%otho%

n. 1. Stocking hose, or spatterdashes, in lieu of boots. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Hose made to be worn with boots, as by travelers on horseback. Sir W. Scott. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Cephalo- + thorax. ] (Zool.) The anterior portion of any one of the Arachnida and higher Crustacea, consisting of the united head and thorax. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Endo- + thorax. ] (Zoöl.) An internal process of the sternal plates in the thorax of insects. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Ento- + thorax. ] (Zoöl.) See Endothorax. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A holding with the feet; firm standing; that on which one may tread or rest securely; footing. L'Estrange. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Naut.) See Futtock. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. Hastily; immediately; instantly; on the spot; hotfoot. Gower. [ 1913 Webster ]

Custance have they taken anon, foothot. Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Same as Hemothorax. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ NL. See Hemo-, and Thorax. ] (Med.) An effusion of blood into the cavity of the pleura. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. A house kept warm to shelter tender plants and shrubs from the cold air; a place in which the plants of warmer climates may be reared, and fruits ripened. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A bagnio, or bathing house. [ Obs. ] Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. A brothel; a bagnio. [ Obs. ] B. Jonson. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. (Pottery) A heated room for drying green ware. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Hydro-, 1 + thorax. ] (Med.) An accumulation of serous fluid in the cavity of the chest. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. (Zool.) Of or pertaining to the mesothorax. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Meso- + thorax: cf. F. mésothorax. ] (Zool.) The middle segment of the thorax in insects. See Illust. of Coleoptera. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ NL.; meso- + thorium. ] (Chem.) a radioactive isotope of radium (radium-228) with a half-life of 5.8 years. Also called mesothorium-1 or mesothorium I to distinguish it from a subsequent decay product, mesothorium II (actinium-228). It was discovered in 1907 by Otto Hahn as a decay product of thorium (produced by decay of thorium-232). Mesothorium-1 (radium-228) in turn produces actinium-228 (mesothorium-2) as the first product of its radioactive decay, and the actinium-228 in turn decays quickly (half-life of 6 hours) to thorium-228 (which is also called radiothorium; the thorium-228 has a half-life of 1.91 years, shorter than that of the radium-228). It was discovered and named before full recognition of the nature of isotopes of the elements, and was distinguished from other variants of radium by its half-life and mode of production and decay. It was also cheaper to prepare than other short-lived radium isotopes, and was thus sold commercially, for use, e.g. in making watch dials readable in the dark by painting the hands and hour marks with a self-luminous paint containing the radioactive substance; it is therefore often referred to (e.g. in regulatory legislation) as though distinct from radium. It was one of the isotopes believed responsible for radiation-induced diseases observed in industrial workers who painted radium on watch dials in the late 1950's and early 1960's. The primary isotope of radium (radium-226) has a half-life of 1620 years, and these isotopes with shorter half-lives proved difficult to isolate and study for the purpose of finding the cause of such diseases. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. +PJC ]

prop. n. A genus of beeches of temperate southern hemisphere except Africa; the southern beech.
Syn. -- genus Nothofagus. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. An extinct marine reptile with longer more slender limbs than plesiosaurs and less completely modified for swimming. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

, n. [ octo- eight + thorp Etymology of thorp uncertain. (ca. 1965). See quotes below. Possibly derived from octalthorpe or octotherp (once used by the Bell System?). ] A typographic symbol (#) having two vertical lines intersected by two horizontal lines. It is also called the crosshatch, hash, numeral sign and number sign; in the U. S. it is commonly called the pound sign, especially to designate the symbol as used on digital telephone dials, but this can be confusing to Europeans who think of the pound sign as the symbol for the British pound. It is commonly used as a symbol for the word number; as in #36 (meaning: number thirty-six). [ PJC ]

For the following explanation, I am indebted to Michael Quinion, whose World Wide Words web site (www.quinion.com/words) is a fascinating and invaluable resource for anyone interested in words and their origins.
Anyone who has ever used a touch-tone telephone has seen the octothorpe. It's that little tic-tac-toe symbol in the lower right corner of the keypad, right across from the asterisk (which the telco folks, in their infinite wisdom, insist on calling a "star"). According to a Bell Laboratories engineer named Ralph Carlsen, the octothorpe and asterisk keys were developed in the early 1960s and originally intended to be used only to access computer systems via a telephone line. The octothorpe symbol itself had already existed for many years, although it was usually called a "pound sign" or "number sign" because it was often used in commerce to designate weight or quantity.
According to Ralph Carlsen, a fellow Bell Labs engineer named Don MacPherson invented the term "octothorpe" when faced with the task of explaining the new touch-tone phones to corporate users. MacPherson chose "octo" (Latin for "eight") because there were eight points on the symbol.
"Thorpe" is indeed an Old Norse word meaning "village," often found in the names of English towns, but that was evidently not the source in this case. According to Carlsen, "thorpe" was chosen because at the time MacPherson was involved in a campaign pressing for the return of legendary athlete Jim Thorpe's Olympic medals from Sweden..
Word Detective (http://www.word-detective.com/072999.html#octothorpe [ accessed 20090708 ] [ PJC ]

octothorp

n. A South African plant of the genus Othonna having smooth often fleshy leaves and heads of yellow flowers. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

‖n. [ NL., fr. Gr. pleyro`qen from the side + to`nos a stretching. ] (Med.) A species of tetanus, in which the body is curved laterally. Quain. Dunglison. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Pneumato- + thorax. ] (Med.) See Pneumothorax. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Gr. &unr_; air + E. thorax. ] (Med.) A condition in which air or other gas is present in the cavity of the chest; -- called also pneumatothorax. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A circular hole formed in the rocky beds of rivers by the grinding action of stones or gravel whirled round by the water in what was at first a natural depression of the rock. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. An S-shaped hook on which pots and kettles are hung over an open fire. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A written character curved like a pothook; (pl.) a scrawled writing. “I long to be spelling her Arabic scrawls and pothooks.” Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. An alehouse. T. Warton. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Office of a prothonotary. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. (Zool.) Of or pertaining to the prothorax. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Pref. pro- + thorax. ] (Zool.) The first or anterior segment of the thorax in insects. See Illusts. of Butterfly and Coleoptera. [ 1913 Webster ]

{ or , n.; pl. -ries [ LL. protonotarius, fr. Gr. prw^tos first + L. notarius a shorthand writer, a scribe: cf. F. protonotaire. ] 1. A chief notary or clerk. “ My private prothonotary.” Herrick. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Formerly, a chief clerk in the Court of King's Bench and in the Court of Common Pleas, now superseded by the master. [ Eng. ] Wharton. Burrill. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. A register or chief clerk of a court in certain States of the United States. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. (R. C. Ch.) Formerly, one who had the charge of writing the acts of the martyrs, and the circumstances of their death; now, one of twelve persons, constituting a college in the Roman Curia, whose office is to register pontifical acts and to make and preserve the official record of beatifications. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. (Gr. Ch.) The chief secretary of the patriarch of Constantinople. [ 1913 Webster ]

Prothonotary warbler (Zool.), a small American warbler (Protonotaria citrea). The general color is golden yellow, the back is olivaceous, the rump and tail are ash-color, several outer tail feathers are partly white. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Gr. &unr_; pus + E. pneumothorax. ] (Med.) Accumulation of air, or other gas, and of pus, in the pleural cavity. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Pyro- + Gr. &unr_; linen. ] (Med.) A kind of empyreumatic oil produced by the combustion of textures of hemp, linen, or cotton in a copper vessel, -- formerly used as a remedial agent. Dunglison. [ 1913 Webster ]