SUR 



BUS 



SUR. A prefix from the French, con- 

 tracted from Latin super, supra, over, 

 above, &c. 



SUR'BASE. In architecture, the mould- 

 Ings immediately above the base of a 

 room. 



SURBASE'MENT (French). The trait of 

 any arch, or vault, which describes a 

 portion of an ellipse. 



SCRCIN'GLE, Fr. from swr, and Lat. 

 cingulum, a belt. A belt, band, or girth, 

 which passes over a saddle, or the like, 

 on a horse's back, to bind it fast. 



SUR'CULUS. In botany, a Latin name, 

 used to designate the stem of mosses, or 

 the shoot which bears the leaves. Plural 

 suratli. 



BtiRD, from mrdus, deaf. In algebra, 

 a quantity which is incommensurable to 

 unity : otherwise called an irrational 

 quantity. 



SURE'TY, Fr. s&rett. In law, one that 

 is bound with, and for, another, to an- 

 swer for that other's appearance in court, 

 for his payment of a debt, &c., and who, 

 in case of the failure of the principal, 

 may be compelled to pay the damages 

 specified, or the debt. 



SUR'JACE, from sur and face. See Su- 

 TERTICIES. A surface which may be cut 

 "by a plane through any given point, so 

 that the intersect of the plane and sur- 

 face may be a curve, is called a curved 

 surface. If the curve bend inwards, it is 

 a concave surface ; if outwards, it is a 

 convex surface. Some surfaces are concave- 

 convex, that is, compounded of the two 

 surfaces, concave and convex. 



SURGE, Lat. surgo, to rise. 1. In ship- 

 building, the tapering part in front of the 

 whelps, between the chocks of a capstan, 



on which the messenger may surge. 



2. To surge, among seamen, is to let go a 

 portion of a rope suddenly. 



SUR'OEON (corrupted from chirurgeon). 

 In ancient medicine the business of the 

 surgeon was confined to the treatment 

 of such, diseases as required manual 

 operation. Such is still regarded as the 

 legitimate object of surgery; but the 

 surgeon has now superadded much of the 

 business of the physician, and prescribes 

 for internal as well as external diseases. 



SUR'GERY. A branch of therapeutics, 

 which has for its object the treatment of 

 all diseases requiring manual operation, 

 or which are external or local in their 

 nature : the business of a surgeon. 



SURMOCNT'ED. 1. In architecture, an 



arch higher than a semicircle. 2. In 



heraldry, when one figure is laid over 

 another. 



SCRMUI/LET. In ichthyology, a name 

 common to all the species of the genus 

 mil lus. The red surmullet < Jf. barbatus, 

 Lin.}, inhabits the Mediterranean, and 

 attains a length of 15 inches. It was ex- 



travagantly esteemed by the Roman* 

 The striped surmullet (M. surmuletut, 

 Lin.), is somewhat smaller, but equal to 

 the red surmullet in delicacy. 



SCRRF.BCT'TEH. In law -pleadings, the 

 plaintiffs reply to a defendant's rebutter. 



SURREJOIN'DER. In law-pleadings, a 

 plaintiffs answer to a defendant's rejoin- 

 der. 



SURREND'. In law, the yielding of an 

 estate by a tenant to the lord, for such 

 purposes as are expressed by the tenant 

 in the act. 



SUR'ROGATE, Lat. svrrogatus. In law, 

 one substituted for, or appointed in, the 

 room of another. 



Sunsoi/iD. 1. In mathematics, the fifth 

 power of a number ; thus, 3* = 243 is the 



sursolid of 3. 2. A sursolid problem is 



one which can only be solved by curves 

 of a higher kind than the conic sections. 



SURTUR'BAND. A name given to the 

 bovey or brown coal. The term is Ice- 

 landic. 



SUR'VEY, Fr. <r and coir, to see. A 

 measured plan and description of any 

 tract or line of country, the operation of 

 making which is termed surveying. A. 

 survey is either made by Gunter's chain, 

 both, angles and distances being taken 

 with it, or the angles are taken with in- 

 struments adapted to that purpose, and 

 the distances by the chain. In large 

 surveys, the distances are also sometimes 

 calculated, in which case it is called a 

 trigonometrical survey, being performed 

 by extending a series of triangles over 

 the country to be delineated. 



SURVI'VOR. In law, the longest liver 

 of two joint tenants, or of two persons 

 who have a joint interest in anything. 

 The survivor then inherits by right of 

 survivorship. 



Sus. The hog. A genus of mammi- 

 ferous animals, of the order Pachydermata, 

 and family Ordinaria. The wild hog, 

 S. scrofa, Lin., is the parent stock of our 

 domestic hog and its varieties. The body 

 is short and thick, ears straight, hair 

 bristled and black, but, when young 

 striped black and white. Naturalists have 

 separated from this genus the Peccaries, 

 nder the subgeneric names of Phaco- 

 chcerus and Dycotele. 



SUSPENSION BRIDGE. A bridge sus- 

 pended from inverted bows, by means of 

 rods, usually of iron ; the boivs being 

 supported by stone piers erected at each 

 end, and from thence carried down and 

 secured to the ground. 



SUS'SEX MARBLE occurs in layers, vary- 

 ing in thickness from two inches to fif- 

 teen. The layers are separated from each 

 ther by seams of clay, loose friable 

 marl, &c. It bears a high polish, and li 

 extensively used for architectural and or 

 namental purposes. Its common appear 



