*cill*

a. [ L. ancillaris, fr. ancilla a female servant. ] Subservient or subordinate, like a handmaid; auxiliary. [ 1913 Webster ]

The Convocation of York seems to have been always considered as inferior, and even ancillary, to the greater province. Hallam. [ 1913 Webster ]

. (Law) An administration subordinate to, and in aid of, the primary or principal administration of an estate. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

n. [ OF. ancelle, L. ancilla. ] A maidservant; a handmaid. [ Obs. ] Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. bacillum little staff. ] (Biol.) 1. Shaped like a rod or staff. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Biol.) Pertaining to, or produced by, the organism bacillus; bacillary. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

‖n. pl. [ NL., fr. L. bacillum, dim. of baculum stick. ] (Biol.) See Diatom. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. 1. Of or pertaining to little rods; rod-shaped. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Biol.) Of or pertaining to bacilli; produced by, or containing, bacilli; bacillar; as, a bacillary disease. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

n. plural of bacillus; usually designating aerobic rod-shaped spore-producing bacteria; they often occur in chainlike formations.
Syn. -- bacillus [ WordNet 1.5 ]

a. [ L. bacillum little staff + -form. ] Rod-shaped. [ 1913 Webster ]

n.; pl. Bacilli [ NL., for L. bacillum. See Bacillariæ. ] (Biol.) A variety of bacterium; a microscopic, rod-shaped vegetable organism. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. waxwings.
Syn. -- genus Bombycilla. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. See Sill., n. a foundation. [ 1913 Webster ]

‖n. [ NL., fr. L. cilium eyelid. ] (Med.) A spasmodic trembling of the upper eyelid. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. codicillaris, codicillarius. ] Of the nature of a codicil. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. the position of council member.
Syn. -- councilorship. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. [ L. decem ten + the ending of million. ] According to the English notation, a million involved to the tenth power, or a unit with sixty ciphers annexed; according to the French and American notation, a thousand involved to the eleventh power, or a unit with thirty-three ciphers annexed. [ See the Note under Numeration. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Pertaining to a decillion, or to the quotient of unity divided by a decillion. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (a) The quotient of unity divided by a decillion. (b) One of a decillion equal parts. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ LL. domiciliarius. ] Of or pertaining to a domicile, or the residence of a person or family. [ 1913 Webster ]

The personal and domiciliary rights of the citizen scrupulously guarded. Motley. [ 1913 Webster ]

Domiciliary visit (Law), a visit to a private dwelling, particularly for searching it, under authority. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ L. floccus a flock of wool. Cf. Flock of wool. ] (Med.) A delirious picking of bedclothes by a sick person, as if to pick off flocks of wool; carphology; -- an alarming symptom in acute diseases. Dunglison. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ L. focilatus, p. p. of focillare. ] To nourish. [ Obs. ] Blount. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Comfort; support. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Same as Gracillariidae.
Syn. -- Gracilariidae. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

{ a. [ L. gracilis, gracilentus. ] Slender; thin. [ Obs. ] Bailey.
Syn. -- willowy. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A tropical American tree (Melicocca bijuga, or Melicocca bijugatus) bearing a small edible fruit with green leathery skin and sweet juicy translucent pulp.
Syn. -- Spanish lime, Spanish lime tree, honey berry, genip, ginep, Melicocca bijuga, Melicocca bijugatus. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. The state of oscillating; a seesaw kind of motion. [ R. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

‖prop. n. [ NL., fr. L. oscillare to swing. ] (Bot.) A genus of dark green, or purplish black, filamentous, fresh-water algae, the threads of which have an automatic swaying or crawling motion. Called also Oscillatoria. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. [ imp. & p. p. Oscillated p. pr. & vb. n. Oscillating ] [ L. oscillare to swing, fr. oscillum a swing, a little mask or puppet made to be hung from trees and swing in the wind, prob. orig., a little mouth, a dim. from os mouth. See Oral, and cf. Osculate. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

1. To move backward and forward; to vibrate like a pendulum; to swing; to sway. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To vary or fluctuate between fixed limits; to act or move in a fickle or fluctuating manner; to change repeatedly, back and forth. [ 1913 Webster ]

The amount of superior families oscillates rather than changes, that is, it fluctuates within fixed limits. De Quincey. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. That oscillates; vibrating; swinging. [ 1913 Webster ]

. (Elec.) A current alternating in direction. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

Oscillating engine, a steam engine whose cylinder oscillates on trunnions instead of being permanently fixed in a perpendicular or other direction. Weale. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ L. oscillatio a swinging. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

1. The act of oscillating; a swinging or moving backward and forward, like a pendulum; vibration. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Fluctuation; variation; change back and forth. [ 1913 Webster ]

His mind oscillated, undoubtedly; but the extreme points of the oscillation were not very remote. Macaulay. [ 1913 Webster ]

Axis of oscillation,
Center of oscillation. See under Axis, and Center. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Tending to oscillate; vibratory. [ R. ] I. Taylor. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. One that oscillates; specif.: (Electronics) Any device or circuit for producing electric oscillations, whether of current or voltage; esp., an apparatus for generating electric waves in a system of wireless telegraphy. Oscillators are essential components of radio transmission devices and digital computers, as well as many other types of electronic device. In computers the oscillator provides the voltage impulses which permit information bits to be transferred between parts of the computer in a defined sequence. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. +PJC ]

2. (Mech.) An instrument for measuring rigidity by the torsional oscillations of a weighted wire. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

‖n. pl. [ NL. See Oscillatory. ] (Bot.) Same as Oscillaria. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ Cf. F. oscillatoire. See Oscillate. ] Moving, or characterized by motion, backward and forward like a pendulum; swinging; oscillating; vibratory; as, oscillatory motion. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ L. oscillare + -gram. ] (Elec.) An autographic record made by an oscillograph. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

n. [ L. oscillare to swing + -graph. ] (Elec.) An apparatus for recording or indicating alternating-current wave forms or other electrical oscillations, especially of voltages or currents; it usually consists of a galvanometer with strong field, in which the mass of the moving part is very small and frequency of vibration very high. -- Os`cil*lo*graph"ic a. [Webster 1913 Suppl.]

n. 1. a device for making a record of the wave forms of fluctuating . [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. [ L. oscillare to swing + -meter. ] An instrument for measuring the angle through which a ship rolls or pitches at sea. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

n. [ L. oscillare to swing + -scope. ] An electronic measuring instrument which provides a visual representation of the time variation of electrical quantities, such as voltage or current. It may be used to measure the shape of a voltage pulse or the frequency of an oscillating voltage. It can also be used to measure properties of other physical variables, such as sound or light intensity, if they can be translated into electrical voltage or current. The common cathode-ray oscilloscope uses a cathode-ray tube to project a beam of electrons onto the interior of a nearly flat surface surface of the tube, which is coated with a material which fluoresces when struck by the moving electrons. The location of the beam of electrons on the target surface is controlled by electrodes surrounding the point of origin of the beam, which control the horizontal and vertical deflection. The degree of deflection from the vertical center can be made to represent the electrical variable to be measured. The cathode-ray oscilloscope is similar in many respects to the most common form of television tube. -- os*cil"lo*scop`ic, a.
Syn. -- scope, cathode-ray oscilloscope, CRO [WordNet 1.5 +PJC]

{ } a. Shaped like a pencil; penicillate. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Chem., Med.) A substance (C5H11NO2S) which is a degradation product of the penicillins. Chemically it is 3-mercapto-D-valine. It has chelating properties and is used in medicine as an antirheumatic and to chelate copper in cases of hepatolenticular degeneration (Wilson's disease). [ PJC ]

a. [ Cf. F. pénicillé. See Penicil. ] (Biol.) Having the form of a pencil; furnished with a pencil of fine hairs; ending in a tuft of hairs like a camel's-hair brush, as the stigmas of some grasses. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. (Bot.) Penicillate. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ From Penicillium, the fungus genus from which it was first isolated. ] (Chem.) Any of a variety of substances having a structure containing a beta-lactam ring fused to a thiirane ring, to which a carboxyl group is attached, but most commonly interpreted as benzyl penicillin. They are notable as powerful antibacterial agents of relatively low toxicity which have found extensive use in medicine for treating bacterial infections. They are categorized as one of the classes of beta-lactam antibiotic. They are produced naturally by some fungi and bacteria, and industrial production processes almost invariably start from some form of the penicillin nucleus produced by fermentation of microorganisms. The fermentation products are then chemically modified to produce derivatives of enhanced potency, safety, or antibacterial spectrum. The first penicillin to see extensive use clinically (during World War II) was penicillin G, also called benzypenicillin, and commonly simply “penicillin”. [ PJC ]

☞The characteristic portion of the structure characterizing a penicillin is the bicyclic structure 3, 3-Dimethyl-7-oxo-4-thia-1-azabicylo[ 3.2.0 ]heptane-2-carboxylic acid. The different penicillins have varying acyl groups forming an amide bond with a nitrogen attached to the 6-carbon of this nucleus. This distinguishes it from the other classes of beta-lactam antibiotic, the cephalosporins, thienamycins and sulfazecin. [ PJC ]

n. (Bioch.) An enzyme which destroys the antibacterial activity of penicillin by hydrolyzing the amide bond in the beta-lactam ring. Many penicillinases are known, and are produced by a wide variety of bacteria. The production of penicillinase is one of the mechanisms by which bacteria may become resistant to penicillins. Penicillinase production in various bacterial species may be induced, i.e., it may occur only when stimulated by the presence of penicillin in the culture medium, or it may be constitutive, i.e., it may occur whenever the cells are producing protein. Molecular weights of the various penicillinases tend to cluster near 50, 000. [ PJC ]

‖n. [ Amer. Sp., dim. of pilon. ] Same as Pilon. [ Texas ] [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

n. (Eccl. Hist.) A follower of Priscillian, bishop of Avila in Spain, in the fourth century, who mixed various elements of Gnosticism and Manicheism with Christianity. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ L. refocillatus, p. p. of refocillare; pref. re- re- + focillare to revive by warmth. ] To refresh; to revive. [ Obs. ] Aubrey. [ 1913 Webster ]