%toth%

n. One given to self-worship. [ R. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

‖n. [ NL., fr. Gr. &unr_; thunder + &unr_; beast. ] (Paleon.) A genus of large extinct mammals from the miocene strata of western North America. They were allied to the rhinoceros, but the skull bears a pair of powerful horn cores in front of the orbits, and the fore feet were four-toed. See Illustration in Appendix. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. the closed spore-bearing structure of some fungi (especially Aspergillaceae and Eurysiphaceae) from which spores are released only by decay or disintegration; -- called also cleistocarp.
Syn. -- cleistocarp. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

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

‖n. [ NL., fr. Gr. &unr_; carved + &unr_; case, box. ] A building or room devoted to works of sculpture. [ 1913 Webster ]

‖n. pl. (Zool.) Same as Hematotherma. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Warm-blooded; homoiothermal. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Same as Hemothorax. [ 1913 Webster ]

‖n. pl. [ NL., from Gr. a"i^ma, a"i`matos, blood + thermo`s warm. ] (Zool.) The warm-blooded vertebrates, comprising the mammals and birds; -- the antithesis to hematocrya. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Warm-blooded. [ 1913 Webster ]

‖n. [ NL., fr. Gr. lepto`s small + qri`x hair. ] (Biol.) A genus of bacteria, characterized by having their filaments very long, slender, and indistinctly articulated. [ 1913 Webster ]

‖ a. [ See Leptothrix, n. ] (Biol.) Having the form of a little chain; -- applied to bacteria when, as in multiplication by fission, they form a chain of filiform individuals. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Med.) The treatment of disease by the application of magnets to the surface of the body. [ 1913 Webster ]

‖n. [ NL., fr. Gr. no`tos the south + qhri`on a wild animal. ] (Zool.) An extinct genus of gigantic herbivorous marsupials, found in the Pliocene formation of Australia. [ 1913 Webster ]

, 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. An arrangement of two photographic cameras, the plates of which may be brought into exactly the same plane, used in surveying and map making. From the differences between two pictures taken at the same moment, measurements in all dimensions of the region may be obtained. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

n. (Med.) The application of light for therapeutic purposes, esp. for treating diseases of the skin. -- Pho`to*the*rap"ic Pho`to*ther`a*peu"tic a. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

a. Of or pertaining to both light and heat. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

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

‖n. pl. [ NL., from Gr. prw^tos first + qhri`on, dim. of qh`r beast. ] (Zool.) Same as Monotremata. [ 1913 Webster ]