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a. [ Awk + -ward. ] 1. Wanting dexterity in the use of the hands, or of instruments; not dexterous; without skill; clumsy; wanting ease, grace, or effectiveness in movement; ungraceful; as, he was awkward at a trick; an awkward boy. [ 1913 Webster ]

And dropped an awkward courtesy. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Not easily managed or effected; embarrassing. [ 1913 Webster ]

A long and awkward process. Macaulay. [ 1913 Webster ]

An awkward affair is one that has gone wrong, and is difficult to adjust. C. J. Smith. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Perverse; adverse; untoward. [ Obs. ] “Awkward casualties.” “Awkward wind.” Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

O blind guides, which being of an awkward religion, do strain out a gnat, and swallow up a cancel. Udall. [ 1913 Webster ]

Syn. -- Ungainly; unhandy; clownish; lubberly; gawky; maladroit; bungling; inelegant; ungraceful; unbecoming. -- Awkward, Clumsy, Uncouth. Awkward has a special reference to outward deportment. A man is clumsy in his whole person, he is awkward in his gait and the movement of his limbs. Clumsiness is seen at the first view. Awkwardness is discovered only when a person begins to move. Hence the expressions, a clumsy appearance, and an awkward manner. When we speak figuratively of an awkward excuse, we think of a lack of ease and grace in making it; when we speak of a clumsy excuse, we think of the whole thing as coarse and stupid. We apply the term uncouth most frequently to that which results from the lack of instruction or training; as, uncouth manners; uncouth language. [ 1913 Webster ]

-- Awk"ward*ly adv. -- Awk"ward*ness, n. [ 1913 Webster ]

. (Mil.) A squad of inapt recruits assembled for special drill. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

a. 1. Directed to the back or rear; as, backward glances. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Unwilling; averse; reluctant; hesitating; loath. [ 1913 Webster ]

For wiser brutes were backward to be slaves. Pope. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Not well advanced in learning; not quick of apprehension; dull; inapt; as, a backward child. “The backward learner.” South. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. Late or behindhand; as, a backward season. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. Not advanced in civilization; undeveloped; as, the country or region is in a backward state. [ 1913 Webster ]

6. Already past or gone; bygone. [ R. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

And flies unconscious o'er each backward year. Byron. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The state behind or past. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

In the dark backward and abysm of time. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. To keep back; to hinder. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Backward, v. t. + -ation. ] (Stock Exchange) The seller's postponement of delivery of stock or shares, with the consent of the buyer, upon payment of a premium to the latter; -- also, the premium so paid. See Contango. Biddle. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. 1. Reluctantly; slowly; aversely. [ Obs. ] Sir P. Sidney. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Perversely; ill. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

And does he think so backwardly of me? Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

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

{ } adv. [ Back, adv. + -ward. ] 1. With the back in advance or foremost; as, to ride backward. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Toward the back; toward the rear; as, to throw the arms backward. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. On the back, or with the back downward. [ 1913 Webster ]

Thou wilt fall backward. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. Toward, or in, past time or events; ago. [ 1913 Webster ]

Some reigns backward. Locke. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. By way of reflection; reflexively. Sir J. Davies. [ 1913 Webster ]

6. From a better to a worse state, as from honor to shame, from religion to sin. [ 1913 Webster ]

The work went backward. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

7. In a contrary or reverse manner, way, or direction; contrarily; as, to read backwards. [ 1913 Webster ]

We might have . . . beat them backward home. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. 1. To clean the oil from (wool) after combing. Ash. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Chem.) To clean (a filter, a chromatography column, a water softener, etc.) by passing liquid through in the reverse of the normal direction of flow. This procedure dislodges particles which clog the pores of the filter or column packing, removing them from the filter or column. [ PJC ]

n. 1. The flow of water propelled backward by the propeller, paddle wheel, or oars of a boat. [ PJC ]

2. (Aeron.) The backward flowing air within the wash of an airplane, caused mostly by the engine. [ PJC ]

n. [ Back, a. or adv. + -water. ] 1. Water turned back in its course by an obstruction, an opposing current, or the flow of the tide, as in a sewer or river channel, or across a river bar. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. An accumulation of water overflowing the low lands, caused by an obstruction. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Water thrown back by the turning of a waterwheel, or by the paddle wheels of a steamer. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. pl. [ Back, a. + woods. ] The forests or partly cleared grounds on the frontiers. [ 1913 Webster ]

n.; pl. Backwoodsmen A man living in the forest in or beyond the new settlements, especially on the western frontiers of the United States in former times. Fisher Ames. [ 1913 Webster +PJC ]

n. [ 2d back, n. + worm. ] A disease of hawks. See Filanders. Wright. [ 1913 Webster ]

{ it>or }, n. 1. (Med.) A lotion made by mixing calomel and lime water. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A wash that blackens, as opposed to whitewash; hence, figuratively, calumny. [ 1913 Webster ]

To remove as far as he can the modern layers of black wash, and let the man himself, fair or foul, be seen. C. Kingsley. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. 1. same as defame. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

2. to color with blackwash. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. any of several human or animal diseases characterized by dark urine resulting from rapid breakdown of red blood cells; -- used especially of
blackwater fever, a severe form of malaria caused by the blood parasite Plasmodium falciparum. [ WordNet 1.5 +PJC ]

. Nebraska; -- a nickname alluding to the dark color of the water of its rivers, due to the presence of a black vegetable mold in the soil. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

n. A name given to several dark-colored timbers. The East Indian black wood is from the tree Dalbergia latifolia. Balfour. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Work wrought by blacksmiths; -- so called in distinction from that wrought by whitesmiths. Knight. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. Work done upon a book or books (as in a printing office), in distinction from newspaper or job work. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Study; application to books. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. (Zool.) Any larva of a beetle or moth, which is injurious to books. Many species are known. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A student closely attached to books or addicted to study; a reader without appreciation. [ 1913 Webster ]

I wanted but a black gown and a salary to be as mere a bookworm as any there. Pope. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Any structure or contrivance, as a mole, or a wall at the mouth of a harbor, to break the force of waves, and afford protection from their violence. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. Anything made of bricks. [ 1913 Webster ]

Niches in brickwork form the most difficult part of the bricklayer's art. Tomlinson. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. The act of building with or laying bricks. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Bot.) A small white-flowered herb (Samolus Valerandi) found usually in wet places; water pimpernel. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Buck a beech tree + wheat; akin to D. boekweit, G. buchweizen. ] 1. (Bot.) A plant (Fagopyrum esculentum) of the Polygonum family, the seed of which is used for food. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. The triangular seed used, when ground, for griddle cakes, etc. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Anything made so as to form alternate squares like those of a checkerboard. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Bot.) The name of several caryophyllaceous weeds, especially Stellaria media, the seeds and flower buds of which are a favorite food of small birds. [ 1913 Webster ]

adj. 1. -- of rotatory motion. dextral [ WordNet 1.5 ]

a. & adv. in the same direction as the hands of a clock rotate, as viewed from in front of the clock face; -- said of that direction of a rotation about an axis, or about a point in a plane, which is ordinarily reckoned negative. Also said of the direction of a spiral, in which case the term right-handed is more common. Opposite of counterclockwise, and left-handed.
Syn. -- right-handed, dextrorotary, dextrorotatory. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

n. The machinery of a clock, or machinery resembling that of a clock; machinery which produces regularity of movement. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Bot.) Peppergrass. Johnson. [ 1913 Webster ]

adj. in the direction opposite to the rotation of the hands of a clock; counterclockwise. Opposite of clockwise. [ Also See: sinistral. ]
Syn. -- counterclockwise, anticlockwise. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. cooking utensils, such as pots, pans, or baking dishes made of heat-resistant material.
Syn. -- cooking utensil. [ WordNet 1.5 +PJC ]

n. (Zool.) A fish; the goldsinny. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. The wood of the cork oak. [ Obs. ] [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

2. Any one of several trees or shrubs having light or corky wood; esp.: (a) In the United States, the tree Leitneria floridana, a very small deciduous dioecious tree or shrub of damp habitats in the southeastern US having extremely light wood; -- called also the corkwood tree. (b) In the West Indies: (1) Either of the cotton trees Ochroma lagopus and Pariti tiliaceum. (2) The tree producing the aligator apple. (3) The blolly. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. + WordNet 1.5 ]

adj. & adv. in the opposite direction to that in which the hands of a clock rotate, as viewed from in front of the clock face; -- of rotatory motion or spiral direction. Opposite of clockwise, or right-handed [ Narrower terms: sinistral levororotary, levorotatory ]
Syn. -- left-handed. [ PJC ]

n. Work done at a desk, as by a clerk or writer. Tennyson. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Bot.) A genus (Lemna) of small plants, seen floating in great quantity on the surface of stagnant pools fresh water, and supposed to furnish food for ducks; -- called also duckmeat. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The soft, spongy wood of a species of Magnolia (M. Umbrella). [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Also Gaikwar, Guicowar. ] [ Marathi gāekwār, prop., a cowherd. ] The title of the ruling Prince of Baroda, in Gujarat, in Bombay, India. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

n. [ Chin. 'hai-kuan. ] Chinese maritime customs. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

. A Chinese weight (1/10 catty) equivalent to 11/3 oz. or 37.801 g. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

n. (Bot.) (a) A plant of the genus Hieracium; -- so called from the ancient belief that birds of prey used its juice to strengthen their vision. (b) A plant of the genus Senecio (Senecio hieracifolius). Loudon. [ 1913 Webster ]

{ } n. [ OE., also hyghwhele, highawe. ] The lesser spotted woodpecker (Dendrocopus minor) of Europe. [ Prov. Eng. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Wood of the jack (Artocarpus integrifolia), used in cabinetwork. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. See Jackwood. [ 1913 Webster ]