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Sexradiate

Having six rays; -- said of certain sponge spicules. See Illust. of Spicule.

Sext

The office for the sixth canonical hour, being a part of the Breviary. The sixth book of the decretals, added by Pope Boniface VIII.

Sextain

A stanza of six lines; a sestine.

Sextans

A Roman coin, the sixth part of an as.

Sextic

Of the sixth degree or order. A quantic of the sixth degree.

Sextile

The aspect or position of two planets when distant from each other sixty degrees, or two signs. This position is marked thus: 8star/.

Sextillion

According to the method of numeration (which is followed also in the United States), the number expressed by a unit with twenty-one ciphers annexed. According to the English method, a million raised to the sixth power, or the number expressed by a unit with thirty-six ciphers annexed. See Numeration.

Sexto

A book consisting of sheets each of which is folded into six leaves.

Sextodecimo

A book composed of sheets each of which is folded into sixteen leaves; hence, indicating, more or less definitely, a size of a book; -- usually written 16mo, or 16/.

Sextolet

A double triplet; a group of six equal notes played in the time of four.

Sexton

An under officer of a church, whose business is to take care of the church building and the vessels, vestments, etc., belonging to the church, to attend on the officiating clergyman, and to perform other duties pertaining to the church, such as to dig graves, ring the bell, etc.

Sexual

Of or pertaining to sex, or the sexes; distinguishing sex; peculiar to the distinction and office of male or female; relating to the distinctive genital organs of the sexes; proceeding from, or based upon, sex; as, sexual characteristics; sexual intercourse, connection, or commerce; sexual desire; sexual diseases; sexual generation.

Sexualist

One who classifies plants by the sexual method of Linnaeus.

Sexuality

The quality or state of being distinguished by sex.

Seynd

p. p. of Senge, to singe.

Seynt

A gridle. See 1st Seint.

Sforzato Sforzando

Forcing or forced; -- a direction placed over a note, to signify that it must be executed with peculiar emphasis and force; -- marked fz (an abbreviation of forzando), sf, sfz, or /.

Sfumato

Having vague outlines, and colors and shades so mingled as to give a misty appearance; -- said of a painting.

Sgraffito

Scratched; -- said of decorative painting of a certain style, in which a white overland surface is cut or scratched through, so as to form the design from a dark ground underneath.

Shab

To scratch; to rub.

Shabby

Torn or worn to rage; poor; mean; ragged.

Shabrack

The saddlecloth or housing of a cavalry horse.

Shack

The grain left after harvest or gleaning; also, nuts which have fallen to the ground.

Shack up

to live together in a sexual relationship, without being legally married.

Shackle

To tie or confine the limbs of, so as to prevent free motion; to bind with shackles; to fetter; to chain.

Shad

Any one of several species of food fishes of the Herring family. The American species (Alosa sapidissima formerly Clupea sapidissima), which is abundant on the Atlantic coast and ascends the larger rivers in spring to spawn, is an important market fish. The European allice shad, or alose (Alosa alosa formerly Clupea alosa), and the twaite shad (Alosa finta formerly Clupea finta), are less important species.

Shad-waiter

A lake whitefish; the roundfish. See Roundfish.

Shadbird

The American, or Wilson's, snipe. See under Snipe. So called because it appears at the same time as the shad. The common European sandpiper.

Shadd

Rounded stones containing tin ore, lying at the surface of the ground, and indicating a vein.

Shaddock

A tree (Citrus decumana) and its fruit, which is a large species of orange; -- called also forbidden fruit, and pompelmous.

Shade

To undergo or exhibit minute difference or variation, as of color, meaning, expression, etc.; to pass by slight changes; -- used chiefly with a preposition, as into, away, off.

Shader

One who, or that which, shades.

Shading

Act or process of making a shade.

Shadoof

A machine, resembling a well sweep, used in Egypt for raising water from the Nile for irrigation.

Shadow

To cut off light from; to put in shade; to shade; to throw a shadow upon; to overspead with obscurity.

Shadowing

Shade, or gradation of light and color; shading.

Shadowy

Full of shade or shadows; causing shade or shadow.

Shadrach

A mass of iron on which the operation of smelting has failed of its intended effect; -- so called from Shadrach, one of the three Hebrews who came forth unharmed from the fiery furnace of Nebuchadnezzar. (See Dan. iii. 26, 27.)

Shady

Abounding in shade or shades; overspread with shade; causing shade.

Shaffle

To hobble or limp; to shuffle.

Shaffler

A hobbler; one who limps; a shuffer.

Shafiite

A member of one of the four sects of the Sunnites, or Orthodox Mohammedans; -- so called from its founder, Mohammed al-Shafe/.

Shaft

The slender, smooth stem of an arrow; hence, an arrow.

Shafted

Furnished with a shaft, or with shafts; as, a shafted arch.

Shafting

Shafts, collectivelly; a system of connected shafts for communicating motion.

Shag

To make hairy or shaggy; hence, to make rough.

Shag-rag

The unkempt and ragged part of the community.

Shagbark

A rough-barked species of hickory (Carya alba), its nut. Called also shellbark. See Hickory. The West Indian Pithecolobium micradenium, a legiminous tree with a red coiled-up pod.

Shagginess

The quality or state of being shaggy; roughness; shaggedness.

Shaggy

Rough with long hair or wool.

Shagreen

A kind of untanned leather prepared in Russia and the East, from the skins of horses, asses, and camels, and grained so as to be covered with small round granulations. This characteristic surface is produced by pressing small seeds into the grain or hair side when moist, and afterward, when dry, scraping off the roughness left between them, and then, by soaking, causing the portions of the skin which had been compressed or indented by the seeds to swell up into relief. It is used for covering small cases and boxes.

Shah

A former title of the supreme ruler in certain Eastern countries, especially Persia and Iran.

Shahin

A large and swift Asiatic falcon (Falco pregrinator) highly valued in falconry.

Shake

The act or result of shaking; a vacillating or wavering motion; a rapid motion one way and other; a trembling, quaking, or shivering; agitation.

Shakedown

A temporary substitute for a bed, as one made on the floor or on chairs; -- perhaps originally from the shaking down of straw for this purpose.

Shakefork

A fork for shaking hay; a pitchfork.

Shaken

Caused to shake; agitated; as, a shaken bough.

Shaker

A person or thing that shakes, or by means of which something is shaken.

Shakespearean

Of, pertaining to, or in the style of, Shakespeare or his works.

Shakings

Deck sweepings, refuse of cordage, canvas, etc.

Shako

A kind of military cap or headdress.

Shakudo

An alloy of copper, invented by the Japanese, having a very dark blue color approaching black.

Shaky

Shaking or trembling; as, a shaky spot in a marsh; a shaky hand.

Shale

To take off the shell or coat of; to shell.

Shall

To owe; to be under obligation for.

Shallon

An evergreen shrub (Gaultheria Shallon) of Northwest America; also, its fruit. See Salal-berry.

Shalloon

A thin, loosely woven, twilled worsted stuff.

Shallot

A small kind of onion (Allium Ascalonicum) growing in clusters, and ready for gathering in spring; a scallion, or eschalot.

Shallow

To become shallow, as water.

Shallow-waisted

Having a flush deck, or with only a moderate depression amidships; -- said of a vessel.

Shalt

2d per. sing. of Shall.

Shaly

Resembling shale in structure.

Sham

To make false pretenses; to deceive; to feign; to impose.

Shama

A saxicoline singing bird (Kittacincla macroura) of India, noted for the sweetness and power of its song. In confinement it imitates the notes of other birds and various animals with accuracy. Its head, neck, back, breast, and tail are glossy black, the rump white, the under parts chestnut.

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