from
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Hare \Hare\, n. [AS. hara; akin to D. haas, G. hase, OHG. haso,
Dan. & Sw. hare, Icel. h[=e]ri, Skr. [,c]a[,c]a. [root]226.]
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1. (Zool.) A rodent of the genus {Lepus}, having long hind
legs, a short tail, and a divided upper lip. It is a timid
animal, moves swiftly by leaps, and is remarkable for its
fecundity.
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Note: The species of hares are numerous. The common European
hare is {Lepus timidus}. The northern or varying hare
of America ({Lepus Americanus}), and the prairie hare
({Lepus campestris}), turn white in winter. In America,
the various species of hares are commonly called
{rabbits}.
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2. (Astron.) A small constellation situated south of and
under the foot of Orion; Lepus.
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{Hare and hounds}, a game played by men and boys, two, called
hares, having a few minutes' start, and scattering bits of
paper to indicate their course, being chased by the
others, called the hounds, through a wide circuit.
{Hare kangaroo} (Zool.), a small Australian kangaroo
({Lagorchestes Leporoides}), resembling the hare in size
and color,
{Hare's lettuce} (Bot.), a plant of the genus {Sonchus}, or
sow thistle; -- so called because hares are said to eat it
when fainting with heat. --Dr. Prior.
{Jumping hare}. (Zool.) See under {Jumping}.
{Little chief hare}, or {Crying hare}. (Zool.) See {Chief
hare}.
{Sea hare}. (Zool.) See {Aplysia}.
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from
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Jack \Jack\ (j[a^]k), n. [F. Jacques James, L. Jacobus, Gr. ?,
Heb. Ya 'aq[=o]b Jacob; prop., seizing by the heel; hence, a
supplanter. Cf. {Jacobite}, {Jockey}.]
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1. A familiar nickname of, or substitute for, John.
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You are John Rugby, and you are Jack Rugby. --Shak.
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2. An impertinent or silly fellow; a simpleton; a boor; a
clown; also, a servant; a rustic. "Jack fool." --Chaucer.
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Since every Jack became a gentleman,
There 's many a gentle person made a Jack. --Shak.
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3. A popular colloquial name for a sailor; -- called also
{Jack tar}, and {Jack afloat}.
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4. A mechanical contrivance, an auxiliary machine, or a
subordinate part of a machine, rendering convenient
service, and often supplying the place of a boy or
attendant who was commonly called Jack; as:
(a) A device to pull off boots.
(b) A sawhorse or sawbuck.
(c) A machine or contrivance for turning a spit; a smoke
jack, or kitchen jack.
(b) (Mining) A wooden wedge for separating rocks rent by
blasting.
(e) (Knitting Machine) A lever for depressing the sinkers
which push the loops down on the needles.
(f) (Warping Machine) A grating to separate and guide the
threads; a heck box.
(g) (Spinning) A machine for twisting the sliver as it
leaves the carding machine.
(h) A compact, portable machine for planing metal.
(i) A machine for slicking or pebbling leather.
(k) A system of gearing driven by a horse power, for
multiplying speed.
(l) A hood or other device placed over a chimney or vent
pipe, to prevent a back draught.
(m) In the harpsichord, an intermediate piece
communicating the action of the key to the quill; --
called also {hopper}.
(n) In hunting, the pan or frame holding the fuel of the
torch used to attract game at night; also, the light
itself. --C. Hallock.
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5. A portable machine variously constructed, for exerting
great pressure, or lifting or moving a heavy body such as
an automobile through a small distance. It consists of a
lever, screw, rack and pinion, hydraulic press, or any
simple combination of mechanical powers, working in a
compact pedestal or support and operated by a lever,
crank, capstan bar, etc. The name is often given to a
jackscrew, which is a kind of jack.
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6. The small bowl used as a mark in the game of bowls.
--Shak.
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Like an uninstructed bowler who thinks to attain the
jack by delivering his bowl straight forward upon
it. --Sir W.
Scott.
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7. The male of certain animals, as of the ass.
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8. (Zool.)
(a) A young pike; a pickerel.
(b) The jurel.
(c) A large, California rock fish ({Sebastodes
paucispinus}); -- called also {boccaccio}, and
{m['e]rou}.
(d) The wall-eyed pike.
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9. A drinking measure holding half a pint; also, one holding
a quarter of a pint. [Prov. Eng.] --Halliwell.
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10. (Naut.)
(a) A flag, containing only the union, without the fly,
usually hoisted on a jack staff at the bowsprit cap;
-- called also {union jack}. The American jack is a
small blue flag, with a star for each State.
(b) A bar of iron athwart ships at a topgallant masthead,
to support a royal mast, and give spread to the royal
shrouds; -- called also {jack crosstree}. --R. H.
Dana, Jr.
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11. The knave of a suit of playing cards.
12. (pl.) A game played with small (metallic, with
tetrahedrally oriented spikes) objects (the jacks(1950+),
formerly jackstones) that are tossed, caught, picked up,
and arranged on a horizontal surface in various patterns;
in the modern American game, the movements are
accompanied by tossing or bouncing a rubber ball on the
horizontal surface supporting the jacks. same as
{jackstones}.
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13. Money. [slang]
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14. Apple jack.
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15. Brandy.
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Note: Jack is used adjectively in various senses. It
sometimes designates something cut short or diminished
in size; as, a jack timber; a jack rafter; a jack arch,
etc.
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{Jack arch}, an arch of the thickness of one brick.
{Jack back} (Brewing & Malt Vinegar Manuf.), a cistern which
receives the wort. See under 1st {Back}.
{Jack block} (Naut.), a block fixed in the topgallant or
royal rigging, used for raising and lowering light masts
and spars.
{Jack boots}, boots reaching above the knee; -- worn in the
17 century by soldiers; afterwards by fishermen, etc.
{Jack crosstree}. (Naut.) See 10, b, above.
{Jack curlew} (Zool.), the whimbrel.
{Jack frame}. (Cotton Spinning) See 4
(g), above.
{Jack Frost}, frost or cold weather personified as a
mischievous person.
{Jack hare}, a male hare. --Cowper.
{Jack lamp}, a lamp for still hunting and camp use. See def.
4
(n.), above.
{Jack plane}, a joiner's plane used for coarse work.
{Jack post}, one of the posts which support the crank shaft
of a deep-well-boring apparatus.
{Jack pot} (Poker Playing), the name given to the stakes,
contributions to which are made by each player
successively, till such a hand is turned as shall take the
"pot," which is the sum total of all the bets. See also
{jackpot}.
{Jack rabbit} (Zool.), any one of several species of large
American hares, having very large ears and long legs. The
California species ({Lepus Californicus}), and that of
Texas and New Mexico ({Lepus callotis}), have the tail
black above, and the ears black at the tip. They do not
become white in winter. The more northern prairie hare
({Lepus campestris}) has the upper side of the tail white,
and in winter its fur becomes nearly white.
{Jack rafter} (Arch.), in England, one of the shorter rafters
used in constructing a hip or valley roof; in the United
States, any secondary roof timber, as the common rafters
resting on purlins in a trussed roof; also, one of the
pieces simulating extended rafters, used under the eaves
in some styles of building.
{Jack salmon} (Zool.), the wall-eyed pike, or glasseye.
{Jack sauce}, an impudent fellow. [Colloq. & Obs.]
{Jack shaft} (Mach.), the first intermediate shaft, in a
factory or mill, which receives power, through belts or
gearing, from a prime mover, and transmits it, by the same
means, to other intermediate shafts or to a line shaft.
{Jack sinker} (Knitting Mach.), a thin iron plate operated by
the jack to depress the loop of thread between two
needles.
{Jack snipe}. (Zool.) See in the Vocabulary.
{Jack staff} (Naut.), a staff fixed on the bowsprit cap, upon
which the jack is hoisted.
{Jack timber} (Arch.), any timber, as a rafter, rib, or
studding, which, being intercepted, is shorter than the
others.
{Jack towel}, a towel hung on a roller for common use.
{Jack truss} (Arch.), in a hip roof, a minor truss used where
the roof has not its full section.
{Jack tree}. (Bot.) See 1st {Jack}, n.
{Jack yard} (Naut.), a short spar to extend a topsail beyond
the gaff.
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{Blue jack}, blue vitriol; sulphate of copper.
{Hydraulic jack}, a jack used for lifting, pulling, or
forcing, consisting of a compact portable hydrostatic
press, with its pump and a reservoir containing a supply
of liquid, as oil.
{Jack-at-a-pinch}.
(a) One called upon to take the place of another in an
emergency.
(b) An itinerant parson who conducts an occasional
service for a fee.
{Jack-at-all-trades}, one who can turn his hand to any kind
of work.
{Jack-by-the-hedge} (Bot.), a plant of the genus {Erysimum}
({Erysimum alliaria}, or {Alliaria officinalis}), which
grows under hedges. It bears a white flower and has a
taste not unlike garlic. Called also, in England,
{sauce-alone}. --Eng. Cyc.
{Jack-in-office}, an insolent fellow in authority. --Wolcott.
{Jack-in-the-bush} (Bot.), a tropical shrub with red fruit
({Cordia Cylindrostachya}).
{Jack-in-the-green}, a chimney sweep inclosed in a framework
of boughs, carried in Mayday processions.
{Jack-of-the-buttery} (Bot.), the stonecrop ({Sedum acre}).
{Jack-of-the-clock}, a figure, usually of a man, on old
clocks, which struck the time on the bell.
{Jack-on-both-sides}, one who is or tries to be neutral.
{Jack-out-of-office}, one who has been in office and is
turned out. --Shak.
{Jack the Giant Killer}, the hero of a well-known nursery
story.
{Yellow Jack} (Naut.), the yellow fever; also, the quarantine
flag. See {Yellow flag}, under {Flag}.
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from
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Prairie \Prai"rie\, n. [F., an extensive meadow, OF. praerie,
LL. prataria, fr. L. pratum a meadow.]
1. An extensive tract of level or rolling land, destitute of
trees, covered with coarse grass, and usually
characterized by a deep, fertile soil. They abound
throughout the Mississippi valley, between the Alleghanies
and the Rocky mountains.
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From the forests and the prairies,
From the great lakes of the northland. --Longfellow.
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2. A meadow or tract of grass; especially, a so called
natural meadow.
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{Prairie chicken} (Zool.), any American grouse of the genus
{Tympanuchus}, especially {Tympanuchus Americanus}
(formerly {Tympanuchus cupido}), which inhabits the
prairies of the central United States. Applied also to the
sharp-tailed grouse.
{Prairie clover} (Bot.), any plant of the leguminous genus
{Petalostemon}, having small rosy or white flowers in
dense terminal heads or spikes. Several species occur in
the prairies of the United States.
{Prairie dock} (Bot.), a coarse composite plant ({Silphium
terebinthaceum}) with large rough leaves and yellow
flowers, found in the Western prairies.
{Prairie dog} (Zool.), a small American rodent ({Cynomys
Ludovicianus}) allied to the marmots. It inhabits the
plains west of the Mississippi. The prairie dogs burrow in
the ground in large warrens, and have a sharp bark like
that of a dog. Called also {prairie marmot}.
{Prairie grouse}. Same as {Prairie chicken}, above.
{Prairie hare} (Zool.), a large long-eared Western hare
({Lepus campestris}). See {Jack rabbit}, under 2d {Jack}.
{Prairie hawk}, {Prairie falcon} (Zool.), a falcon of Western
North America ({Falco Mexicanus}). The upper parts are
brown. The tail has transverse bands of white; the under
parts, longitudinal streaks and spots of brown.
{Prairie hen}. (Zool.) Same as {Prairie chicken}, above.
{Prairie itch} (Med.), an affection of the skin attended with
intense itching, which is observed in the Northern and
Western United States; -- also called {swamp itch},
{winter itch}.
{Prairie marmot}. (Zool.) Same as {Prairie dog}, above.
{Prairie mole} (Zool.), a large American mole ({Scalops
argentatus}), native of the Western prairies.
{Prairie pigeon}, {Prairie plover}, or {Prairie snipe}
(Zool.), the upland plover. See {Plover}, n., 2.
{Prairie rattlesnake} (Zool.), the massasauga.
{Prairie snake} (Zool.), a large harmless American snake
({Masticophis flavigularis}). It is pale yellow, tinged
with brown above.
{Prairie squirrel} (Zool.), any American ground squirrel of
the genus {Spermophilus}, inhabiting prairies; -- called
also {gopher}.
{Prairie turnip} (Bot.), the edible turnip-shaped farinaceous
root of a leguminous plant ({Psoralea esculenta}) of the
Upper Missouri region; also, the plant itself. Called also
{pomme blanche}, and {pomme de prairie}.
{Prairie warbler} (Zool.), a bright-colored American warbler
({Dendroica discolor}). The back is olive yellow, with a
group of reddish spots in the middle; the under parts and
the parts around the eyes are bright yellow; the sides of
the throat and spots along the sides, black; three outer
tail feathers partly white.
{Prairie wolf}. (Zool.) See {Coyote}.
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