva having both a dorsal and a ventral circle of special cilia. [ 1913 Webster ]

‖n. pl. [ NL. See Anthropomorphism. ] (Zool.) The manlike, or anthropoid, apes. [ 1913 Webster ]

‖n. [ Sing. of Aphthæ. ] (Med.) (a) One of the whitish specks called aphthæ. (b) The disease, also called thrush. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. pl., but often used as sing. with pl. Apocryphas [ L. apocryphus apocryphal, Gr. &unr_; hidden, spurious, fr. &unr_; to hide; &unr_; from + &unr_; to hide. ] 1. Something, as a writing, that is of doubtful authorship or authority; -- formerly used also adjectively. [ Obs. ] Locke. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Specif.: Certain writings which are received by some Christians as an authentic part of the Holy Scriptures, but are rejected by others. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ Fourteen such writings, or books, formed part of the Septuagint, but not of the Hebrew canon recognized by the Jews of Palestine. The Council of Trent included all but three of these in the canon of inspired books having equal authority. The German and English Reformers grouped them in their Bibles under the title Apocrypha, as not having dogmatic authority, but being profitable for instruction. The Apocrypha is now commonly &unr_;mitted from the King James's Bible. [ 1913 Webster ]

‖n.; pl. Arrhæ /plu>. [ L. Cf. Earnest. ] (Law) Money or other valuable thing given to evidence a contract; a pledge or earnest. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

‖n. [ NL., fr. Gr. 'a priv. + &unr_; a circle. ] (Zool.) A kind of chætopod larva in which no circles of cilia are developed. [ 1913 Webster ]

‖pos>n. [ NL., fr. Gr. bde`lla leech + morfh` form. ] (Zool.) An order of Nemertina, including the large leechlike worms (Malacobdella) often parasitic in clams. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ F. berthe, fr. Berthe, a woman's name. ] A kind of collar or cape worn by ladies. [ 1913 Webster ]

Big Bertha n. a large cannon used by the German army during World War I. [ PJC ] [ 1913 Webster ]

‖n. A measure of land in India, varying from a third of an acre to an acre. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. the confused noise of many voices.
Syn. -- hubbub, uproar. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

2. a confused disturbance far greater than its cause merits. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. [ Skr. buddha wise, sage, 'the enlightened' fr. budh to know. ] 1. The title of an incarnation of self-abnegation, virtue, and wisdom. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. The title of Siddhartha or Gautama, a deified religious teacher of the Buddhists and the founder of Buddhism; called also Gautama Siddartha or Sakya Sinha (or Muni). From three newly discovered inscriptions of the emperor Asoka it follows that the 37th year of his reign was reckoned as the 257th from the death of Buddha. Hence it is inferred that Buddha died between 482 and 472 B. C. It being agreed that he lived to be eighty, he was born between 562 and 552 B. C. The Buddhist narratives of his life are overgrown with legend and myth. Senart seeks to trace in them the history of the sun-hero. Oldenberg finds in the most ancient traditions -- those of Ceylon -- at least definite historical outlines. Siddhartha, as Buddha was called before entering upon his great mission, was born in the country and tribe of the Sakhyas, at the foot of the Nepalese Himalayas. His father, Suddhodana, was rather a great and wealthy landowner than a king. He passed his youth in opulence at Kapila-vastu, the Sakhya capital. He was married and had a son Rahula, who became a member of his order. At the age of twenty-nine he left parents, wife, and only son for the spiritual struggle of a recluse. After seven years he believed himself possessed of perfect truth, and assumed the title of Buddha, 'the enlightened.' He is represented as having received a sudden illumination as he sat under the Bo-tree, or ' tree of knowledge, ' at Bodhgaya or Buddha-Gaya. For twenty-eight or, as later narratives give it, forty-nine days he was variously tempted by Mara. One of his doubts was whether to keep for himself the knowledge won, or to share it. Love triumphed, and he began to preach, at first at Benares. For forty-four years he preached in the region of Benares and Behar. Primitive Buddhism is only to be gathered by inference from the literature of a later time. Buddha did not array himself against the old religion. The doctrines were rather the outgrowth of those of certain Brahmanical schools. His especial concern was salvation from sorrow, and so from existence. There are "four noble truths": (1) existence is suffering; (2) the cause of pain is desire, (3) cessation of pain is possible through the suppression of desire; (4) the way to this is the knowledge and observance of the "good law " of Buddha. The end is Nirvana, the cessation of existence. Buddhism was preached in the vulgar tongue, and had a popular literature and an elaborately organized monastic and missionary system. It made its way into Afghanistan, Bactriana., Tibet, and China. It passed away in India not from Brahman persecution, but rather from internal causes, such as its too abstract nature, too morbid view of life, relaxed discipline, and overgrowth of monasticism, and also because Shivaism and Vishnuism employed many of its own weapons more effectively. The system has been variously modified in dogma and rites in the many countries to which it has spread. It is supposed to number about 850, 000, 000 of adherents, who are principally in Ceylon, Tibet, China, and Japan. [ Century Dict. 1906. ]

‖n. [ Sp. ] An Andalusian dance in three-four time, resembling the bolero. [ Sometimes in English spelled cachuca ] [ 1913 Webster ]

The orchestra plays the cachucha. Longfellow. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. a genus of insects comprising the cinnabar moths.
Syn. -- genus Callimorpha. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

{ or . [ See capitan. ] The chief admiral of the Turkish fleet. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. the South American caracara.
Syn. -- Polyborus plancus. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

‖n. [ Native name. ] (Zool.) The Brazilian kite (Polyborus Brasiliensis); -- so called in imitation of its notes. [ 1913 Webster ]

‖n. [ NL., fr. Gr. kefalh` head + &unr_; wheel. ] (Zool.) A kind of annelid larva with a circle of cilia around the head. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Chin. ch‘a. ] [ Also chaa, chais, tsia, etc. ] Tea; -- the Chinese (Mandarin) name, used generally in early works of travel, and now for a kind of rolled tea used in Central Asia.

A pot with hot water . . . made with the powder of a certain herb called chaa, which is much esteemed. Tr. J. Van Linschoten's Voyages (1598). [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

n. a modern ballroom dance from Latin America; it uses two slow steps followed by three quick small steps, with swaying movements of the hips, and has many variations of movements based on that rhythm.
Syn. -- cha-cha. [ WordNet 1.5 +PJC ]

n. same as cha-cha.
Syn. -- cha-cha. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

‖ n. pl. [ NL., from Gr. &unr_; hair + &unr_; jaw. ] (Zool) a phylum consisting of the arrowworms, a group of small active transparent free-swimming marine worms, of which the genus Sagitta is the type. They have groups of curved spines on each side of the head.
Syn. -- phylum Chaetognatha. [ 1913 Webster + WordNet 1.5 ]

‖n. [ Sp. ] See Chica. [ 1913 Webster ]

‖n. pl. [ NL., fr. Gr. &unr_; lip + gna`qos Jaw. ] (Zool.) One of the two principal orders of myriapods. They have numerous segments, each bearing two pairs of small, slender legs, which are attached ventrally, near together. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Cf. Chinchilla. ] (Zool.) A south American rodent of the genus Lagotis. [ 1913 Webster ]

‖n. [ Native name ] (Zool.) The salmon of the Columbia River or California. See Quinnat. [ 1913 Webster ]

‖n. [ LL. (in sense 1), fr. L. concha. See Conch. ] 1. (Arch.) The plain semidome of an apse; sometimes used for the entire apse. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Anat.) The external ear; esp. the largest and deepest concavity of the external ear, surrounding the entrance to the auditory canal. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Russian. ] a Russian country house, especially a cottage used in the summer. [ WordNet 1.5 +PJC ]

prop. n. (Geography) The capital city of Qatar. Population (2000) = 300, 000. [ PJC ]

{ ‖ } n. pl. [ NL., fr. Gr. &unr_; within + &unr_;, &unr_;, worm. ] (Zoöl.) Intestinal worms. See Helminthes. [ 1913 Webster ]

{ or }, n. [ Heb. 'ēphāh. ] A Hebrew dry measure, supposed to be equal to two pecks and five quarts. Ten ephahs make one homer. [ 1913 Webster ]

‖n. [ L. ] See Epoch. J. Adams. [ 1913 Webster ]

prop. n. (Hindu Myth.) The Hindu god of wisdom, prudence and prophesy; the remover of obstacles.
Syn. -- Ganapati. [ 1913 Webster WordNet 1.5 ]

☞ He is represented as a short, fat, red-colored man, with a large belly and the head of an elephant. Balfour. [ 1913 Webster ]

‖n. pl., [ NL., fr. Gr. &unr_; belly + &unr_;, &unr_;, hair. ] (Zool.) A group of small wormlike animals, having cilia on the ventral side. The group is regarded as an ancestral or synthetic one, related to rotifers and annelids. [ 1913 Webster ]

‖n. [ NL., fr. Gr. &unr_;, &unr_;, stomach + &unr_; a wheel. ] (Zool.) A form of annelid larva having cilia on the ventral side. [ 1913 Webster ]

n.; pl. geisha Geishas /plu>. [ Jap., art person. ] A Japanese singing and dancing girl, trained to provide entertainment and company for a man or group of men. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. +PJC ]

n. an order of myriopod arthropods containing elongated centipedes living in soil and under stones and having more than 30 pairs of legs.
Syn. -- order Geophilomorpha. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. Calvary. See the Note under Calvary. [ 1913 Webster ]

phr. [ phonetic transcription of colloquial speech. ] Got you; I got you; as, I gotcha!. [ PJC ]

Phonetic transcriptions of rapid colloquial speech are sometimes used in place of the grammatically proper spelling in order to provide a flavor of the original spirit of a spoken dialogue. See also the related entries for gonna, gotta, wanna, and wannabe. [ colloq., phonetic spelling ] [ PJC ]

n. [ phonetic transcription of colloquial speech, from got you. ] A situation in which a mistake by one person which is pointed out by another person; see gotcha, phr.. [ colloq., phonetic spelling ] [ PJC ]

2. A situation in which an error or indiscretion by one person is deliberately caused by another person -- a mild form of entrapment with malicious or humorous intent; as, he was furious to be the victim of a gotcha [ PJC ]

Kathleen "Kit" Gingrich (Sept. 23), 77, mother of former House Speaker Newt Gingrich . . . became famous as the victim of a "gotcha" interview by CBS's Connie Chung; the TV personality coaxed ("whisper it to me, just between you and me") out of Mrs. Gingrich a nasty comment attributed to her son concerning then-First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton -- and then aired it. World on the Web [ Obituary notice: October 4, 2003 ]. [ PJC ]

3. A situation or attribute which tends to cause one to make an error; as, one of the main gotchas in learning English is the frequency of non-phonetic spellings. [ PJC ]

n. [ Malay gutah gum + pertja the tree from which is it procured. ] A concrete juice produced by various trees found in the Malayan archipelago, especially by the Isonandra Gutta, syn. Dichopsis Gutta. It becomes soft, and unpressible at the tamperature of boiling water, and, on cooling, retains its new shape. It dissolves in oils and ethers, but not in water. In many of its properties it resembles caoutchouc, and it is extensively used for many economical purposes. The Mimusops globosa of Guiana also yields this material. [ 1913 Webster ]