wou 



750 



X A N 



of opal, which occurs in various veirttabl 

 forms. It is in reality opalised vegetabl 

 matter. Found in Hungary. 



WOOD'HOCK. In mineralogy, a name for 

 ligniform asbestos. 



WOOD'SCREW. An iron screw, of which 

 the body tapers but the thread continues 

 straight to the extremity. 



WOOD-TIN. The fibrous oxide of tin 

 found only in Cornwall and Mexico. Its 

 common colours are chesnut, brown, and 

 reddish-brown, owing to the presence of 

 peroxide of iron. 



WOODY-FIBRE. Slender membranous 

 tubes, tapering at each end, in the tissue 

 of plants : they form hemp and flax. 



WOOF. The threads thrown across the 

 warp of a web by the shuttle in forming 

 cloth. 



WOOL. Germ, wolle. A term ap- 

 plied to the fine hair of animals, and to 

 tine vegetable fibres, as cotton. In gene- 

 ral, however, it is confined to the wool of 

 sheep. 



WOOLD'INO. 1. Among seamen, the act 

 of winding a piece of rope about a mast 



or yard. 2. The rope used for binding 



masts and spars. 



WOOL'SACK. The seat of the Lord Chan- 

 cellor of England in the House of Lords, 

 from its being a large square bag of wool, 

 without back or arms, covered with red 

 cloth. 



WOORARA. Ourari. A very destructive 

 poison of Guiana, which contains strych- 

 nia. The plant from which it is prepared 

 is not ascertained, but it most likely be- 

 longs to the genus strychnos, or some one 

 nearly allied to it. 



WOOTZ. The Indian name for steel. 

 WORM. In distillation, a spiral tube, 

 vf hich makes a great many revolutions in 

 a large vessel of cold water, called a re- 

 frigeratory, to cool and condense the va- 

 pour. 



WORM'INO. The removing of a liga- 

 ment from under the tongue of puppies, 

 tie effect of which is to break them of 

 their habit of gnawing. 



WORST'ED. In manufactures, woollen 

 yarn twisted rather harder than ordinary. 

 The name is taken from Worsted, a town 

 in Norfolk. 



WORT. 1. A termination to the names 

 of many plants. Sax. icyrt, Fr. tert, 

 answering to Lat. viridis, green. The 

 word seems to have been a general name 

 for an herb ^specially of the cabbage tribe. 



2. The fermented infusion of malt or 



grain. It is the muddy liquor which 

 remains in the distiller's mash-tun, after 

 the grains have sunk to the bottom. 



WOCLFE'S APPARATUS. In chemistry, a. 

 cries of vessels, connected by tubes, for 

 the purpose of condensing gaseous pro- 

 ducts in water. Named after the inventor. 

 A peculiar poisonous 



composition prepared by the Macousm 

 Indians. The juice of a species of vine 

 called u-ourali is the fundamental insre- 

 dient ; but snake-fangs, some bulbous 

 roots, and other things, are also ingre- 

 dients. 



WHACK. In botany, a marine plant, the 

 Fiictis vesieulosM, called also sea-oak and 

 sea- tangle. It is used in places near the 

 sea-coast as a manure. 



WRAN'GLER. A technical term, in the 

 University of Cambridge, for the students 

 who pass the best examination in the 

 senate-house. The best is the senior 

 wrangler, and those who make the second, 

 third, and best appearances, are denomi- 

 nated second, third, &c. wranglers. 



WRASSE, i A name common to several 



WRASS. ) fishes of the genus Labna, 

 Lin., as the red wrasse < L. carneus, Yarr. 

 Cuv.) ; the ancient wrasse (Labrus tinea, 

 Lin.'> ~\e ballan wrasse (L. maailattu, 

 Yarr.). 



WREN. In ornithology, a bird of several 

 species forming the sub-genus Troglodyte*, 

 Cuv., of the genus Hotacilla, Lin. 



WRIT. 1. Anything written : Scrip- 

 ture is called sacred writ. 2. In laic, a 



judicial process or precept in writing 

 issued from some court to the sheriff, &c. 



WRI'TER TO THE SIGNET. In Scottish 

 law, a denomination equivalent to attor- 

 ney in England. But the Scottish writers 

 to the signet are under stricter regulation 

 than the^English attorneys. 



WROUGHT. In architecture, any mate- 

 rial brought to a fair surface. 



WY'VERN. In heraldry, a kind of flying 

 serpent, sometimes represented in coats 

 of arms. 



X. 



X, the 24th letter of the English alpha- 

 bet. It is found in Saxon words, but be- 

 rins no word of the English language. 

 X as a numeral stands for 10 ; when laid 

 horizontally, thus X , it stands ^pr 1000 ; 

 and with a dash over it, thus, X, it de- 

 notes 10,000. As an abbreviation X stands 

 'or Christ, Xn for Christian, and Xm for 

 Christmas. 



XAN'THIC ACID. An acid discovered by 

 M. Zeise, and named from %ctt&es, yellow, 

 because it gives a yellow precipitate, 



ith solutions of several metallic salts. 

 The acid is liquid, transparent, and co- 

 .ourless. Constituents 84,05, Hf, O. 



XAN'THIC OX'IDE, favOot, yellow. A 

 vellow substance found by Dr. Marcet, 

 composing a urinary calculus. 



XAN'THINE, from |v&>j, yellow. The 

 name given by Kuhlmann to the yellow 

 colouring matter contained in madder. 



XA.NTHORRHCE'*.. The generic name of 

 he grass-tree of New South Wales, from 

 \adot , yellow, andpj, to flow, on ac- 



