*clas*

a. [ Gr. &unr_; to bend back and break; to reflect (light); &unr_; + &unr_; to break. ] 1. (Opt.) Produced by the refraction of light, as seen through water; as, anaclastic curves. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Springing back, as the bottom of an anaclastic glass. [ 1913 Webster ]

Anaclastic glass, a glass or phial, shaped like an inverted funnel, and with a very thin convex bottom. By sucking out a little air, the bottom springs into a concave form with a smart crack; and by breathing or blowing gently into the orifice, the bottom, with a like noise, springs into its former convex form. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Opt.) That part of optics which treats of the refraction of light; -- commonly called dioptrics. Encyc. Brit. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Gr. 'an priv. + orthoclase. ] (Min.) A feldspar closely related to orthoclase, but triclinic. It is chiefly a silicate of sodium, potassium, and aluminium. Sp. gr., 2.57 -- 2.60. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

‖n. [ Gr. &unr_;; 'anti`/ + 'ana`klasis a bending back and breaking. See Anaclastic. ] (Rhet.) (a) A figure which consists in repeating the same word in a different sense; as, Learn some craft when young, that when old you may live without craft. (b) A repetition of words beginning a sentence, after a long parenthesis; as, Shall that heart (which not only feels them, but which has all motions of life placed in them), shall that heart, etc. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ Pref. anti- = Gr. kla^n to break. ] Having opposite curvatures, that is, curved longitudinally in one direction and transversely in the opposite direction, as the surface of a saddle. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ See Auto-; Clastic. ] (Geol.) Broken in place; -- said of rocks having a broken or brecciated structure due to crushing, in contrast to those of brecciated materials brought from a distance. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

n. [ Gr. &unr_;; &unr_; down + &unr_; to break. ] A breaking asunder; disruption. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

v. i. [ imp. & p. p. Clashed p. pr. & vb. n. Clashing. ] [ Of imitative origin; cf. G. klatschen, Prov. G. kleschen, D. kletsen, Dan. klaske, E. clack. ] 1. To make a noise by striking against something; to dash noisily together. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To meet in opposition; to act in a contrary direction; to come onto collision; to interfere. [ 1913 Webster ]

However some of his interests might clash with those of the chief adjacent colony. Palfrey. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. To strike noisily against or together. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. A loud noise resulting from collision; a noisy collision of bodies; a collision. [ 1913 Webster ]

The roll of cannon and clash of arms. Tennyson. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Opposition; contradiction; as between differing or contending interests, views, purposes, etc. [ 1913 Webster ]

Clashes between popes and kings. Denham. [ 1913 Webster ]

. (Mach.) A change-speed gear in which the gears are changed by sliding endwise. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

adv. With clashing. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Clasped p. pr. & vb. n. Clasping ] [ OE. claspen, clapsen, prob. akin to E. clap. ] 1. To shut or fasten together with, or as with, a clasp; to shut or fasten (a clasp, or that which fastens with a clasp). [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To inclose and hold in the hand or with the arms; to grasp; to embrace. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To surround and cling to; to entwine about. “Clasping ivy.” Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. An adjustable catch, bent plate, or hook, for holding together two objects or the parts of anything, as the ends of a belt, the covers of a book, etc. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A close embrace; a throwing of the arms around; a grasping, as with the hand. [ 1913 Webster ]

Clasp knife, a large knife, the blade of which folds or shuts into the handle. --
Clasp lock, a lock which closes or secures itself by means of a spring. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. One who, or that which, clasps, as a tendril. “The claspers of vines.” Derham. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Zool.) (a) One of a pair of organs used by the male for grasping the female among many of the Crustacea. (b) One of a pair of male copulatory organs, developed on the anterior side of the ventral fins of sharks and other elasmobranchs. See Illust. of Chimæra. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Furnished with tendrils. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ F. classe, fr. L. classis class, collection, fleet; akin to Gr. klh^sis a calling, kalei^n to call, E. claim, haul. ] 1. A group of individuals ranked together as possessing common characteristics; as, the different classes of society; the educated class; the lower classes. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A number of students in a school or college, of the same standing, or pursuing the same studies. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. A comprehensive division of animate or inanimate objects, grouped together on account of their common characteristics, in any classification in natural science, and subdivided into orders, families, tribes, genera, etc. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. A set; a kind or description, species or variety. [ 1913 Webster ]

She had lost one class energies. Macaulay. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. (Methodist Church) One of the sections into which a church or congregation is divided, and which is under the supervision of a class leader. [ 1913 Webster ]

6. One session of formal instruction in which one or more teachers instruct a group on some subject. The class may be one of a course of classes, or a single special session. [ PJC ]

7. A high degree of elegance, in dress or behavior; the quality of bearing oneself with dignity, grace, and social adeptness. [ PJC ]

Class of a curve (Math.), the kind of a curve as expressed by the number of tangents that can be drawn from any point to the curve. A circle is of the second class. --
Class meeting (Methodist Church), a meeting of a class under the charge of a class leader, for counsel and relegious instruction. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Classed p. pr. & vb. n. Classing. ] [ Cf. F. classer. See Class, n. ] 1. To arrange in classes; to classify or refer to some class; as, to class words or passages. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ In scientific arrangement, to classify is used instead of to class. Dana. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To divide into classes, as students; to form into, or place in, a class or classes. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. To be grouped or classed. [ 1913 Webster ]

The genus or family under which it classes. Tatham. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. exhibiting refinement and high character; as, a class act. Opposite of low-class [ informal ]
Syn. -- high-class. [ PJC ]

. In American colleges and universities, a day of the commencement season on which the senior class celebrates the completion of its course by exercises conducted by the members, such as the reading of the class histories and poem, the delivery of the class oration, the planting of the class ivy, etc. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

a. Capable of being classed. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. A work of acknowledged excellence and authority, or its author; -- originally used of Greek and Latin works or authors, but now applied to authors and works of a like character in any language. [ 1913 Webster ]

In is once raised him to the rank of a legitimate English classic. Macaulay. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. One learned in the literature of Greece and Rome, or a student of classical literature. [ 1913 Webster ]

{ } a. [ L. classicus relating to the classes of the Roman people, and especially to the frist class; hence, of the first rank, superior, from classis class: cf. F. classique. See Class, n. ] 1. Of or relating to the first class or rank, especially in literature or art. [ 1913 Webster ]

Give, as thy last memorial to the age,
One classic drama, and reform the stage. Byron. [ 1913 Webster ]

Mr. Greaves may justly be reckoned a classical author on this subject [ Roman weights and coins ]. Arbuthnot. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Of or pertaining to the ancient Greeks and Romans, esp. to Greek or Roman authors of the highest rank, or of the period when their best literature was produced; of or pertaining to places inhabited by the ancient Greeks and Romans, or rendered famous by their deeds. [ 1913 Webster ]

Though throned midst Latium's classic plains. Mrs. Hemans. [ 1913 Webster ]

The epithet classical, as applied to ancient authors, is determined less by the purity of their style than by the period at which they wrote. Brande & C. [ 1913 Webster ]

He [ Atterbury ] directed the classical studies of the undergraduates of his college. Macaulay. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Conforming to the best authority in literature and art; chaste; pure; refined; as, a classical style. [ 1913 Webster ]

Classical, provincial, and national synods. Macaulay. [ 1913 Webster ]

Classicals orders. (Arch.) See under Order. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. A classical idiom, style, or expression; a classicism. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Adherence to what are supposed or assumed to be the classical canons of art. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. One who adheres to what he thinks the classical canons of art. Ruskin. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. 1. In a classical manner; according to the manner of classical authors. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. In the manner of classes; according to a regular order of classes or sets. [ 1913 Webster ]

{ } n. The quality of being classical. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A classic idiom or expression; a classicalism. C. Kingsley. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. One learned in the classics; an advocate for the classics. [ 1913 Webster ]

adj. of or pertaining to classicism; as, classicistic tradition. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

v. t. to make classic or classical. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. pl. the branch of learning concerned with study of the literary works of ancient Greece and Rome. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

a. Capable of being classified. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Characterizing a class or classes; relating to classification. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Cf. F. classification. ] The act of forming into a class or classes; a distribution into groups, as classes, orders, families, etc., according to some common relations or affinities. [ 1913 Webster ]

Artificial classification. (Science) See under Artifitial. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Pertaining to classification; admitting of classification. “A classificatory system.” Earle. [ 1913 Webster ]

adj. 1. arranged into classes or categories; as, unclassified.
Syn. -- categorized. [ WordNet 1.5 +PJC ]

2. assigned to a class of documents withheld from general circulation; -- of information or documents. Opposite of unclassified. [ Narrower terms: eyes-only; confidential; restricted; secret; sensitive; top-secret ] [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. One who classifies. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Classified p. pr. & vb. n. Classifying. ] [ L. classis class + -fy. ] To distribute into classes; to arrange according to a system; to arrange in sets according to some method founded on common properties or characters.

Syn. -- To arrange; distribute; rank. [ 1913 Webster ]

‖n.; pl. Classes [ L. See Class, n. ] 1. A class or order; sort; kind. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

His opinion of that classis of men. Clarendon. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Eccl.) An ecclesiastical body or judicatory in certain churches, as the Reformed Dutch. It is intermediate between the consistory and the synod, and corresponds to the presbytery in the Presbyterian church. [ 1913 Webster ]

n.; pl. Classmen 1. A member of a class; a classmate. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A candidate for graduation in arts who is placed in an honor class, as opposed to a passman, who is not classified. [ Oxford, Eng. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. One who is in the same class with another, as at school or college. [ 1913 Webster ]

adj. 1. having elegance or taste or refinement in manners or dress. Opposite of styleless. [ informal ]
Syn. -- posh, swish, stylish. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

2. exhibiting refinement and high character. Opposite of low-class [ informal ]
Syn. -- high-class. [ PJC ]

a. [ Gr. &unr_; br&unr_;, fr. &unr_; to break. ] 1. Pertaining to what may be taken apart; as, clastic anatomy (of models). [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Min.) Fragmental; made up of brok&unr_; fragments; as, sandstone is a clastic rock. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Cranium + Gr. &unr_;&unr_;&unr_; to break. ] (Med.) The crushing of a child's head, as with the cranioclast or craniotomy forceps in cases of very difficult delivery. Dunglison. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Med.) An instrument for crushing the head of a fetus, to facilitate delivery in difficult eases. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Cf. Ciclatoun. ] A long gown or surcoat (cut off in front), worn in the Middle Ages. It was sometimes embroidered or interwoven with gold. Also, a rich stuff from which the gown was made. [ 1913 Webster ]