curvlserial 
quently no leaf can be exactly above any pre- 
ceding one. Tin or.liuan i. -i in- MI pbyllotaxy Indicated 
by Hi-- ti;irti"ii* .(. t[. j[, etc., approximate more and more 
lonely to this, and the deviation in the f, ami ,", arrange- 
ments is inappreciable. Such fnnrm, therefore, are some- 
time* SO dcsi^llatell. 
curvital (kiVvi-tal), n. [< curre + -it- + -a/. } 
Pertaining to curves in general. Curvital func- 
tion, a fnnrtlon expressing the length of the- pcrpcndicu 
lar from a tlxed point of a curve UJKHI a normal at a vnriu- 
lile point, the length of tlic arc from tin- llxcil to the varia- 
Mi- point being the independent variable of the fiini-tion. 
curvlty (ker'vi-ti), 11. [= F. curi'itc = Pr. rur- 
nlnl Sp. curridad = rg. ritrvidade = It. cur- 
riti'i, < LL. curritn(t-)s, < \,. mmm, curved: see 
i-nrrr, n.] The state of being curved ; curva- 
ture. 
curvograph (ker'vo-graf), n. [< L. eurvus, 
curved, + (!r. -)pn<jiFiv, write.] An arcograph. 
curvoust (ket-' vug), a. [< L. eurvus, curved : see 
rum; .] Bent; crooked; curved. Coles, 1717. 
curvulate (ker'vu-lat), a. [< NL. *curyulu#, 
dim. of li. currus, curved, + -atc^.] Slightly 
curved. 
curwillett (ker-wil'et), n. [Origin obscure.] 
The sanderling, Catidris un miria. Montagu. 
curyt, . [MK. rury, var. of cure, < L. </</, 
care : see cure, n.~\ Art ; device ; invention. 
Cookes with tin-ire new collceytes . . . 
Many newrimV.* alle day they are contryvynge and fynd- 
ynge-. Babnf Bunk (E. E. T. 8.), p. 140. 
CUSCO bark. See bark*. 
Cusco china. Same as Cusco bark (which see, 
under bark*). 
cusco-cinchonin (kus'ko-sin'ko-nin), n. Same 
as etu>eonine. 
CUSCOnidin (kus-kon'i-din), . [< Cusco(n-) 
(Ixirk) + -id 1 + -in 2 .] An alkaloid of cinchona. 
CUSCOnine (kus'ko-nin), n. [< Cnsco(n-) (bark) 
+ -in?2.] An alkaloid (C 23 H 2( ,N 2 O4 + 2H 2 O) 
of cinchona. Also cusco-cinchonin. 
CUSCUS 1 (kus'kus), n. [NL., of native origin.] 
A genus of marsupial quadrupeds of the Aus- 
tralian and Papuan islands, including opossum- 
like prehensile-tailed phalangers, covered with 
dense woolly fur, having a small head and 
large eyes, living in trees, and characterized by 
slow movements. Their average size is about that of 
a domestic cat. There are several species, as C. ttrmnus, 
C. orientalis, C. maculatits, and C. iv#/tifM, the last in- 
habitini; New Guinea. 
CUSCUB 2 (kus'kus), . [< E. Ind. khimklum.] 
The commercial name for the long fibrous 
aromatic root of cuscus-grass, which is used 
for making tatties or screens, ornamental bas- 
kets, etc. 
CUSCUS-grass (kus'kus-gras), n. An aromatic 
grass of India, Andropogon miiricatus. See An- 
dnijiogon and tattie. 
Dodder [Custttta). 
1411 
Cuscuta (ktis-ku'tii), n. [NL., from the Ar. 
name.] A genu.s of parasitic plants, natural 
order t'niii-iilriiliirrir; the dodders. They an- len- 
'Icr, leafless, yellow or orauge-eolnred twining plants, 
drawing their nourishment wholly from the tn-ihact ..u.s 
plants I" which they fasten. The flowers are whit.- ami 
KM embryo is without cotyledons. There are about *o 
species, widely distributed, some of them noxious weeds, 
as /'. K/iiiiiiinii and ('. Trifolli. which arc very injurious 
in fields of tla\ and clover. See dinkier*. 
cash (kush), . [Anglo-Ind.] The commercial 
name in India for sorghum. 
cushat (kush'at), n. [E. dial, also cushot, <-mr- 
.ilmt, cowshut, 'cooscot, 8c. also kowsfhot, also 
cuxhie (cushie-dow) ; < ME. cowscot, couscot, < 
AS. cuscotf, cusccote, cuscute, a ring-dove, per- 
haps for "ctic-scote, lit. quick-shooting, swift- 
flying, < cucu, contr. of cwicu, cine, quick, 4- 
-scotc. < scedtan, shoot: see shoot, shot.] The 
ring-dove or wood-pigeon, Columba palumbus. 
Kar hen thy dark green planting's shade 
The <-if*lint croodles am'roualy. Taniiahill. 
In this country the ringdove or wood-pigeon is also 
called the cvithat and the queest. Yarrell, British Kirds. 
CUshew-bird (kush'p-berd), n. [< cusltetc, prob. 
imitative, + bird 1 .'] A name of the galeated 
curassow. See curassow, 2. 
cushie-doo (kush'i-do), n. [Sc. ; also written 
ctishie-dow; < ciishie, = cushat, q. v., + doo, dow, 
E. doee.] A Scotch name of the riug-dove or 
cushat, Columba palumbus. Macgillivray. 
CUShiest, . pi- See wishes. 
CUshint, . See cushion. 
cushinett, n. See cushionet. 
cushion (kush'un), . [Early mod. E. also cush- 
in, quishon; < ME. cuschone, cuysshen, quysshen, 
cuyschun, < OF. cuissin, coessin, coissin, coussin, 
F. coussin = Pr. coisin, coissi = Sp. coxin, now 
cojin = Pg. coxim = It. cuscino, coscino = OHG. 
chussin, MHG. kiissin, G. kiissen, kissen = MLG. 
D. kussen (of. Sw. kudde), < ML. cussinus, cush- 
ion, modified, under Rom. influence, from *cul- 
citmum, dim. of L. culcita, a cushion, pillow, 
feather bed, quilt: see counterpoint 1 and quilt.] 
1. A bag-like case of cloth or leather, usually 
of moderate size, filled with feathers, wool, or 
other soft material, used to support or ease 
some part of the body in sitting or reclining, 
as on a chair or lounge. See pillow. 
t'ppon which tyme of sitting, the servitorys moste dili- 
gently a-wayte to serve them of quisymu. 
Babres Book (E. E. T. S.), p. 389. 
In a shadowy saloon, 
On silken euMmu half reclined. 
Tennyson, Eleiiliore. 
2. Something resembling a cushion in structure, 
softness, elasticity, use, or appearance; espe- 
cially, something used to counteract a sudden 
shock, jar, or jolt, as in a piece of mechanism. 
Specifically (a) An elastic pad of calfskin stuffed with 
wool, on which gold-leaf is placed and cut with a palette- 
knife into the forms or sizes needed by the finisher for the 
gilding of books. Also called ffold-cwthion. (b) A pillow 
used in lace-making. See pillow, (c) A pincushion (which 
see), (d) In hair-drtasiiig, a pad used for supporting the 
hair and increasing its apparent mass. 
The hair was arranged [in 1789] over a cM#At'on formed 
of wool, and covered with silk. 
Fairholt, Costume, II. 211. 
M The rubber of an electrical machine. See rubber. (/) 
The padded side or rim of a billiard-table. (//) The head 
of a bit-stock. See bracrl, 14. (A) In inach., a body of 
air or steam which serves, under pressure, as an elastic 
check or buffer ; specifically, steam left in the cylinder of 
an engine to serve as an elastic check for the piston. 
The cushion is made by closing the exhaust-outlet an in- 
stant before the end of the stroke, or by opening the Inlet 
for live steam before the stroke is finished, (t) In zoo/., 
u pulvillns. (j) In hot., the enlargement at or beneath 
the insertion of many leaves, a special mobile organ. Also 
called pulvintts. (if) In arch., the echinus of a capital. 
3. The woolsack. 
(Chief Justice Hale] became the cushion exceedingly 
well. Roger North, Lord Ouilford, I. 144. 
Cushion style, in embroidery, formerly, the simplest 
stitch, like modern Berlin work or worsted work : so 
called because much used for cushions to kneel upon in 
church, etc. To be beside the cushion*, to miss the 
mark (literally or figuratively). Sans. To hit or miss 
the cushion*, to succeed or fail in an attempt ; hit or 
miss a mark. Xares. 
cushion (kush'un), r. [< cushion, n.] I. trans. 
1. To seat on or as on a cushion or cushions. 
Many, who are cushioned upon thrones, would have re- 
mained in obscurity. Bolingbrolce, Parties. 
2. To cover or conceal with or as with a cushion ; 
furnish with a cushion or cushions, in any sense 
of that wonl : as, to cushion a seat ; to cushion 
a carriage. 
Further gain was also made by cushioning the bearings 
of the diaphragm on l>tli sides with rings of paper. 
(,'. /;. 1'mn-ott, Kleet. Invent., p. 24. 
3f. To put aside or suppress. 
i:ushion<apiul 
(Norman). 
cusp 
The apothecary trotted Into town, now in full [xwaes- 
SI..M "f the vicar H motive* for desiring t" < -<-7<io his son's 
oratory. Jf. W. Savage, K. M. .tli.-,.ft. h 10. 
U. infriiint. In liillim-ilx, to make the cue-ball 
hit the cushion, either before it touches any 
other ball or after contact with the object-ball, 
cushion-capital (kiish'un-kap'i-tal), . In 
"/' /i., a capital of such form as to appear like 
a cushion pressed upon by 
the weight of the entablature. 
It Is of common occurrence in In- 
dian buildings; and the nameisspe- 
clftcally given to a form of Norman 
capital, consisting of a cube round- 
ed oft* at its lower angles. 
cushion-carom (kush ' un - 
kar'om), n. In billiards, a car- 
om in which the cue-ball hits 
the cushion before striking 
the second object-ball. 
cushion-dance (kush ' un - 
dans), n. An English and 
Scotch dance, especially pop- 
ular among country people and at weddings. 
It is a sort of circular gallopade in single file, In which, 
at a certain regularly recurring stage in the music, each 
dancer in turn drops a cushion tiefore one of the other 
sex ; the two having knelt and kissed each other, the prom- 
enade is resumed. In Scotland it Is called bob at the '-" 
ntrr, or bob at the Mgter. 
cushionet (kush'un-et), w. [Formerly also 
cushinet (= It. cuscinetto) ; as cushion + dim. 
-et.~\ A little cushion. 
cushioning (kush'un -ing), n. [< cushion + 
-ing 1 ."] The act of providing with a cushion ; a 
provision of cushions; in mach., the effect pro- 
duced by a cushion ; a cushion or buffer. 
If the small quantity [of air] necessary to supply the 
motor be confined, It will also lie ample to provide all the 
cushioning that Is desirable. Set. Amer. Supp., p. 8682. 
Preadmission, that is to say, admission before the end of 
the back stroke, which, together with the compression of 
steam left in the cylinder when the exhaust port closes, 
produces the mechanical effect of cushioning. 
Encyc. Brit., XXII. 501. 
cushion-rafter (kush'un-raf 'ter), n. An auxil- 
iary rafter placed beneath a principal one, to 
relieve an unusual strain. 
cushion-scale (kush'un-skal), . A very com- 
mon scale-insect, Icfrya purchasi, injurious to 
the orange and other fruits cultivated in Cali- 
fornia: so called from the large cushion-like, 
waxy, fluted ovisac attached to the bodies of 
the females. It Is very active and hardy, is capable of 
bHng transported from one continent to another, infests 
many different cultivated trees and plants, and is a great 
pest. The female bug has three molts and the male two. 
Also called cottony cuthion-malf, and also white scale, 
Jltttfd scale, and Aitntralian bug. 
cushion-star (kush'un-star), n. A kind of star- 
fish of the genus (ioniaster and family Asteri- 
nidte. G. equestris, the knotty cushion-star, is 
a British species. 
cushion-stitch (kush'un-stich), H. In embroi- 
dery, a stitch by which the ground is covered 
with straight snort lines formed by repeated 
short Stitcnes. This stitch was much used to form the 
background of elaimrate embroidery in the fifteenth and 
later centuries, sometimes imitating painting, the colon 
being mingled with great ingenuity so as to represent 
clouds, distant foliage, etc. 
cushiony (kush'un-i), a. [< cushion + -yl.] 
Like a cushion ; soft and yielding or elastic. 
A bow-legged character with a flat and cushiony nose. 
Dickens, Uncommercial Traveller, x. 
It was this turfy and grassy character of these moun- 
tains I am tempted to say their cushiony character 
that no reading or picture-viewing of mine had prepared 
me for. The Century, XXVII. 110. 
Cushite (kush'it), H. and a. [< Cash, the son 
of Ham, + -fe2.] I, _ A descendent of Cush, 
the son of Ham ; a member of a division of the 
Hamite family named from Cush, anciently oc- 
cupying Ethiopia and perhaps parts of Arabia 
and Babylonia. 
II. a. Of or pertaining to the Cushites or 
their language. 
CUSk (kusk), n. A local name in Great Britain 
of the torsk, a fish of the genus Brosmius, and 
in the United States of the burbot, Lota macu- 
losa. 
Telcmachus caught a laker of thirteen pounds and a 
half, and I an overgrown runic, which we threw away. 
Louvll, Fireside Travels, p. 151. 
cuskint, . A kind of drinking-cup. 
A cup, a nukin. Xnmenclator, p. 232. (Hallimll.) 
cusp (kusp), . [< L. cuspis, a point, spear, jave- 
lin, lance, string, etc.] 1. In astron., the point 
or horn of a crescent, specifically of the cres- 
cent moon. 2. In astral., the beginning or first 
entrance of any house in the calculation of na- 
tivities. 
