cul

‖n. [ F., fr. cul back. ] The lower faceted portion of a brilliant-cut diamond. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. a genus that includes some plants usually placed in e.g. genus Dicksonia; terrestrial brackenlike ferns of tropical America, Malasia to Australia and Polynesia; also native in southwestern Europe and Atlantic islands.
Syn. -- genus Culcita. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. [ Prob. fr. Gael.cuilteach; cf. Ir. ceilede. ] One of a class of anchorites who lived in various parts of Scotland, Ireland, and Wales. [ 1913 Webster ]

The pure Culdees
Were Albyn's earliest priests of God. Campbell. [ 1913 Webster ]

‖n.; pl. Culs-de-sac [ F., lit., bottom of a bag. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

1. A passage with only one outlet, as a street closed at one end; a blind alley; hence, a trap. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Mil.) a position in which an army finds itself with no way of exit but to the front. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Anat.) Any bag-shaped or tubular cavity, vessel, or organ, open only at one end. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Bot.) See Culrage. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ L., a gnat. ] (Zool.) A genus of mosquitoes of the family Culicidae, to which most of the North American species belong. Some members of this genus are exceedingly annoying, as Culex sollicitans, which breeds in enormous numbers in the salt marshes of the Atlantic coast, and Culex pipiens, the common house mosquito, breeding very widely in the fresh waters of North America. (For characters distinguishing these from the malaria mosquitoes, see Anopheles, above). The yellow-fever mosquito is now placed in another genus, Stegomyia. This genus formerly (ca. 1900) included the gnat as well as the mosquito. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. +PJC ]

a. [ L. culex, -icis, gnat. ] (Zool.) Like or pertaining to the Mosquito family (Culicidæ). -- n. A culicid insect. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

n. a family of insects comprising the mosquitoes.
Syn. -- family Culicidae. [ WordNet 1.5 ]