*trix*

n. [ NL. ] A woman who administers; esp., one who administers the estate of an intestate, or to whom letters of administration have been granted; a female administrator. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ L. ] A female admonitor. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ L., fem. of arbitrator. ] A female who arbitrates or judges. [ 1913 Webster ]

‖n. [ NL. ] A female sovereign who is independent and absolute; -- a title given to the empresses of Russia. [ 1913 Webster ]

{ , n. A woman aviator (in senses 1 or 3). [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

n. The line bisecting the angle between the optic axes of a biaxial crystal. [ 1913 Webster ]

‖n.; pl. Cicatrices [ L. ] (Med.) The pellicle which forms over a wound or breach of continuity and completes the process of healing in the latter, and which subsequently contracts and becomes white, forming the scar. [ 1913 Webster ]

{ } n. A female coadjutor or assistant. Holland. Smollett. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A joint executrix. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ L. ] A competitress. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ L. ] A woman who preserves from loss, injury, etc. [ 1913 Webster ]

‖n. [ L. ] A creatress. [ R. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

{ } n. [ L. creditrix. ] A female creditor. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ L. ] 1. A woman who cures. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A woman who is a guardian or custodian. Burrill. [ 1913 Webster ]

{ } n. [ L. desertrix. ] A feminine deserter. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ L. ] A dictatress. [ 1913 Webster ]

n.; pl. E. Directrixes L. Directrices 1. A directress. [ R. ] Jer. Taylor. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Geom.) (a) A line along which a point in another line moves, or which in any way governs the motion of the point and determines the position of the curve generated by it; the line along which the generatrix moves in generating a surface. (b) A straight line so situated with respect to a conic section that the distance of any point of the curve from it has a constant ratio to the distance of the same point from the focus. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ LL. ] (Law) A woman exercising the functions of an executor. [ 1913 Webster ]

n.; pl. L. Generatrices E. Generatrixes [ L. ] (Geom.) That which generates; the point, or the mathematical magnitude, which, by its motion, generates another magnitude, as a line, surface, or solid; -- called also describent.

prop. n. [ Gr. "y`strix porcupine.] (Zool.) A genus of rodents, including the porcupine. [1913 Webster]

n. An imitatress. [ 1913 Webster ]

{ } n. [ LL. impostrix. See Impostor. ] A woman who imposes upon or deceives others. [ R. ] Fuller. [ 1913 Webster ]

n.; pl. E. -trixes, L. -trices A female impropriator. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ NL. ] (Geom. of Three Dimensions) A certain conic section supposed to be drawn in the tangent plane to any surface, and used to determine the accidents of curvature of the surface at the point of contact. The curve is similar to the intersection of the surface with a parallel to the tangent plane and indefinitely near it. It is an ellipse when the curvature is synclastic, and an hyperbola when the curvature is anticlastic. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Same as Inheritress. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

{ } n. [ L. janitrix. See Janitor. ] A female janitor. [ 1913 Webster ]

{ } n. A woman who makes laws. Shaftesbury. [ 1913 Webster ]

n.; pl. Matrices [ L., fr. mater mother. See Mother, and cf. Matrice. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

1. (Anat.) The womb. [ 1913 Webster ]

All that openeth the matrix is mine. Ex. xxxiv. 19. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Hence: That which gives form or origin to anything; as: (a) (Mech.) The cavity in which anything is formed, and which gives it shape; a die; a mold, as for the face of a type. (b) (Min.) The earthy or stony substance in which metallic ores or crystallized minerals are found; the gangue. (c) pl. (Dyeing) The five simple colors, black, white, blue, red, and yellow, of which all the rest are composed. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Biol.) The lifeless portion of tissue, either animal or vegetable, situated between the cells; the intercellular substance. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. (Math.) A rectangular arrangement of symbols in rows and columns. The symbols may express quantities or operations. [ 1913 Webster ]

{ } n. [ L. mediatrix, f. of mediator: cf. F. médiatrice. ] A female mediator. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ L. ] A female moderator. [ 1913 Webster ]

{ } n. A female monitor. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ L. ] A woman who negotiates. Miss Edgeworth. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ L. ] A woman plaintiff, or complainant, in equity pleading. Burrill. [ 1913 Webster ]

n.; pl. Osculatrixes [ NL. ] (Geom.) A curve whose contact with a given curve, at a given point, is of a higher order (or involves the equality of a greater number of successive differential coefficients of the ordinates of the curves taken at that point) than that of any other curve of the same kind. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ L. ] A woman who persecutes. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ NL. ] A female prosecutor. [ 1913 Webster ]

{ } n. [ NL. protectrix. ] A woman who protects. [ 1913 Webster ]

n.; pl. -trixes or -trices [ NL. ] (Geom.) A curve made use of in the quadrature of other curves; as the quadratrix, of Dinostratus, or of Tschirnhausen. [ 1913 Webster ]

‖n.; pl. Rectrices [ L., fem. of rector. ] 1. A governess; a rectoress. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Zool.) One of the quill feathers of the tail of a bird. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ L. ] (Law) A female relator. [ 1913 Webster ]

‖n. [ L. ] (Old Eng. Law) A scolding or quarrelsome woman; a scold. Burrill. [ 1913 Webster ]

n.; pl. L. -trices E. -trixes [ L., she that separates. ] (Arith.) The decimal point; the dot placed at the left of a decimal fraction, to separate it from the whole number which it follows. The term is sometimes also applied to other marks of separation. [ 1913 Webster ]

{ } n. [ L. spectatrix. ] A female beholder or looker-on. “A spectatress of the whole scene.” Jeffrey. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ L. strix, strigis. ] (Arch.) One of the flutings of a column. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ L. ] (Law) A woman who makes and leaves a will at death; a female testator. [ 1913 Webster ]

‖n. [ NL., fr. L. torquere, tortum, to twist. ] 1. (Zool.) Any one of numerous species of small moths of the family Tortricidae, the larvae of which usually roll up the leaves of plants on which they live; -- also called leaf roller. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Zool.) A genus of tropical short-tailed snakes, which are not venomous. One species (Tortrix scytalae) is handsomely banded with black, and is sometimes worn alive by the natives of Brazil for a necklace. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ NL. See Tractor. ] (Geom.) A curve such that the part of the tangent between the point of tangency and a given straight line is constant; -- so called because it was conceived as described by the motion of one end of a tangent line as the other end was drawn along the given line. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ L. See Tutor. ] A female guardian; a tutoress. [ R. ] Smollett. [ 1913 Webster ]