An involuntary and unnatural contraction of one or more muscles or muscular fibers.

Spasmodic.

A medicine for spasm.

Same as Spasmodic, a.

Of or pertaining to spasm; spasmodic; especially, pertaining to tonic spasm; tetanic.

Spasmodically.

A state of spasm.

A legging; a gaiter.

Of or pertaining to the Spatangoidea. One of the Spatangoidea.

An order of irregular sea urchins, usually having a more or less heart-shaped shell with four or five petal-like ambulacra above. The mouth is edentulous and situated anteriorly, on the under side.

A genus of heart-shaped sea urchins belonging to the Spatangoidea.

See Spitchcock.

A river flood; an overflow or inundation.

A spathe.

Having a spathe; resembling a spathe; spathal.

Furnished with a spathe; as, spathal flowers.

A special involucre formed of one leaf and inclosing a spadix, as in aroid plants and palms. See the Note under Bract, and Illust. of Spadix.

Having a spathe or calyx like a sheath.

Like spar; foliated or lamellar; spathose.

Resembling spar in form.

Having a spathe; resembling a spathe; spatheceous; spathal.

Spathose.

See Spatulate.

Of or pertaining to space.

As regards space.

To rove; to ramble.

To throw something out of the mouth in a scattering manner; to sputter.

The common yellow water lily (Nuphar advena).

Wearing spatterdashes.

Coverings for the legs, to protect them from water and mud; long gaiters.

A spatula.

A kind of catchfly (Silene inflata) which is sometimes frothy from the action of captured insects.

An implement shaped like a knife, flat, thin, and somewhat flexible, used for spreading paints, fine plasters, drugs in compounding prescriptions, etc. Cf. Palette knife, under Palette.

Shaped like spatula, or like a battledoor, being roundish, with a long, narrow, linear base.

The shoulder.

A disease of horses characterized by a bony swelling developed on the hock as the result of inflammation of the bones; also, the swelling itself. The resulting lameness is due to the inflammation, and not the bony tumor as popularly supposed.

Affected with spavin.

See Spa.

To scatter spittle from the mouth; to spit, as saliva.

That which is spawled, or spit out.

The ova, or eggs, of fishes, oysters, and other aquatic animals.

A mature female fish.

The male of the red deer in his third year; a spade.

A spay.

To utter with the mouth; to pronounce; to utter articulately, as human beings.

Capable of being spoken; fit to be spoken.

An establishment where alcoholic beverages were sold and drunk illegally, especially one operating during the prohibition era in the U.S. (1920-1932); a tavern or nightclub illegally selling alcoholic beverages.

One who speaks. One who utters or pronounces a discourse; usually, one who utters a speech in public; as, the man is a good speaker, or a bad speaker. One who is the mouthpiece of others; especially, one who presides over, or speaks for, a delibrative assembly, preserving order and regulating the debates; as, the Speaker of the House of Commons, originally, the mouthpiece of the House to address the king; the Speaker of a House of Representatives.

The office of speaker; as, the speakership of the House of Representatives.

The act of uttering words.

To shoot into a long stem, as some plants. See Spire.

One who uses a spear; as, a spearer of fish.

A large and powerful fish (Tetrapturus albidus) related to the swordfish, but having scales and ventral fins. It is found on the American coast and the Mediterranean. The carp sucker.

The pointed head, or end, of a spear.

One who is armed with a spear.

A species of mint (Mentha viridis) growing in moist soil. It vields an aromatic oil. See Mint, and Mentha.

An Australian tree (Acacia Doratoxylon), and its tough wood, used by the natives for spears.

A name given to several species of crowfoot (Ranunculus) which have spear-shaped leaves.

Having the form of a spear.

Species; kind.

A particular.

Devotion to a particular and restricted part or branch of knowledge, art, or science; as, medical specialism.

One who devotes himself to some specialty; as, a medical specialist, one who devotes himself to diseases of particular parts of the body, as the eye, the ear, the nerves, etc.

A particular or peculiar case; a particularity.

The act of specializing, or the state of being spezialized.

To mention specially; to particularize.

In a special manner; particularly; especially.

Particularity.

Coin; hard money.

Visible or sensible presentation; appearance; a sensible percept received by the imagination; an image.

Admitting specification; capable of being specified.

Of or pertaining to a species; characterizing or constituting a species; possessing the peculiar property or properties of a thing which constitute its species, and distinguish it from other things; as, the specific form of an animal or a plant; the specific qualities of a drug; the specific distinction between virtue and vice.

A specific remedy. See Specific, a., 3.

Specific.

In a specific manner.

The quality of being specific.

To show, mark, or designate the species, or the distinguishing particulars of; to specify.

The act of specifying or determining by a mark or limit; notation of limits.

The quality or state of being specific.

To mention or name, as a particular thing; to designate in words so as to distinguish from other things; as, to specify the uses of a plant; to specify articles purchased.

See Stylet, 2.

A part, or small portion, of anything, or one of a number of things, intended to exhibit the kind and quality of the whole, or of what is not exhibited; a sample; as, a specimen of a man's handwriting; a specimen of a person's blood; a specimen of painting; aspecimen of one's art.

The quality or state of being specious; speciousness.

Presenting a pleasing appearance; pleasing in form or look; showy.

To cause the presence of specks upon or in, especially specks regarded as defects or blemishes; to spot; to speckle; as, paper specked by impurities in the water used in its manufacture.

To mark with small spots of a different color from that of the rest of the surface; to variegate with spots of a different color from the ground or surface.

Marked or variegated with small spots of a different color from that of the rest of the surface.

The gadwall.

The American white-fronted goose (Anser albifrons).

The quality of being speckled.

The chief harpooner, who also directs in cutting up the speck, or blubber; -- so called among whalers.

A woodpecker. See Speight.

Something exhibited to view; usually, something presented to view as extraordinary, or as unusual and worthy of special notice; a remarkable or noteworthy sight; a show; a pageant; a gazingstock.

Furnished with spectacles; wearing spectacles.

Of or pertaining to a shows; of the nature of a show.

Looking forward.

Regard; aspect; appearance.

One who on; one who sees or beholds; a beholder; one who is personally present at, and sees, any exhibition; as, the spectators at a show.

Of or pertaining to a spectator.

The office or quality of a spectator.

A female beholder or looker-on.

Same as Specsioneer.

Of or pertaining to a specter; ghosty.

In the form or manner of a specter.

See Specter.

Something preternaturally visible; an apparition; a ghost; a phantom.

A combination of spectroscope and bolometer for determining the distribution of energy in a spectrum.

Pert. to or designating any form of spark tube the electric discharge within which is used in spectroscopic observations.

A photograph, map, or diagram of a spectrum.

An apparatus for photographing or mapping a spectrum. A photograph or picture of a spectrum.

A photograph of the sun made by monochromatic light, usually of the calcium line (k), and showing the sun's faculae and prominences.

An apparatus for making spectroheliograms, consisting of a spectroscopic camera used in combination with a telescope, and provided with clockwork for moving the sun's image across the slit.

Of or pertaining to spectrology; as, spectrological studies or experiments.

The science of spectrum analysis in any or all of its relations and applications.

A spectroscope fitted for measurements of the luminious spectra observed with it.

Art or process of using a spectrometer, of any type; -- when used alone, it usually refers to the use of a spectrometer using light in the visible, infrared, or ultraviolet region.

An instrument constructed on the principle of the photophone and used in spectrum analysis as an adjunct to the spectroscope.

An instrument for measuring or comparing the intensities of the colors of the spectrum.

The art of comparing, photometrically, the brightness of two spectra, wave length by wave length; the use of the spectrophotometer.

An optical instrument for forming and examining spectra (as that of solar light, or those produced by flames in which different substances are volatilized), so as to determine, from the position of the spectral lines, the composition of the substance.