*elt*

n. a genus of epiphytic or terrestrial ferns of America and Africa and Polynesia.
Syn. -- genus Amauropelta. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. [ AS. belt; akin to Icel. belti, Sw. bälte, Dan. bælte, OHG. balz, L. balteus, Ir. & Gael. balt border, belt. ] 1. That which engirdles a person or thing; a band or girdle; as, a lady's belt; a sword belt. [ 1913 Webster ]

The shining belt with gold inlaid. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. That which restrains or confines as a girdle. [ 1913 Webster ]

He cannot buckle his distempered cause
Within the belt of rule. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Anything that resembles a belt, or that encircles or crosses like a belt; a strip or stripe; as, a belt of trees; a belt of sand. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. (Arch.) Same as Band, n., 2. A very broad band is more properly termed a belt. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. (Astron.) One of certain girdles or zones on the surface of the planets Jupiter and Saturn, supposed to be of the nature of clouds. [ 1913 Webster ]

6. (Geog.) A narrow passage or strait; as, the Great Belt and the Lesser Belt, leading to the Baltic Sea. [ 1913 Webster ]

7. (Her.) A token or badge of knightly rank. [ 1913 Webster ]

8. (Mech.) A band of leather, or other flexible substance, passing around two wheels, and communicating motion from one to the other. [ See Illust. of Pulley. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

9. (Nat. Hist.) A band or stripe, as of color, round any organ; or any circular ridge or series of ridges. [ 1913 Webster ]

Belt lacing, thongs used for lacing together the ends of machine belting. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Belted; p. pr. & vb. n. Belting. ] To encircle with, or as with, a belt; to encompass; to surround. [ 1913 Webster ]

A coarse black robe belted round the waist. C. Reade. [ 1913 Webster ]

They belt him round with hearts undaunted. Wordsworth. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To shear, as the buttocks and tails of sheep. [ Prov. Eng. ] Halliwell. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Gael. bealltainn, bealltuinn. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

1. The first day of May (Old Style). [ 1913 Webster ]

The quarter-days anciently in Scotland were Hallowmas, Candlemas, Beltane, and Lammas. New English Dict. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A festival of the heathen Celts on the first day of May, in the observance of which great bonfires were kindled. It still exists in a modified form in some parts of Scotland and Ireland. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. 1. Encircled by, or secured with, a belt; as, a belted plaid; girt with a belt, as an honorary distinction; as, a belted knight; a belted earl. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Marked with a band or circle; as, a belted stalk. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Worn in, or suspended from, the belt. [ 1913 Webster ]

Three men with belted brands. Sir W. Scott. [ 1913 Webster ]

Belted cattle, cattle originally from Dutch stock, having a broad band of white round the middle, while the rest of the body is black; -- called also blanketed cattle. [ 1913 Webster ]

{ } n. See Beltane. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The material of which belts for machinery are made; also, belts, taken collectively. [ 1913 Webster ]

adj. lacking a belt. beltless jackets are in this season belted
Syn. -- unbelted. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

v. t. To pelt roundly. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ Pref. bi- + peltate. ] Having a shell or covering like a double shield. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Martial arts) a comedy that treats of morbid, tragic, gloomy, or grotesque situations as a major element of the plot. [ PJC ]

a. Of or pertaining to a catapult. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ L. Celtae, Gr. Keltoi`, Ke`ltai, pl.: cf. W. Celtiad one that dwells in a covert, an inhabitant of the wood, a Celt, fr. celt covert, shelter, celu to hide. ] One of an ancient race of people, who formerly inhabited a great part of Central and Western Europe, and whose descendants at the present day occupy Ireland, Wales, the Highlands of Scotland, and the northern shores of France. [ Written also Kelt. The letter C was pronounced hard in Celtic languages. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ LL. celts a chisel. ] (Archæol.) A weapon or implement of stone or metal, found in the tumuli, or barrows, of the early Celtic nations. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. Celtiber, Celtibericus. ] Of or pertaining to the ancient Celtiberia (a district in Spain lying between the Ebro and the Tagus) or its inhabitants the Celtiberi (Celts of the river Iberus). -- n. An inhabitant of Celtiberia. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. Celticus, Gr. Keltiko`s. See Celt. ] Of or pertaining to the Celts; as, Celtic people, tribes, literature, tongue. [ Written also Keltic. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The language of the Celts. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ The remains of the old Celtic language are found in the Gaelic, the Erse or Irish; the Manx, and the Welsh and its cognate dialects Cornish and Bas Breton. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A custom of the Celts, or an idiom of their language. Warton. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. To render Celtic; to assimilate to the Celts. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ NL. ] (Chem.) The first proposed name for a supposed new element of the rare-earth group, accompanying lutecium and scandium in the gadolinite earths. It is now considered identical to Lutetium. The proposed symbol was Ct (no period), but this name and symbol are no longer used. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. +PJC ]

n. 1. a type of lettuce (Lactuca sativa asparagina) valued especially for its edible stems.
Syn. -- stem lettuce, Lactuca sativa asparagina. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

2. a salad green having characteristics of both lettuce and celery; stems eaten either raw or cooked. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n.; pl. Cruelties [ OF. cruelté, F. cruauté, fr. L. crudelitas, fr. crudelis. See Cruel. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

1. The attribute or quality of being cruel; a disposition to give unnecessary pain or suffering to others; inhumanity; barbarity. [ 1913 Webster ]

Pierced through the heart with your stern cruelty. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A cruel and barbarous deed; inhuman treatment; the act of willfully causing unnecessary pain. [ 1913 Webster ]

Cruelties worthy of the dungeons of the Inquisition. Macaulay. [ 1913 Webster ]

{ , n. [ AS. danegeld. See Dane, and Geld, n. ] (Eng. Hist.) An annual tax formerly laid on the English nation to buy off the ravages of Danish invaders, or to maintain forces to oppose them. It afterward became a permanent tax, raised by an assessment, at first of one shilling, afterward of two shillings, upon every hide of land throughout the realm. Wharton's Law Dict. Tomlins. [ 1913 Webster ]

n.; pl. Deltas [ Gr. de`lta, the name of the fourth letter of the Greek alphabet (the capital form of which is Δ, Eng. D), from the Phœnician name of the corresponding letter. The Greeks called the alluvial deposit at the mouth of the Nile, from its shape, the Delta of the Nile. ] 1. The fourth letter of the Greek alphabet (Δ δ), corresponding to D. Hence, an object having the shape of the capital Δ. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

2. A tract of land shaped like the letter delta (Δ), especially when the land is alluvial and inclosed between two or more mouths of a river; as, the delta of the Ganges, of the Nile, or of the Mississippi. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Elec.) The closed figure produced by connecting three coils or circuits successively, end for end, esp. in a three-phase system; -- often used attributively, as delta winding, delta connection (which see), etc. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

. (Elec.) One of the usual forms or methods for connecting apparatus to a three-phase circuit, the three corners of the delta or triangle, as diagrammatically represented, being connected to the three wires of the supply circuit. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

. (Elec.) The current flowing through a delta connection. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

n. [ Delta + L. facere to make. ] The formation of a delta or of deltas. [ R. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Relating to, or like, a delta. [ 1913 Webster ]

‖n. [ NL., fr. Gr. de`lta the name of the letter Δ + thy`ra door. ] (Zool.) A name formerly given to certain Silurian brachiopod shells of the genus Spirifer. [ 1913 Webster ]

Delthyris limestone (Geol.), one of the divisions of the Upper Silurian rocks in New York. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Deltaic. [ 1913 Webster ]

‖n. [ NL., fr. Gr. de`lta, the letter Δ. ] (Zool.) The triangular space under the beak of many brachiopod shells. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Gr. de`lta, the letter Δ + 'e`dra seat, base. ] (Crystallog.) A solid bounded by twelve quadrilateral faces. It is a hemihedral form of the isometric system, allied to the tetrahedron. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ Gr. deltoeidh`s delta- shaped; de`lta the name of the letter Δ + e'i^dos form: cf. F. deltoïde. See Delta. ] 1. Shaped like the Greek Δ (delta); delta-shaped; triangular. [ 1913 Webster ]

Deltoid leaf (Bot.), a leaf in the form of a triangle with the stem inserted at the middle of the base. --
Deltoid muscle (Anat.), a large triangular muscle covering the shoulder joint, which serves to raise the arm directly upward. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. of or pertaining to the deltoid muscle. [ PJC ]

n. [ see deltoid, a. ] the deltoid muscle. [ PJC ]

n. pl. (Anat.) The deltoid muscles; -- a contraction used by body-building and health enthusiasts. Used similarly to abs and pecs. See deltoid muscle. [ abbrev. ] [ PJC ]

imp. & p. p.of Dwell. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. To shelter. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

imp. & p. p. or a. from Feel. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ AS. felt; akin to D. vilt, G. filz, and possibly to Gr. &unr_; hair or wool wrought into felt, L. pilus hair, pileus a felt cap or hat. ] 1. A cloth or stuff made of matted fibers of wool, or wool and fur, fulled or wrought into a compact substance by rolling and pressure, with lees or size, without spinning or weaving. [ 1913 Webster ]

It were a delicate stratagem to shoe
A troop of horse with felt. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A hat made of felt. Thynne. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. A skin or hide; a fell; a pelt. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

To know whether sheep are sound or not, see that the felt be loose. Mortimer. [ 1913 Webster ]

Felt grain, the grain of timber which is transverse to the annular rings or plates; the direction of the medullary rays in oak and some other timber. Knight. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Felted; p. pr. & vb. n. Felting. ] 1. To make into felt, or a feltike substance; to cause to adhere and mat together. Sir M. Hale. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To cover with, or as with, felt; as, to felt the cylinder of a steam engine. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. To clot or mat together like felt. [ 1913 Webster ]

His feltered locks that on his bosom fell. Fairfax. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. The material of which felt is made; also, felted cloth; also, the process by which it is made. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. The act of splitting timber by the felt grain. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ OF. feltre. ] See Felt, n. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

. A region of the ocean where fogs are of marked frequency, as near the coast of Newfoundland. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

n. Frailty. [ Obs. ] Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Frailty. [ Obs. ] Chaucer.

n. [ See 1st Geld. ] Trubute, tax. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

All these the king granted unto them . . . free from all gelts and payments, in a most full and ample manner. Fuller. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ See Gelt, v. t. ] A gelding. [ Obs. ] Mortimer. [ 1913 Webster ]