tapa, by whose side was seen the quill-darting porcupine. Arbuthnot and Pope. 4. Reed on which weavers wind their threads.

The presumptuous damsel rashly dar'd The goddess' self to challenge to the field, And to compare with her in curious skill, Of works with loom, with needle, and with quill. Spenser. 5. The instrument with which musicians strike their strings.

His flying fingers and harmonious quill Strike sev'n distinguish'd notes, and sev'n at once they fill. Dryden.

QUILLET. n. s. [quidlibet, Lat.] Subtilty; nicety; fraudulent distinction; petty

cant.

Thomas Brown produces several examples in his discourse about the quincunx. Ray. QUINCUNX. n. s. [Latin.] Quincunx order is a plantation of trees, disposed originally in a square, consisting of five trees, one at each corner, and a fifth in the middle, which disposition, repeated again and again, forms a regular grove, wood, or wildnerness; and, when viewed by an angle of the square or paralellogram, presents equal or parallel alleys. Brown produces several examples in his discourses about the quincunx. Ray on the Creation. He whose lightning pierc'd th' Iberian lines, Now forms my quincuna, and now rank, my vines. Pope.

gesima Sunday, so called because it is the fiftieth day before Easter, reckoned by whole numbers; Shrove Sunday.

Hudibras.

Ply her with love letters and billets, And bait them well for quirks and pillets QUILT. n. s. [couette, Fr. kulcht, Dut. culcita, culcitra, Lat.] A cover made by stitching one cloth over another with some soft substance between them.

Quilts of roses and spices are nothing so helpful, as to take a cake of new bread, and bedew it with a little sack. Bacon.

In both tables the beds were covered with magnificent quilts amongst the richest sort. Arbuth.

She on the quilt sinks with becoming woe, Wrapt in a gown, for sickness and for show. Pope. To QUILT. v. a. [from the noun.] To stitch one cloth upon another with something soft between them.

The sharp steel arriving forcibly
On his horse neck before the quilted fell,
Then from the head the body sundred quite.

Spenser.
A bag quilted with bran is very good, but it
drieth too much.
Bacon's Nat. Hist.
Entellus for the strife prepares,
Strip'd of his quilted coat, his body bares,
Compos'd of mighty bone. Dryden's Æneis.

chair was ready, So quilted, that he lay at ease reclin'd. Dryden. Mayn't I quilt my rope? it galls my neck. QUINARY. adj. [quinarius, Lat.] Consisting of five.

This quinary number of elements ought to have been restrained to the generality of animals and vegetables. Boyle.

Dict. QUINQUA NGULAR. adj. [quinque and angulus, Lat.] Having five corners.

To me what is this quintessence of dust? man
delights not me, nor woman neither. Shakesp.
Who can in memory, or wit, or will,
Or air, or fire, or earth, or water find?
What alchymist can draw, with all his skill,
The quintessence of these out of the mind?

For I am a very dead thing,
In whom love wrought new alchymy,
For by his art he did express

Davies.

A quintessence even from nothingness, From dull privations and lean emptiness. Donne. Paracelsus, by the help of an intense cold, teaches to separate the quintessence of wine. Boyle. Let there be light! said God; and forthwith light Ethereal, first of things, quintessence pure, Sprung from the deep. Milton's Parad. Lost. When the supreme faculties move regularly, the inferior passions and affections following, there arises a serenity and complacency upon the whole soul, infinitely beyond the greatest bodily pleasures, the highest quintessence and elixir of worldly delights. South. QUINTESSENTIAL. adj. [from quintessence.] Consisting of quintessence.

Venturous assertions as would have puzzled the authors to have made them good, specially considering that there is nothing contrary to the quintessential matter and circular figure of the heavens; so neither is there to the light thereof.

Hakewill.

Each talus, environed with a crust, c nforming itself to the sides of the talus, is of a figure quinquangular. Woodward. Exactly round, ordinately quinquangular, or hav-QUINTIN. n. s. [I know not whence deing the sides parallel. More's Antidote against Ath. rived; Minshew deduces it from quinQUINQUARTICULAR. adj. [quinque and tus, Lat. and calls it a game celebrated articulus, Lat.] Consisting of five arevery fifth year; palus quintanus, Lat. ticles. Ainsworth; quintaine, Fr. An upright post, on the top of which a cross post turned upon a pin; at one end of the cross post was a broad board, and at the other a heavy sand bag; the play was to ride against the broad end with a lance, and pass by before the sand bag, coming round, should strike the tilter on the back.

They have given an end to the quinquarticular controversy, for none have since undertaken to say more. Sanderson.

QUINQUEFID. adj. [quinque and findo, Lat.] Cloven in five. QUINQUEFOLIATED. adj. [quinque and folium, Lat.] Having five leaves. QUINQUENNIAL. adj. [quinquennis, Lat.] Lasting five years; happening once in five years.

QUINSY. n. s. [corrupted from squinancy.] A tumid inflammation in the throat, which sometimes produces suffocation.

The throttling quinsy 'tis my star app ints, And rheumatisms I send to rack the joints. Dryd.

Great heat and cold, succeeding one another, occasion pleurisies and quinsies. Arbuthnot on Air. QUINT. n. s. [quint, Fr.] A set of five.

For state has made a quint Of generals he's listed in't.

Hudibras.

1. The tree.

The quince tree is of a low stature; the branches are diffused and crooked; the flower and fruit is like that of the pear tree; but, however culti vated, the fruit is sour and astringent, and is covered with a kind of down of this the species are six. Miller.

2. The fruit.

They call for dates and quinces in the pastry.

Shakesp. A quince, in token of fruitfulness, by the laws of Solon, was given to the brides of Athens upon the day of their marriage. Peacham on Drawing. To QUINCH. v. n. [This word seems to be the same with queech, winch, and queck.] To stir; to flounce as in resentment or pain.

Bestow all my soldiers in such sort as I have, that no part of all that realm shall be able to dare to quinch. Spenser. QUINCU'NCIAL. adj. [from quincunx.] Having the form of a quincunx.

Of a pentagona or quincuncial disposition, Sir

My better parts

Are all thrown down; and that, which here stands up,

Is but a quintain, a mere lifeless block. Shakesp. QUINTAL. n. s. [centupondium, Lat.] An hundred weight to weigh with. QUINTESSENCE. n. s. [quinta essentia, Lat.]

1.

A fifth being.

From their gross matter she abstracts the forms, And draws a kind of quintessence from things.

Davies.

Quips, and cranks, and wanton wiles,

Nods, and becks, and wreathed smiles. Milton. To QUIP. v. a. To rally with bitter sarAinsworth.

casms.

The ethereal quintessence of heav'n Flew upward, spirited with various forms, That rowl'd orbicular, and turn'd to stars. MiltonQUIRE. n. s. [choeur, Fr. choro, Ital.] They made fire, air, earth, and water, to be 1. A body of singers; a chorus. the four elements, of which all earthly things The trees did bud and early blossoms bone, were compounded, and supposed the heavens to And all the quire of birds did sweetly sing, be a quintessence or fifth sort of body distinct from And told that garden's pleasures in their caroling. all these. Watts's Logick. Spenser. 2. An extract from any thing, containing all its virtues in a small quantity.

Myself have lim'd a bush for her, And plac'd a quire of such enticing birds, That she will light to listen to their lays. Shakesp.

Not all the buckets in a country quire Shall quench my rage.

Cleaveland.

Some run for buckets to the hallow'd quire, Some cut the pipes, and some the engines play. Dryden.

The fox obscene to gaping tombs retires, And wolves with howling fill the sacred quires.

Pope. 3. [Cahier, Fr.] A bundle of paper consisting of twenty-four sheets.

To QUIRE. v. n. [from the noun.] Το sing in concert.

There's not the smallest orb which thou be-
hold'st

But in his motion like an angel sings,
Still quiring to the young-ey'd cherubims. Shakesp.
My throat of war be turn'd

Which quired with my dram, into a pipe
Small as an eunuch, or the virgin's voice
That babies lulls asleep. Shakesp. Coriolanus.
QUIRISTER. n. s. [from quire.] Cho-

rister; one who sings in concert, generally in divine service.

The coy quiristers, that lodge within,

Are prodigal of harmony.

Thomson's Spring.

Thou art quit from a thousand calamities; therefore let thy joy, which should be as great for thy

freedom from them, as is thy sadness when thou feelest any of them, do the same cure upon thy discontent. Taylor.

Henceforth I fly not death, nor would prolong Life much bent rather how I may be quit Fairest and easiest of this cumb'ous charge. Milt. To quit you of this fear, you have already looked death in the face; what have you found Wake. so terrible in it?

3. To carry through; to discharge; to perform.

Never worthy prince a day did quit
With greater hazard, and with more renown.

Daniel. 4. To clear himself of an affair: with the reciprocal pronoun.

Samson hath quit himself

Like Samson, and heroickly hath finish'd
A life heroick, on his enemies

Fully reveng'd, hath left them years of mourning.
Milton.

5. To repay; to requite.

He fair the knight saluted, louting low, Who fair him quitted, as that courteous was. Spens. Enkindle all the sparks of nature, To quit this horrid act.

6.

To vacate obligations. For our reward,

Shakesp. King Lear.

All our debts are paid dangers of law
Actions, decrees, judgments against us quitted.
Ben Jonson.
Would set me highest, and in a moment quit
The debt immense of endless gratitude. Milton.

One step higher

They are the best corn to grow on grounds subject to quitchgrass or other weeds. Mortimer's Huh. QUITE. adv. [This is derived, by the etymologists, from quittè, discharged, free, Fr. which, however at first appearance unlikely, is much favoured by the ori ginal use of the word, which was in this combination, quite and clean; that is, with a clean riddance: its present signification was gradually introduced.] Completely; perfectly; totally; thoroughly.

Those latter exclude not the former quite and clean as unnecessary. Hooker. He hath sold us, and quite devoured our mones. Genesis, 1x11

If some foreign ideas will offer themselves, reject them, and hinder them from running away with our thoughts quite from the subject in hand. Lock.

The same actions may be aimed at different ends, and arise from quite contrary principles. Addin QUITRENT. n. s. [quit and rent.] Small rent reserved.

Such a tax would be insensible, and pass but as a small quitrent, which every one would be content to pay towards the guard of the seas. Temple

My old master, a little before his death, wished him joy of the estate which was falling to him, desiring him only to pay the gifts of charity ise had left as quitrents upon the estate. Addison's Spec QUITS. interj. [from quit.] An exclamation used when any thing is repayec and the parties become even.

1. Quick stroke; sharp fit.

no rational derivation.]

3. Slight conceit.

Conceits, puns, quirks or quibbles, jests and repartees may agreeably entertain, but have no place in the search after truth. Watts on the Mind. 4. Flight of fancy. Not in use.

Most fortunately he hath atchiev'd a maid, That paragons description and wild fame, One that excels the quirks of blazoning pens. Shakesp.

5. Subtilty; nicety; artful distinction.

Let a lawyer tell them he has spied some defect in an entail; how solicitous are they to repair that error, and leave nothing to the mercy of a law quirk? Decay of Piety. There are a thousand quirks to avoid the stroke of the law. L'Estrange's Fables.

6. Loose light tune.

Now the chapel's silver bell you hear, That summons you to all the pride of pray'r; Light quirks of musick, broken and uneven. Pope. To QUIT. v. a. part. pass. quit; pret. I quit or quitted. [quiter, Fr. quitare, ital. quitar, Span.]

1. To discharge an obligation; to make

even.

We will be quit of thine oath, which thou hast made us to swear. Joshua, ii. 20.

By this act, old tyrant, I shall be quit with thee; while I was virtuous,

Now I am remember'd, he scorn'd at me!
But that's all one; omittance is no quittance. Shak
Recompence; return; repayment.
Mine eyes saw him in bloody state,
Rend'ring faint quittance, wearied and outbreath a
To Henry Monmouth. Shakesp. Henry IV.
Plutus, the god of gold,

Is but his steward; no meed but he repays
Sevenfold above itself; no gift to him
But breeds the giver a return exceeding
All use of quittance. Shakesp. Timon of Athens.
We shall forget the office of our haud,
Sooner than quittance of desert and merit. Shak

9.

Nor further seek what their offences be, Guiltless I quit, guilty I set them free. Fairfax. To pay.

Far other plaints, tears, and laments The time, the place, and our estates require, Think on thy sins, which man's old foe presents Before that judge that quits each soul his hire. Fairfax. 10. To abandon; to forsake.

Their father, Then old and fond of issue, took such sorrow, That he quit being. Shakesp. Cymbeline. Honours are promis'd To all will quit 'em; and rewards propos'd Even to slaves that can detect their courses

Ben Jonson.

Such variety of arguments only distract the understanding, such a superficial way of examining is to quit truth for appearance, only to serve our vanity.

11. To resign; to give up.

QUITTANCE. v. a. [from the noun. To repay; to recompense. A word no used.

Embrace me then this opportunity,

As fitting best to quittance their deceit. Shakesp QUITTER, n. s.

1. A deliverer.
2. Scoria of tin.
QUITTERBONE. n. s.

Ainsworth Ainswortle

Quitterbone is a hard round swelling upon the coronet, between the heel and the quarter, and grows most commonly on the inside of the foot. Farrier's Dict QUIVER. n. s. [This word seems to be corrupted from courrir, Fr. O cover.] A case or sheath for arrows. As Dianne hunted on a day, She chanc'd to come where Cupid lay, His quiver by his head, One of his shafts she stole away, And one of hers did close convey

Into the other's stead;

With that love wounded my love's heart, But Dianne beasts with Cupid's dart.

Spense

Those works, with ease as much he did,
As you would ope and shut your quiver-lid. Chap.
Diana's nymphs would be arrayed in white, their
arms and shoulders naked, bows in their hands,
and quivers by their sides. Peacham on Drawing. 2. The cap of a serjeant at law.
Her sounding quiver on her shoulder ty'd,
One hand a dart, and one a bow supply'd.' Dryd. To QUOIF. v. a. [coeffer, Fr.]
QUIVER. adj. Nimble; active. Not in

Hence, thou sickly quoif,

Thou art a guard too wanton for the head,
Which princes, flesh'd with conquest, aim to hit.
Shakesp.

use.

to dress with a head-dress.

To cap;

She is always quoiffed with the head of an ele phant, to shew that this animal is the breed of that country. Addison.

There was a little quiver fellow, and he would manage you his piece thus; and he would about QUOIFFURE. n. s. [coeffure, Fr.] Head

and about.

To QUIVER. v. n.

Shakesp.

1. To quake; to play with a tremu.ous motion.

The birds chaunt melody on every bush, The green leaves quiver with the cooling wind.

Shakesp.

'Tis chastity

Sidney.

She that has that, is clad in compleat steel, And like a quiver'd nymph with arrows keen, May trace huge forests and unharbour'd heaths, Infamous hills, and perilous sandy wilds. Milton. 2. Sheathed as in a quiver.

From him whose quills stand quiver'd in his ear, To him who notches sticks at Westminster. Pope. To QUOB. v.n. [A low word.] To move as the embrio does in the womb; to move as the heart does when throbbing. QUODLIBET. n. s. [Lat.] A nice point; a subtilty.

He who reading on the heart,

When all his quodlibets of art

Could not expound its pulse and heat,

Swore, he had never felt it beat.

Prior.

QUODLIBETA'RIAN. n. s. [quodlibet,

dress.

The lady in the next medal is very particular in her quoiffure. Addison on Medals. QUOIL. n. s. See COIL. QUOIN. n. s. [coin, Fr.]

1. Corner.

A sudden tempest from the desert flew With horrid wings, and thunder'd as it blew, Then whirling round, the quoins together strook. Sandys.

Build brick houses with strong and firm quoins or columns at each end. Mortimer's Husbandry. 2. An instrument for raising warlike engines. Ainsworth.

QUOIT. n. 8. [coete, Dut.]

1. Something thrown to a great distance to a certain point.

2.

He plays at quoits well. Shakesp. Henry IV. When he played at quoits, he was allowed his breeches and stockings. Arbuthnot and Pope The discus of the ancients is sometimes called in English quoit, but improperly; the game of quoits is a game of skill; the discuss was only a trial of strength, as among us to throw the hammer.

To QUOIT. v. n. [from the noun] To throw quoits; to play at quoits. Dryden uses it to throw the discus. See the

Scarce one in this list but engages to supply a quota of brisk young fellows, equipt with hats and feathers. Addison.

QUOTATION. n. s. [from quote.] 1. The act of quoting; citation. 2. Passage adduced out of an author as

evidence or illustration.

He, that has but ever so little examined the citations of writers, cannot doubt how little credit the quotations deserve, where the originals are wanting. Locke.

He rang'd his tropes, and preach'd up patience, Back'd his opinion with quotations. Prior. To QUOTE. v. a. [quoter, Fr.] To cite an author or passage of an author; to adduce by way of authority or illustration the words of another.

The second chapter to the Romans is here quoted only to paint the margent. Whitgifte. St. Paul quotes oue of their poets for this saying. Stilling fleet. He changed his mind, say the and quote papers, for it Melchior Adams and Hospinian. Atterbury. He quoted texts right upon our Saviour, though he expounded them wrong. Atterbury.

He will, in the middle of a session, quote passages out of Plato and Pindar. Swift's Miscel. QUOTER. n. s. [from quote.] Citer; he that quotes.

1 proposed this passage entire, to take off the disguise which its quoter put upon it. Atterbury. QUOTH. verb imperfect. [This is only part of cpodan, Sax. retained in English, and is now only used in ludicrous language. It is used by Sidney irregu larly in the second person.] Quoth I, say I or said I; quoth he, says he or said he.

They were a parcel of mummers, and being himself one of the quorum in his own county, he wondered that none of the Middlesex justices took care to lay some of them by the heel. Addison. 1. Any cap with which the head is co- QUO'TA. n. s. [quotus, Lat.] A share; vered. See COIF. a proportion as assigned to each.

Lat.]

In arithmetick, quotient is the number produced by the division of the two given numbers the one by the other. Cocker. To make all the steps belonging to the same pair of stairs of an equal height, they consider the height of the room in feet and inches, and multiply the feet by twelve, whose product, with the number of odd inches, gives the sum of the whole height in inches, which sum they divide by the number of steps they intend to have in that height, and the quotient shall be the number of inches and parts that each step shall be high. Moxon.

RAB

R, IS called the canine letter, because

it is uttered with some resemblance to the growl or snarl of a cur: it has one constant sound in English, such as it has in other languages; as, red, rose, more, muriatick: in words derived from the Greek, it is followed by an h, rhapsody: r is never mute, unless the second may be accounted mute, where two rr are used; as myrrh.

To RA'BATE. v. n. [rabattre, Fr.] In falconry, to recover a hawk to the fist again. Ainsworth.

RA'BATO. n. s. A neckband; a ruff,

I think your other rabato were better. Shakesp. Broke broad jests upon her narrow heel, Pok'd her rabatos, and survey'd her steel.

Old Comedy.

To RABBET. v. a. [rabatre, raboter, Fr.] To pare down pieces of wood so as to fit one another.

The rabbet plane is to cut part of the upper edge of a board straight or square down, that the edge of another board, cut down in the same manner, may join into the square of the first; and this lapping over of two boards is called rabbeting.

The window frame hath every one of its lights Moxon. rabbeted on its outside, about half an inch into the frame, and all these rabbets are groved square.

Moxon.

RABBET. n. s. [from the verb.] A joint made by paring two pieces so that they wrap over one another.

Having drove in the hooks, they set the rabbets of the door within the rabbets of the door-post. Moron. RABBI. n. s. A doctor among the RA'BBIN. S Jews. The Hebrew rabbins say, that nature hath given man, for the pronouncing of all letters, the lips, the teeth, the tongue, the palate, and throat.

Camden's Remains. Be not ye called rabbi; for one is your master, even Christ, and all ye are brethren. Mat. xxiii. 8. RABBIT. n. s. [robbe, robbekin, Dut.] A furry animal that lives on plants, and burrows in the ground.

I knew a wench married, as she went to the garden for parsley to stuff a rabbit. Shakesp.

A company of scholars, going to catch conies, carried one with them which had not much wit, and gave in charge, that if he saw any, he should be silent for fear of scaring of them: but he no sooner espied a company of rabbits, but he cried

aloud, ecce multi cuniculi; which he had no sooner

said, but the conies ran to their burrows; and he being checked by them for it, answered, Who would have thought that the rabbits understood

Latin?

Bacon.

RA'BBLE. n. s. [rabula, Lat. rabulari, low Lat] A tumultuous crowd; an assembly of low people.

Countrymen, will ye relent, and yield to mercy, Or let a rabble lead you to your deaths? Shakesp. Go bring the rabble here to this place. Shakesp. Of these his several ravishments, betrayings, and stealing away of men's wives, came in all those ancient fables, and all that rabble of Grecian forgeries. Raleigh.

The better sort abhors scurrility, And often censures what the rabble like. Roscom.

R.

RAC

That profane, atheistical, epicurean rabble,| whom the whole nation so rings of, are not the wisest men in the world. South.

To gratify the barbarous audience, I gave them a short rabble scene, because the mob are represented by Plutarch and Polybius with the same characters of baseness and cowardice. Dryden. In change of government,

The rabble rule their great oppressors fate, Do sovereign justice and revenge the state. Dryd. His enemies have been only able to make ill impressions upon the low and ignorant rabble, and to put the dregs of the people in a ferment. Addison's Freeholder RA'BBLEMENT. [from_rabble.] Crowd; tumultuous assembly of mean people. Not in use.

n. s.

A rude rabblement,

Whose like he never saw, he durst not bide,
But got his ready steed, and fast away 'gan ride.
Spenser.

The rabblement houted, clapp'd their chopt hands, and uttered a deal of stinking breath.

Shakesp.

There will be always tyrants, murderers, thieves, traitors, and other of the same rabblement. Camden. RA BID. adj. [rabidus, Lat.] Fierce ; furious; mad.

nance.

RA'BINET. n. s. A kind of smaller ord-
Ainsworth.
RACE. n. s. [race, Fr. from radice, Lat.]
1. A family ascending.
Family descending.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

He in a moment will create Another world; out of man, a race Of men innumerable, there to dwell. Male he created thee, but thy consort Female for race.

Milton.

Milton.

High as the mother of the gods in place, And proud like her of an immortal race. Dryden. Hence the long race of Alban fathers come. Dryden.

A generation; a collective family. A race of youthful and unhandled colts, Fetching mad bounds. Shakesp. Merch. of Venice. A particular breed.

Chapman.

The race of mules, fit for the plough is bred.
Instead

Of spirits malign, a better race to bring
Into their vacant room.

Milton.

In the races of mankind and families of the world, there remains not to one above another the least pretence to have the right of inheritance. Locke.

If they are all debas'd and willing slaves, The young but breathing to grow grey in bondage, And the old sinking to ignoble graves, Of such a race no matter who is king.

Murphy.

It suddenly fell from an excess of favour, which
many examples have taught them, never stopt his
race till it came to a headlong overthrow. Sidney.
My race of glory run, and race of shame. Milt.
The great light of day yet wants to run
Much of his race though steep.

Milte
He safe return'd, the race of glory past,
New to his friends embrace. Pope's Odyssey.
10. Train; process.

An offensive war is made, which is unjust in the aggressor; the prosecution and race of the war carrieth the defendant to invade the ancient patri mony of the first aggressor, who is now turned defendant; shall he sit down, and not put himself in defence? Bacon.

The race of this war fell upon the less of Urbin, which he reobtained. Bacon. RA'CEHORSE.

n. s. [race and horse.] Horse bred to run for prizes.

The reason Hudibras gives, why those, who can talk on trifles, speak with the greatest fluency, is, that the tongue is like a race-horse, which runs the faster the less weight it carries. Addison. RACEMATION. n. s. [racemus, Lat.] Cluster, like that of grapes.

A cock will in one day fertilitate the whole racemation or cluster of eggs, which are not excluded in many weeks after. Brown.

RACEMIFEROUS. adj. [racemus and fero,

Lat.] Bearing clusters. RA'CER. n. s. [from race.] Runner; one that contends in speed.

His stumbling founder'd jade can trot as high
any other Pegasus can йly;

As
So the dull eel moves nimbler in the mud,
Than all the swift-finn'd racers of the flood. Dorset.
A poet's form she plac'd before their eyes,
And bad the nimblest racer seize the prize. Pope.
RA'CINESS. n. s. [from racy.] The qua-
lity of being racy.

RACK. n. s. [racke, Dut. from racken to
stretch.]

1. An engine to torture.

Vex not his ghost; O let him pass! he hates him

That would upon the rack of this rough world Stretch him out longer. Shakesp. King Lear Did ever any man upon the rack afflict himself, because he had received a cross answer from his mistress? Taylor.

Let them feel the whip, the sword, the fire,
And in the tortures of the rack expire. Addison.

Race of ginger. [rayz de gengibre, 2. Torture; extreme pain.
Span.] A root or sprig of ginger.

A particular strength or taste of wine, applied by Temple to any extraordinary natural force of intellect.

Of gardens there may be forms wholly irregular, that may have more beauty than of others; but they must owe it to some extraordinary dispositions of nature in the seat, or some great race of fancy or judgment in contrivance. Temple. [Ras, Islandick.] Contest in running. To describe races and games

3. Any instrument by which extension is performed.

These bows, being somewhat like the long bows in use amongst us, were bent only by a man's immediate strength, without the help of any bender or rack that are used to others. Wilkins.

Milton. 4. A distaff; commonly a portable distaff, from which they spin by twirling a ball. It is commonly spoken and written rock.