%pst%

n. [ F. cabestan, fr. Sp. cabestrante, cabrestante, fr. cabestrar to bind with a halter, fr. cabestrohalter, fr. L. capistrum halter, fr. capere to hold (see Capacious); or perh. the Spanish is fr. L. caper goat + stans, p. pr. of stare to stand; cf. F. chèvre she-goat, also a machine for raising heavy weights. ] A vertical cleated drum or cylinder, revolving on an upright spindle, and surmounted by a drumhead with sockets for bars or levers. It is much used, especially on shipboard, for moving or raising heavy weights or exerting great power by traction upon a rope or cable, passing around the drum. It is operated either by steam power or by a number of men walking around the capstan, each pushing on the end of a lever fixed in its socket. [ Sometimes spelt Capstern, but improperly. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Capstan bar, one of the long bars or levers by which the capstan is worked; a handspike.. --
To pawl the capstan, to drop the pawls so that they will catch in the notches of the pawl ring, and prevent the capstan from turning back. --
To rig the capstan, to prepare the for use, by putting the bars in the sockets. --
To surge the capstan, to slack the tension of the rope or cable wound around it. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Paleon.) A fossil echinus of the genus Cannulus; -- so called from its supposed resemblance to a cap. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Zool.) The European starling. [ Local, Eng. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. chopstick /sing> 1. a pair of slender sticks made of wood, ivory, plastic, etc., used chiefly by the Chinese and Japanese to lift food into the mouth while dining; -- also commonly used around the world by persons of Oriental heritage or in restaurants serving oriental food. [ 1913 Webster + WordNet 1.5 ]

n. [ Coup + stick. ] A stick or switch used among some American Indians in making or counting a coup. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

{ } n. [ See Deemster. ] 1. A deemster. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (O. Scots Law) An officer whose duty it was to announce the doom or sentence pronounced by the court. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. a graduated rod dipped into a container to indicate the fluid level; as, to check the oil level in a car with a dipstick. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. (Arch.) A drip, when made of stone. See Drip, 2. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ from Hip a. + -ster. ] A person who is hip{ 2 }, a..
Syn. -- hepcat{ 2 }. [ PJC ]

n. A basketball player. [ slang ] [ PJC ]

v. t. 1. To start (the engine of a motor vehicle) using a temporary connection to supply electrical power from another vehicle or another source of current; -- an emergency procedure used when a vehicle's own battery has insufficient power to start the vehicle normally. Cables used to transmit electrical current from one vehicle to another for the purpose of jump-starting are called jumper cables. [ PJC ]

2. To provide a speedy start to (an activity) using the assistance of some external impetus; to re-energize (an activity proceeding sluggishly); -- accomplished by application of a stimulus not normally used in the activity. [ Figurative ] [ PJC ]

n. A stone for the lap, on which shoemakers beat leather. [ 1913 Webster ]

{ } a. Made with boards whose edges lap one over another; clinker-built; -- said of boats. Contrasted with carvel-built.
Syn. -- lap-jointed, overlapping. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The long handle of a mop. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A person who frequently makes quips. [ PJC ]

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

n. A seamstress. [ 1913 Webster ]

Two hundred sepstress were employed to make me shirts. Swift. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Seamstressy. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A seamstress. [ Obs. ] Caxton. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The saury. [ Prov. Eng. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. One who has shaken off restraint; a prodigal. [ Obs. ] Cotgrave. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. See Steatite, and Talc. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A stone laid before a door as a stair to rise on in entering the house. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. A winning of all the stakes or prizes. Heylin. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A complete removal or carrying away; a clean sweep. [ Obs. ] Bp. Hacket. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. A winning of all the stakes or prizes; a sweepstake. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. sing. or pl. The whole money or other things staked at a horse race, a given sum being put up for each horse, all of which goes to the winner, or is divided among several, as may be previously agreed. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. A race for all the sums staked or prizes offered. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. See Sweepstake. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. Altogether; indiscriminately. [ R. ] Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ AS. tæppestre a female tapster. See Tap a plug, pipe, and -ster. ] One whose business is to tap or draw ale or other liquor. [ 1913 Webster ]

n.; pl. Tipstaff 1. A staff tipped with metal. Bacon. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. An officer who bears a staff tipped with metal; a constable. Macaulay. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Tip a hint + -ster. ] One who makes a practice of giving or selling tips, or private hints or information, esp. for use in gambling upon the probable outcome of events, as horse races. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

n. The detachable or movable fore part of a gunstock, lying beneath the barrel or barrels, and forming a hold for the left hand. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

n. A stone that is placed on the top, or which forms the top. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A stick used in playing the game of trapball; hence, fig., a slender leg. Addison. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Assistant to a tapster. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. Up the stairs; in or toward an upper story. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Being above stairs; as, an upstairs room. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. To stand up; to be erected; to rise. Spenser. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

At once upstood the monarch, and upstood
The wise Ulysses. Cowper. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. To stare or stand upward; hence, to be uplifted or conspicuous. “Rearing fiercely their upstaring crests.” Spenser. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Suddenly raised to prominence or consequence. “A race of upstart creatures.” Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. To start or spring up suddenly. Spenser. Tennyson. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. One who has risen suddenly, as from low life to wealth, power, or honor; a parvenu. Bacon. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Bot.) The meadow saffron. Dr. Prior. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. To sustain; to support. [ Obs. ] “His massy spear upstayed.” Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

obs. imp. & p. p. of Upstart. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Insurrection; commotion; disturbance. [ Obs. ] Sir J. Cheke. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. Toward the higher part of a stream; against the current. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. Toward the higher part of a street; as, to walk upstreet. G. W. Gable. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. An upward stroke, especially the stroke, or line, made by a writing instrument when moving upward, or from the body of the writer, or a line corresponding to the part of a letter thus made. [ 1913 Webster ]

Some upstroke of an Alpha and Omega. Mrs. Browning. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Naut.) A bar attached to the tiller, for convenience in steering. [ 1913 Webster ]