SH A 



657 



SHE 



SEx'xii-r, Lat. sejctilis, from sex, six. A 

 term denoting the position of planets 

 when distant from each other 60 or two 

 signs: marked *. 



SEX'TOX , Lat. sacrista. A. church officer, 

 the keeper of holy things belonging to 

 divine worship. 



SEX'UAL. Appertaining to the sexes. 

 The sexual system of plants is that method 

 of distinguishing plants, founded on the 

 parts of fructification, invented by Lin- 

 naeus. 



SFORZATO. In music, an Italian term, 

 denoting that the note over which it is 

 placed must be struck with force. 



SFUMA'TO, It., smoky. In painting, a 

 style wherein the tints are so blended 

 that the outline is scarcely perceptible. 



SQRAPIT'TO, It., scratched. In painting, 

 a style in which a white coat is laid upon 

 a dark ground of stucco, and the shadows 

 worked out. 



SHAB'RACK. A military term, of Hun- 

 garian origin, used for the cloth furni- 

 ture of a cavalry officer's troop-horse. 



SHAD. Twaite shad. A migratory fish, 

 the Aiosafinta, Cuv. and Yarr. Ordinary 

 size about 12 or 14 inches long. Inhabits 

 the North Atlantic, the Mediterranean, 

 and the Caspian Seas; and enters the 

 rivers in spring to spawn. 



SHAD'DOCK. The fruit of the Citrus 

 decumana or shaddock-tree; so named 

 after the person who introduced it in the 

 West Indies from China. 



SHAFT. 1. In architecture, the shaft of a 

 chimney is the stone or brick turret above 

 the roof. The shaft of a king post is the 

 part between the goggles. The shaft of a 

 column is the part between the base and 



the capital. 2. In mining, a vertical 



sinking or well, excavated or dry, for the 

 purpose of working and ventilating 

 mines. The principal shaft is usually 

 termed the engine- shaft. 3. In ma- 

 chinery, the term shaft is applied to a 

 large axle. 



SHAGREE'N, Fr. chagrin, Ger. schagrin. 

 A description of grained leather, prepared 

 chiefly at Astracan in Russia, from the 

 skins of horses, wild asses, and camels. 

 It used formerly to be prepared from the 

 skin of a species of squalus or hound- tish 

 called shagree (?) 



SH AH . A Persian title equivalent to king. 



SHAKE. 1. In music, a trill. A rapid 

 reiteration of two notes, comprehending 

 an interval not greater than one whole 



tone, nor less than a semitone. 2. A 



fissure in timber, caused by its being 

 dried too suddenly, or exposed to too 

 great heat. Any timber when naturally 

 full of clefts or slits is said to be shaky. 



SHA'KBRS. In eccltsiastical history, a 

 act who arose in 1747, in Lancashire, 

 oeinj?. it ia taid, a secession from the 



IMMR. 



SHALE, Germ, schale. 1. Slate clay. In- 

 durated slaty clay. Shale is almost al- 

 ways found among the coal measures. 



2. Kemmeridge coal is sometimes 



called bituminous shale : it is a mixture 

 of clay, bitumen, and carbon. 



SHALLOON. In manufacture, a light 

 woollen stuff, said to be named from 

 Chalons, in France. 



SHAL'LOP, Fr. chaloupe, Ger. schaluppe. 



1. A small light vessel, with a small 

 mainmast and foremast, with lug-soils. 



2. A description of large boat rigged 



like a schooner. 



SHAL'LOT, Fr. fchalotte. The Allium 

 ascalonicum; a useful esculent root, pos- 

 sessing all the virtues of garlic, with less 

 pungency. 



SHAM'ANISM. A general name for the 

 religions of a number of barbarous tribes 

 of the Finnish race. 



SHAMMY. Chamois leather. A kind of 

 leather prepared from the skin of the 

 chamois goat. See CHAMOIS. 



SHAMPOO'ING. A name in the East for 

 a mode of relieving pain in the joints by 

 friction. 



SHAM'ROCK. The name given in Ire- 

 land to the three-leaved grass, or trefoil. 

 The original shamrock, or rather shamroy, 

 appears from old authors to have been the 

 wood-sorrel, not the white clover which 

 now bears the name. 



SHANK'LIN SAND. Lower greensand. A 

 marine deposit of siliceous sands and 

 sand-stones, of various shades of green, 

 red, brown, yellow, grey, and white, with 

 subordinate beds of chert and siliceous 

 limestone. It forms the lowest member 

 of the cretaceous group, intervening be- 

 tween the gault above and the weald 

 clay below. 



SHANK PAINTER. The rope or chain 

 which passes round the shank of an 

 anchor, and confines it to the ship's bow. 



SHARP. 1. In music, a note artificially 

 raised ; a semitone, opposed to flat. 



2. The mark denoting a sharp, Jf. 

 SHAS'TER, A sacred book among the 



Hindoos, containing the 

 dogmas of their religion. 

 SHAWM, \ Ger. schalmeie, 

 SHAI.M, ) from schallen, 

 to sound. A hautbois or 

 cornet. This instrument 

 was used in the sacred 

 music of the Hebrews. 



SHEARS differ from scis- 

 sors chiefly in being larger. 

 The name dimrs ought, 

 perhaps, to be confined to 

 such instrument as that 

 used for shearing sheep, in 

 which the blades are not 

 connected by a pin, as in the common 

 scissors, but by a spring (as in ihe n^ure). 

 and to those instruments where one 



2 u 



