*els*

n. [ Pref. bel- + sire. Cf. Beldam. ] A grandfather, or ancestor. “His great belsire Brute.” [ Obs. ] Drayton. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Contr. from bellyswagger. ] A lewd man; also, a bully. [ Obs. ] Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

prop. n. (Geography) The capital city of Belgium. Population (2000) = 949, 070 (metro). It has given its name to a kind of carpet, a kind of lace, etc. [ PJC ]

Brussels carpet, a kind of carpet made of worsted yarn fixed in a foundation web of strong linen thread. The worsted, which alone shows on the upper surface in drawn up in loops to form the pattern. --
Brussels ground, a name given to the handmade ground of real Brussels lace. It is very costly because of the extreme fineness of the threads. --
Brussels lace, an expensive kind of lace of several varieties, originally made in Brussels; as, Brussels point, Brussels ground, Brussels wire ground. --
Brussels net, an imitation of Brussels ground, made by machinery. --
Brussels point. See Point lace. --
Brussels sprouts (Bot.), a plant of the Cabbage family, which produces, in the axils of the upright stem, numerous small green heads, or “sprouts, ” each a cabbage in miniature, of one or two inches in diameter; the thousand-headed cabbage. --
Brussels wire ground, a ground for lace, made of silk, with meshes partly straight and partly arched. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Of camel's hair. [ 1913 Webster ]

Camel's-hair pencil, a small brush used by painters in water colors, made of camel's hair or similar materials. --
Camel's-hair shawl. A name often given to a cashmere shawl. See Cashmere shawl under Cashmere. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ L. celstudo, from celsus high: cf. celsitude. ] Height; altitude. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The Celsius thermometer or scale, so called from Anders Celsius, a Swedish astronomer, who invented it. It is the same as the centigrade thermometer or scale. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Colonelcy. Swift. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. pl. [ Corrupt. fr. F. écrouelles scrofula. ] Glandular scrofulous swellings in the neck. [ 1913 Webster ]

n., or . A system of calisthenics patterned on the theories of François Delsarte (1811 -- 71), a French teacher of dramatic and musical expression. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

n. A spear with barbed forks for spearing eels. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. & pron. [ OE. & AS. elles otherwise, gen. sing. of an adj. signifying other; akin to OHG. elles otherwise, OSw. äljes, Sw. eljest, Goth. aljis, adj., other, L. alius, Gr. &unr_;. Cf. Alias, Alien. ] Other; one or something beside; as, Who else is coming? What else shall I give? Do you expect anything else? “Bastards and else.” Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ This word always follows its noun. It is usual to give the possessive form to else rather than to the substantive; as, somebody else's; no one else's. “A boy who is fond of somebody else's pencil case.” G. Eliot. “A suit of clothes like everybody else's.” Thackeray. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. & conj. 1. Besides; except that mentioned; in addition; as, nowhere else; no one else. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Otherwise; in the other, or the contrary, case; if the facts were different. [ 1913 Webster ]

For thou desirest not sacrifice; else would I give it. Ps. li. 16. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ After ‘or', else is sometimes used expletively, as simply noting an alternative. “Will you give thanks, . . . or else shall I?” Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. 1. In any other place; as, these trees are not to be found elsewhere. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. In some other place; in other places, indefinitely; as, it is reported in town and elsewhere. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. To some, or any, other place; as, you will have to go elsewhither for it. R. of Gloucester. “For elsewhither was I bound.” Carlyle. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. Otherwise. [ R. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A shoemaker's awl. [ Prov. Eng. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

‖ a. [ L., compar. of excelsus elevated, lofty, p. p. of excellere. See Excel, v. t. ] More lofty; still higher; ever upward. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A kind of stuffing for upholstered furniture, mattresses, etc., in which curled shreds of wood are substituted for curled hair. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Cf. Feldspar. ] (Min.) A finegrained rock, flintlike in fracture, consisting essentially of orthoclase feldspar with occasional grains of quartz. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. relating to, composed of, or containing, felsite.

{ , n. (Min.) See Feldspar. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. See Feldspathic. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ From G. feldstein, in analogy with E. felspar. ] (Min.) See Felsite. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. pl. [ Written also fasels. ] See Phasel. [ Obs. ] May (Georgics).

a. Gelseminic. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Chem.) An alkaloid obtained from the yellow jasmine (Gelsemium sempervirens), as a bitter white semicrystalline substance; -- called also gelsemia. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Chem.) Pertaining to, or derived from, the yellow jasmine (Gelsemium sempervirens); as, gelseminic acid, a white crystalline substance resembling esculin. [ 1913 Webster ]

‖n. [ NL., fr. It. gelsomino jasmine. ] 1. (Bot.) A genus of climbing plants. The yellow (false) jasmine (Gelsemium sempervirens) is a native of the Southern United States. It has showy and deliciously fragrant flowers. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Med.) The root of the yellow jasmine, used in malarial fevers, etc. [ 1913 Webster ]

. (Wrestling) A hold in which one arm is thrust under the corresponding arm of the opponent, generally behind, and the hand placed upon the back of his neck. In the
full nelson both hands are so placed. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

n. (Zool.) A slender bony or cartilaginous process developed from the heel bone of bats. It helps to support the wing membranes. See Illust. of Cheiropter. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. An erect plant (Talinum paniculatum) with tuberous roots and terminal panicles of red to yellow flowers, grwing from Southwestern North America to Central America; it has been widely introduced elsewhere.
Syn. -- Talinum paniculatum. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. pl. Ninepins. See Kayles. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Akin to Sw. kölsvin, Dan. kjölsviin, G. kielschwein; apparently compounded of the words keel and swine; but cf. Norweg. kjölsvill, where svill is akin to E. sill, n. ] (Shipbuilding) A piece of timber in a ship laid on the middle of the floor timbers over the keel, and binding the floor timbers to the keel; in iron vessels, a structure of plates, situated like the keelson of a timber ship. [ 1913 Webster ]

Cross keelson, a similar structure lying athwart the main keelson, to support the engines and boilers. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. See Keelson. Sir W. Raleigh. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. pl. An honor or honors conferred for some notable achievement. [ PJC ]

to rest on one's laurels [ fig. ] to be content with one's past achievements and not strive to continue to excel; as, he didn't rest on his laurels after receiving the Nobel Prize, but went on to made even more significant discoveries. [ PJC ]

n. [ Norw., a whirlpool. ] 1. A celebrated whirlpool on the coast of Norway. Hence: any large or powerful whirlpool.
Syn. -- whirlpool, vortex. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Also (Fig.) An uncontrollable agitated or confusedly disordered state or situation; as, a maelstrom of vice. [ 1913 Webster +PJC ]

n. The shelf of a mantel. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A program that delivers hot meals to persons, such as the elderly or disabled, who are confined to their homes and unable to cook for themselves; also, the meals thus delivered. Such programs are usually conducted by governmental or charitable organizations. [ PJC ]

n. 1. The arts and occupation of minstrels; the singing and playing of a minstrel. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Musical instruments. [ Obs. ] Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. A collective body of minstrels, or musicians; also, a collective body of minstrels' songs. Chaucer. “The minstrelsy of heaven.” Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

‖n. [ Norw. odel odal + ting parliament. ] The lower house of the Norwegian Storthing. See Legislature. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

prop. a. Of, pertaining to, or in conformity with, the practice of Paracelsus, a Swiss physician and alchemist of the 15th century. Ferrand. [ 1913 Webster ]

prop. n. A follower of Paracelsus or his practice or teachings. Hakewill. [ 1913 Webster ]

prop. n. A Paracelsian. [ 1913 Webster ]

prop. n. Philippus Aureolus Paracelsus (originally Theophrastus Bombastus von Hohenheim, also called Theophrastus Paracelsus and Theophrastus von Hohenheim). Born at Maria-Einsiedeln, in the Canton of Schwyz, Switzerland, Dec. 17 (or 10 Nov.), 1493: died at Salzburg, Sept. 23 (or 24), 1541. A celebrated German-Swiss physician, reformer of therapeutics, iatrochemist, and alchemist. He attended school in a small lead-mining district where his father, William Bombast von Hohenheim, was a physician and teacher of alchemy. The family originally came from Würtemberg, where the noble family of Bombastus was in possession of the ancestral castle of Hohenheim near Stuttgart until 1409. He entered the University of Basel at the age of sixteen, where he adopted the name Paracelsus, after Celsius, a noted Roman physician. But he left without a degree, first going to Wurtzburg to study under Joannes Trithemius, Abbot of Sponheim (1462-1516), a famous astrologer and alchemist, who initiated him into the mysteries of alchemy. He then spent many years in travel and intercourse with distinguished scholars, studied and practiced medicine and surgery, and at one point attended the Diet of Worms. He was appointed to the office of city physician of Basel, which also made him a lecturer on medicine at Basel about 1526, where, through the publisher Johan Frobenius he made friends with the scholar Erasmus; and there he fulminated against the medical pseudo-science of his day, and against the blind adherence to ancient medical authorities such as Hippocrates, Galen, and Avicenna, which was still the prevalent philosophy of medicine in the sixteenth century. But soon, in 1528, he was driven from the city by the medical corporations, whose methods he had severely criticized. He found refuge with friends, and traveled and practiced medicine, but could not find a publisher willing to print his books. He preached frequently the need for experimentation in medicine. He is important in the history of medicine chiefly on account of the impetus which he gave to the development of pharmaceutical chemistry. He was also the author of a visionary and theosophic system of philosophy. The first collective edition of his works appeared at Basel in 1589-91. Among the many legends concerning him is that concerning his long sword, which he obtained while serving as barber-surgeon during the Neapolitan wars. It was rumored that in the hilt of the sword he kept a familiar or small demon; some thought he carried the elixer of life in the sword. He is buried in the cemetary of the Hospital of St. Sebastian in Salzburg. For more detailed information about Paracelsus, there is a special project, the Zurich Paracelsus Project available on the Web. Century Dict., 1906; Bernard Jaffe (Crucibles: The Story of Chemistry, Revised Edition, 1948). [ PJC ]

The apothecaries, too, were enraged against this iconoclast [ Paracelsus ]. For had he not, as official town physician, demanded the right to inspect their stocks and rule over their prescriptions which he denounced as "foul broths"? These apothecaries had grown fat on the barbarous prescriptions of the local doctors. "The physician's duty is to heal the sick, not to enrich the apothecaries," he had warned them, and refused to send his patients to them to have the prescriptions compounded. He made his own medicines instead, and gave them free to his patients.
. . .
Then they hatched a plot and before long Basel had lost Paracelsus, ostensibly because of the meanness of a wealthy citizen. Paracelsus had sued Canon Lichtenfels for failure to pay him one hundred guldens promised for a cure. The patient had offered only six guldens, and the fiery Paracelsus, when the court deliberately handed in a verdict against him, rebuked it in such terms that his life was in imminent danger. In the dead of night, he was persuaded by his friends to leave secretly the city where he had hurled defiance at the pseudo-medicos of the world. Bernard Jaffe (Crucibles: The Story of Chemistry, Revised Edition, 1948) [ PJC ]

Although the theories of Paracelsus as contrasted with the Galeno-Arabic system indicate no advance, inasmuch as they ignore entirely the study of anatomy, still his reputation as a reformer of therapeutics is justified in that he broke new paths in the science. He may be taken as the founder of modern materia medica, and pioneer of scientific chemistry, since before his time medical science received no assistance from alchemy. To Paracelsus is due the use of mercury for syphilis as well as a number of other metallic remedies, probably a result of his studies in Schwaz, and partly his acquaintance with the quicksilver works in Idria. Catholic Encyclopedia, 1911 [ PJC ]

a. Apt or disposed to quarrel; given to brawls and contention; easily irritated or provoked to contest; irascible; choleric. [ 1913 Webster ]

Syn. -- Pugnacious; irritable; irascible; brawling; choleric; fiery; petulant. [ 1913 Webster ]

-- Quar"rel*some*ly, adv. -- Quar"rel*some*ness, n. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The seed of sesame. [ 1913 Webster ]

n.; pl. Telsons [ NL., fr. Gr. &unr_; a boundary, limit. ] (Zool.) The terminal joint or movable piece at the end of the abdomen of Crustacea and other articulates. See Thoracostraca. [ 1913 Webster ]

a pair of small wheels attached to the rear of a bicycle to keep the bicycle upright; -- used to assist those, especially small children, learning how to ride a bicycle. [ PJC ]