*tass*

n. [ F. entassement, fr. entasser to heap up. ] A heap; accumulation. [ R. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ OF. porte-hors a kind of prayer book, so called from being portable; cf. LL. portiforium. ] A breviary; a prayer book. [ Written variously portace, portasse, portesse, portise, porthose, portos, portus, portuse, etc. ] [ Obs. ] Spenser. Camden. [ 1913 Webster ]

By God and by this porthors I you swear. Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ NL., fr. E. potash. ] (Chem.) (a) Potassium oxide. [ Obs. ] (b) Potassium hydroxide, commonly called caustic potash. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Potassium + amide. ] (Chem.) A yellowish brown substance obtained by heating potassium in ammonia. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ NL. See Potassa, Potash. ] (Chem.) An Alkali element, occurring abundantly but always combined, as in the chloride, sulphate, carbonate, or silicate, in the minerals sylvite, kainite, orthoclase, muscovite, etc. Atomic weight 39.0. Symbol K (Kalium). [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ It is reduced from the carbonate as a soft white metal, lighter than water, which oxidizes with the greatest readiness, and, to be preserved, must be kept under liquid hydrocarbons, as naphtha or kerosene. Its compounds are very important, being used in glass making, soap making, in fertilizers, and in many drugs and chemicals. [ 1913 Webster ]

Potassium permanganate, the salt KMnO4, crystallizing in dark red prisms having a greenish surface color, and dissolving in water with a beautiful purple red color; -- used as an oxidizer and disinfectant. The name chameleon mineral is applied to this salt and also to potassium manganate. --
Potassium bitartrate. See Cream of tartar, under Cream. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Potassium + oxygen + -yl. ] (Chem.) The radical KO, derived from, and supposed to exist in, potassium hydroxide and other compounds. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. (Chem.) Pertaining to, or containing, potassium. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Russ. tarantas'. ] A low four-wheeled carriage used in Russia. The carriage box rests on two long, springy poles which run from the fore to the hind axletree. When snow falls, the wheels are taken off, and the body is mounted on a sledge. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ OF. tassette. ] A piece of armor for the thighs, forming an appendage to the ancient corselet. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ Usually the tasse was a plate of iron swinging from the cuirass, but the skirts of sliding splints were also called by this name. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Falconry) A male hawk. See Tercel. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ See Teasel. ] A kind of bur used in dressing cloth; a teasel. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ OE., a fastening of a mantle, OF. tassel a fastening, clasp, F. tasseau a bracket, Fr. L. taxillus a little die, dim. of talus a die of a longish shape, rounded on two sides and marked only on the other four, a knuckle bone. ] 1. A pendent ornament, attached to the corners of cushions, to curtains, and the like, ending in a tuft of loose threads or cords. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. The flower or head of some plants, esp. when pendent. [ 1913 Webster ]

And the maize field grew and ripened, Till it stood in all the splendor
Of its garments green and yellow,
Of its tassels and its plumage. Longfellow. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. A narrow silk ribbon, or the like, sewed to a book to be put between the leaves. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. (Arch.) A piece of board that is laid upon a wall as a sort of plate, to give a level surface to the ends of floor timbers; -- rarely used in the United States. [ 1913 Webster ]

Tassel flower (Bot.), a name of several composite plants of the genus Cineraria, especially the Cineraria sconchifolia, and of the blossoms which they bear. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. [ imp. & p. p. Tasseled r Tasselled; p. pr. & vb. n. Tasseling or Tasselling. ] To put forth a tassel or flower; as, maize tassels. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. To adorn with tassels. Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]