*kra*

n. [ In the language of the Calabar coast, buckra means “demon, a powerful and superior being.” J. L. Wilson. ] A white man; -- a term used by negroes of the African coast, West Indies, etc. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. White; white man's; strong; good; as, buckra yam, a white yam. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ OE. bokeram, bougeren, OF. boqueran, F. bougran, MHG. buckeram, LL. buchiranus, boquerannus, fr. MHG. boc, G. bock, goat (as being made of goat's hair), or fr. F. bouracan, by transposing the letter r. See Buck, Barracan. ] 1. A coarse cloth of linen or hemp, stiffened with size or glue, used in garments to keep them in the form intended, and for wrappers to cover merchandise. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ Buckram was formerly a very different material from that now known by the name. It was used for wearing apparel, etc. Beck (Draper's Dict. ). [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Bot.) A plant. See Ramson. Dr. Prior. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. 1. Made of buckram; as, a buckram suit. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Stiff; precise. “Buckram dames.” Brooke. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. To strengthen with buckram; to make stiff. Cowper. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Zool.) A long-tailed ape (Macacus cynomolgus) of India and Sumatra. It is reddish olive, spotted with black, and has a black tail. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ D., a village, inclosure, park, prob. fr. Pg. curral a cattle pen; the same word as Sp. corral. See Corral. ] 1. A collection of huts within a stockade; a village; sometimes, a single hut. [ South Africa ] [ 1913 Webster ]

2. An inclosure into which are driven wild elephants which are to be tamed and educated. [ Ceylon ] [ 1913 Webster ]

‖n. [ Native name. ] (Zool.) A very venomous snake of India (Bungarus coeruleus), allied to the cobra. Its upper parts are bluish or brownish black, often with narrow white streaks; the belly is whitish. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Prob. from OSw. krake, or ODan. krage the trunk of a tree, the branches of which are not entirely cut off, to which it was likened by the Norwegian mariners. ] A fabulous Scandinavian sea monster, often represented as resembling an island, but sometimes as resembling an immense octopus. [ 1913 Webster ]

To believe all that has been said of the sea serpent or kraken, would be credulity; to reject the possibility of their existence, would be presumption. Goldsmith. [ 1913 Webster ]

Like a kraken huge and black. Longfellow. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Mus.) A lively Polish dance. See Cracovienne. [ 1913 Webster ]

‖prop. n. [ NL. So called after the German botanists, J. G. H. Kramer & W. H. Kramer. ] (Bot.) A genus of spreading shrubs with many stems, from one species of which (Krameria triandra), found in Peru, rhatany root, used as a medicine, is obtained. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. (Chem.) Pertaining to, or derived from, Krameria (rhatany); as, krameric acid, usually called ratanhia-tannic acid. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Cf. D. kreng a carcass. ] The carcass of a whale after the blubber has been removed. [ Written also crang and kreng. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

pos>n. (Whaling) A hook for holding the blubber while cutting it away. [ Written also cranging hook. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

‖ n. [ G. See Lied, and Grants. ] (Mus.) Lit., wreath of songs; -- used as the title of a group of songs, and esp. as the common name for German vocal clubs of men. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

n. [ F. locrenan, locronan; from Locronan, in Brittany, where it is said to have been made. ] A kind of linen cloth anciently used in England, originally imported from Brittany. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. [ imp. & p. p. -raked p. pr. & vb. n. -raking ] To seek for, expose, or charge, especially habitually, corruption, real or alleged, on the part of public men and corporations. On April 14, 1906, President Roosevelt delivered a speech on “The Man with the Muck Rake, ” in which he deprecated sweeping and unjust charges of corruption against public men and corporations. The phrase was taken up by the press, and the verb to muckrake, in the above sense, and the noun muckraker, to designate one so engaged, were speedily coined and obtained wide currency. The original allusion was to a character in Bunyan's “Pilgrim's Progress” so intent on raking up muck that he could not see a celestial crown held above him. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

n. A person who habitually muckrakes. [ PJC ]

n. 1. (Zool.) A North American aquatic fur-bearing rodent (Ondatra zibethica formerly Fiber zibethicus). It resembles a rat in color and having a long scaly tail, but the tail is compressed, the hind feet are webbed, and the ears are concealed in the fur. It has scent glands which secrete a substance having a strong odor of musk. Called also musquash, musk beaver, ondatra, and sometimes water rat. [ 1913 Webster +PJC ]

2. (Zool.) The musk shrew. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Zool.) The desman. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. (Bot.) An annual plant (Abelmoschus esculentus syn. Hibiscus esculentus), whose green pods, abounding in nutritious mucilage, are much used for soups, stews, or pickles; gumbo. [ Written also ocra and ochra. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

2. The pods of the plant okra, used as a vegetable; also, a dish prepared with them; gumbo. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

n. 1. Any of several bushy-tailed rodents of the genus Neotoma of western North America, especially Neotoma cinerea, which hoard food and other objects in their nests.
Syn. -- trade rat, bushytail woodrat, Neotoma cinerea. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

2. A person who habitually saves items, even those unlikely to be useful. [ Informal ] [ PJC ]

n. A kind of openwork edging made of serpentine braid. [ 1913 Webster ]