EMB 



a02 



EMB 



sis, and y^aQti, to describe. An instiu- 

 ment for drawing ellipses. 



EL'MO'S FIRE, ST., an appearance caused 

 by fiery meteors in the atmosphere, often 

 seen playing about the masts and rigging 

 of ships at sea. It is an electrical pheno- 

 menon. 



ELONOA/TiON.from longus. 1. In astro- 

 nomy, the angle under which we see a 

 planet from the sun when reduced to the 

 ecliptic, or it is the angle formed by two 

 lines proceeding from the earth's centre 

 to the centres of the sun and planet when 

 reduced to the ecliptic. The greatest 

 elongation is the greatest distance which 

 the planet recedes from the sun. It can 

 only be used in speaking of the inferior 

 planets Venus and Mercury. 2. In sur- 

 gery, an imperfect luxation, where the 

 ligaments are only lengthened, and the 

 bone not put out of its socket ; also the 

 extension of a limb for the purpose of 

 reducing a dislocation or fracture. 



E'LUL, a Jewish month answering to 

 part of August and September. 



ELTTTRIA'TION, from ehttrio, to cleanse. 

 The operation of pulverising a solid sub- 

 stance, diffusing it through a large body 

 of water, allowing it to settle for a little 

 till the larger and heavier particles sub- 

 side, and then pouring off or decanting 

 the supernatant liquor. The liquid run 

 off will be found to contain an impalpable 

 powder, which in repose will collect on 

 the bottom, and may be taken out and 

 dried. This is a method employed by 

 chemists, &c., to separate substances of 

 different specific gravities. 



ELTDOR'IC, from iXcuov, oil, and t>$ag, 

 water. A term applied to a mode of paint- 

 ing with a substance containing oil and 

 water. 



EL'YTRA., plural of elytron, the wing- 

 sheath of an insect, from iKun, to involve. 

 The elytra are the crustaceous membranes 

 which cover the true membranous wings 

 of coleopterous insects. 



EL'YTROID, from iXwroov, a sheath, and 

 titof, like; sheath-like. 



EMAR'GINATE, Lat. emarginatus, nicked ; 

 applied, 1. In lot any, to leaves terminating 



in a small notch at the summit. 2. In 



conchology, to shells which have no mar- 

 gin, but have the edges hollowed out. 



3. In mineralogy, to crystals having all 

 the edges of the primitive form truncated 

 each by one face. 



EMRALM'ING, a process in which balsams 

 were employed to preserve human corpses 

 from purification. A body thus prepared 

 is called a mummy (q. v.). Modern che- 

 mistry furnishes more simple means of 

 preventing putrefaction than the Egyp- 

 tian system of salting, spicing, smoking, 

 and bitumening. 



EMBAR'OO, an order issued by the go- 

 vernment of a country to prevent the 

 sailing of ships out or into port. The 

 word is Spanish, embargo, from the same 

 root as embarrass. 



EMBATTLED. In architecture, indented 

 with notches in the form of embrasures, 

 and on the top of a wall, parapet, or other 

 building. Heralds expressed the embat- 

 tled line or embrasure by the word cre- 

 nelle ; the military architect sometimes 

 calls them cannonieres ; and meurtrieres 

 when only big enough for muskets : and 

 when the parapet is so low that cannon, 

 may be shot without embrasures, they 

 are said to shoot en barbe. 



EMBER, in ember-days, ember-weeks, is 

 the Saxon emb-ren or ymb-ryne, a circle 

 or revolution ; from ymb, around, and ren, 

 or ryne, course. Ember-days are the 

 Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday after 

 Quadragesima-Sunday, after Whit-Sun- 

 day, after Holyrood-day in September, 

 and after St. Lucia's-day in December : 

 they are therefore days returning at cer- 

 tain seasons. Ember-weeks are the weeks 

 in which ember-days fall, and formerly, 

 our ancestors used the words ember-fast 

 and ember-tide or season. 



EM'BLEM, from iu~/>.y,a< properly inlaid 

 or Mosaic work, from tfjtSet^u, to insert ; 

 something inserted into the body of an- 

 other. The term is now used to designate a 

 painted or sculptured enigma, such as the 

 image of Scaevola holding his hand in the 

 tire with these words : " agere et pati for- 

 titer Komanum est"to do and to suffer 

 with fortitude is Roman. 



EM'BLEMENTS, from Norm, emblear, from 

 embleer, to sow, bit, corn ; the produce of 

 land sown or planted by a tenant for life 

 or years, whose estate is determined sud- 

 denly after the land is sown and before 

 harvest. The word comprehends the pro- 

 duce of all annual plants, but not of per- 

 ennial plants. 



EM'BOI.US, abo>.? ; anything inserted 

 and acting in another, as the piston of a 

 pump. 



EMBOS'SINQ, from FT. bosse, a protuber- 

 ance ; the forming or fashioning of work* 

 in relievo, whether by raising, by carving, 

 or by depression ; wherein, according to 

 the prominence of the figures, they are 

 said to be in alto, mezzo, or basso-relievo. 

 Wood, stone, and other inflexible sub- 

 stances are embossed by carving ; silver- 

 plate, &c., by the pressure of a hydrostatic 

 press upon the patterns ; paper, cloths, &c. 

 by revolving cylinders on which the re- 

 quired patterns are engraved. Mr. Thos . 

 Greig of Rose-Bank, near Bury, Lanca- 

 shire, patented an invention in 1835 for 

 both embossing and printing silk, cotton, 

 &c., in one or more colours at one opera- 

 tion. 



