Volume 1
Universal technological dictionary, or, Familiar explanations of the terms used in all arts and sciences containing definitions drawn from the original writers, and illustrated by plates, epigrams, cuts, &c. / by George Crabb.
- Date:
- 1823
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Universal technological dictionary, or, Familiar explanations of the terms used in all arts and sciences containing definitions drawn from the original writers, and illustrated by plates, epigrams, cuts, &c. / by George Crabb. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.
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![AM ^calculated to produce abortion, Jlippoc. de Morb. Mul. 1. 5, 6, &c.; Foes. Oeconom. &c. ABO'RTIVE {Bot.) Abortiens, an epithet for a flower which does not come to maturity. Linn. Phil. Bot.—Abortive corn, corn which shows itself by a deformity in the stalk, leaves, ear, and even grain. ABORTUS {Surg.) or Aborsus, from ab and orior, to come before the time; miscarriage, the emission or ejection of an imperfect foetus, called by Hippocrates (ZTro^Sopa. ^M<p8ofu, UT(u<rfjM<,; Galen says that among the Attics it was called aafi^aa-ic. Hlppoc. de Movb. Mul. c. 5, 6; Gal. comm. 1, in lib. 6, Hippoc.; Gorr. Defin. Med. ; Foes. Oeconom. Hip- pocrat. ; Castell. Lex. Medic. ABOUCOU'CHOU [Com.) a sort of woollen cloth manu- factured in Languedoc, Provence, and Dauphine. A'BOUKELB {Com.) or Abukelb, a Dutch coin current in Egypt, something inferior in value to a Spanish piastre, 4s. 8c?. It bears the impression of a lion which, however, the Arabians have changed to kelb, a dog; either to show their contempt for Christians, or on account of its base alloy, ABO'UT (Mar.) the situation of a ship immediately after she has tacked.—About ship, an order to the crew to pre- pare for tacking. About (Mil.) a term for the movement by which a body of troops changes its front.—Right about, when the soldier turns by a semicircular movement to the right—Left about, when the soldier makes a semicircular movement to the left. About (Mech.) Fr. that part of a piece of wood which is between one of the ends of the piece and a mortise. ABO'UTED (Hort.) a term formerly used for budded, in application to trees. It properly signifies a swelling that comes to a head or abscess, and is figuratively applied to buds which rise up in the form of small heads. ABP. An abbreviation for archbishop. A'BRA (Com.) a Polish coin worth about three half-pence. A'BRABAX (Magic) Abraxas, or Abrasax, a magical word comprehending the days of the year in numeral letters. Vide Abrasax. A'BRACADABRA (Magic) a cabalistical word used as a charm against fevers, and formed of dropping every time the last letter when written in a kind of cone, as T « 3 « T n « « 3 « T n « 3 K T 1 « H 1 a « T a « N ABRA'CALAM (Magic) a cabalistical word serving as a charm among the Jews. This, as well as the former Abra- bax, and the following Abrasax [Vide Abrasax,'] express tlie name of a Syrian idol. Selden de Diis Syriis. ABRA'HAMITES (Ecc.) 1. An order of monks extermi- nated for idolatry by Theophilus. 2. A sect of heretics called after iheir leader Abraham^ who adopted the errors of Paul us. ABRA'SA (Med) ulcers attended with, or liable to, abra- sion. Castell. Lex. Med. ABRASA'X (My.) the name given by the heretic Basilides ABR to God and Jesus Christ, whom they worshipped under the figure of Isis. Osiris, and other j^lgyptian gods, as also under the figure of animals, with the head of a cock, a lion, a beetle, or a sphinx; the body of a man, ^—-^^^ as in the annexed cut; and the tail of a ser- /f^^^\ pent, &c. They impiously conceived our ( ^=^^^^8 | Saviour to be the material sun, in imitation 1* of the Egyptians, who worshipped the sun ^^^^^/ under the name of Osiris, &c. The word ABPACAH, Abrasax, or Abraxas, was chosen because the letters, of which it is composed, make up 365, the num- ber of days, according to the Greek computation by letters, in which the sun performs his annual revolution, i. e. as follows: ABPACAH. 1 2 100 1 200 ] 60 This word was employed as a talisman, and the image was worshipped as a magical deity, who was to dispel evils. S. Iren. adv. Hceres. 1. 1, c. 2 ; Tertid. de Prcec. c. 46; Euseb. Eccl. Hist. 1. 4, c. 7 ; Hieron. adv. Lucif. in Amor. 1. 2 ; S. Epiphan. Hceres. 24 ; S. August, de Hcsres. et ad quod vult Deum; Baron. Annul. Ann. 120; Montjcnicon. Antiq. expUq. vol, i. p. 369, et seq. ABRA'SIO, from ab and rado, to pare ; the paring off of superficial ulcerations. Castell. Lex. Med. ABRA'XAS (Magic) vide Abrasax. ABRE'AST (Mar.) side by side, or opposite to; the situa- tion of two or more ships when standing together, parti- cularly as regards the line of battle at sea.—Abreast line, the line abreast is formed by the ships being equally dis- tant from and parallel to each other, so that the length of each ship forms a right angle with the extent of the squa- dron or line abreast.—Abreast of a place, directly opposite to it, as a fleet abreast of Beechy-Head, i. e. off, or directly opposite to it.—Abreast within the ship, implies on a parallel line with the beam. Abreast (Mil.) a term formerly used for any number of men in front. They are, at present, determined by files. ABRE'TTE (Bot.) vide Abelmochus. ABREUVO'IR (Mil.) a French word for a watering place, or any place dug for retaining water, as in the case of encampment, ABREUVO'IRS (Archit.) 1. The interstices between two stones to be filled up with mortar or cement, 2. Small trenches which are made in stone quarries to carry off the water. A'BRI (Mil.) French for shelter, cover; as etre a I'abri, to be under the cover of a wood, &c. TO ABRI'DGE (Law) Abbreviare, from the Fr. abreger; to make a count or declaration shorter, TO Abridge (Algeb.) to reduce a compound equation or quantity to a more simple form of expression, as x'^ + (a + b) X — ^ = 0, by putting p=i a + b and g = — becomes + px — o. ABROHA'NI (Com.) or mallemolle, a certain muslin, or clear white cotton cloth from the East Indies. ABRO'MA (Bot.) from a priv. and fifuu^a, food, i. e. not fit for food ; a genus of plants; class 18 Polyadelphia, order 2 Dodecandria. Generic Character. Cal. perianth nine-leaved. Cor. petals five ; nectary five-cleft. Stam. filaments five. PiST. germ subcylindrical. Per. capsule ovate five- winged, five-celled / seeds winged. Species. The two species are the Abroma Augusta, Theo- broma Augusta sen Althcea Luzonis, maple leaved abroma tree, a native of New South Wales and the Philippines.— Abroma, Wheleri, Wheler's abroma, a shrub, native of the East Indies. Linn. Spec. Plant,](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b2199304x_0001_0027.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
