Noah Webster’s 1828 Dictionary
TONGUED — TORN
TONGUED, TUNGED, a. Having a tongue.
Tongued like the night-crow.
TONGUE-GRAFTING, TUNG-GRAFTING, n. A mode of grafting by inserting the end of a cion in a particular manner.
TONGUELESS, TUNGLESS, a. Having no tongue.
1. Speechless; as a tongueless block.
2. Unnamed; not spoken of.
One good deed dying tongueless. [Not used.]
TONGUE-PAD, TUNG-PAD, n. A great talker. [Not in use.]
TONGUE-SHAPED, TUNG-SHAPED, a. In botany, a tongue-shaped leaf, is linear and fleshy, blunt at the end, convex underneath, and having usually a cartilaginous border.
TONGUE-TIE-TIE, v.t. [tongue and tie.] To deprive of speech or the power of speech, or of distinct articulation.
TONGUE-TIED, TUNG-TIED, a. Destitute of the power of distinct articulation; having an impediment in the speech.
1. Unable to speak freely, from whatever cause.
Love and tongue-tied simplicity.
TONIC, a. [L. tonus. See Tone.]
1. Literally, increasing tension; hence, increasing strength, as tonic power.
2. In medicine, increasing strength, or the tone of the animal system; obviating the effects of debility, and restoring healthy functions.
3. Relating to tones or sounds.
4. Extended. [Not in use.]
Tonic spasm, in medicine, a rigid contraction of the muscles without relaxation, as in tetanus, etc.
TONIC, n. A medicine that increases the tone of the muscular fiber, and gives vigor and action to the system.
A medicine which increases the tone or strength of the body.
1. In music, the key-note or principal sound which generates all the rest.
2. In music, a certain degree of tension, or the sound produced by a vocal string in a given degree of tension.
TO-NIGHT, n. [to and night.] The present night, or the night after the present day.
TONNAGE, n. [from ton, a corrupt orthography. See Tun.]
1. The weight of goods carried in a boat or ship.
2. The cubical content or burthen of a ship in tuns; or the amount of weight which she may carry.
3. A duty or impost on ships, estimated per tun; or a duty, toll or rate payable on goods per tun, transported on canals.
TONSIL, n. [L. tonsilloe. This word seems to be formed from tonsus, tondeo, to clip.] In anatomy, a glandular body at the passage from the mouth to the pharynx. The tonsils are called also from their shape, amygdaloe, and in popular language, almonds. The tonsils have several excretory ducts opening into the mouth.
TONSIL, a. That may be clipped.
TONSURE, n. [L. tonsura, from tonsus, shaved; tondeo, to clip or shave.]
1. The act of clipping the hair, or of shaving the head; or the state of being shorn.
2. In the Romish church, tonsure is the first ceremony used for devoting a person to the service of God and the church; the first degree of the clericate, given by a bishop, who cuts off a part of his hair with prayers and benedictions. Hence tonsure is used to denote entrance or admission into holy orders.
3. In the Romish church, the corona or crown which priests wear as a mark of their order and of their rank in the church.
TONTINE, n. An annuity on survivorship; or a loan raised on life-annuities, with the benefit of survivorship. Thus an annuity is shared among a number, on the principle that the share of each, at his death, is enjoyed by the survivors, until at last the whole goes to the last survivor, or to the last two or three, according to the terms on which the money is advanced.
TONY, n. A simpleton. [Ludicrous.]
TOO, adv.
1. Over; more than enough; noting excess; as, a thing is too long, too short, or too wide; too high; too many; too much.
His will too strong to bend, too proud to learn.
2. Likewise; also; in addition.
A courtier and a patriot too.
Let those eyes that view
The daring crime, behold the vengeance too.
3. Too, too, repeated, denotes excess emphatically; but this repetition is not in respectable use.
TOOK, pret. of take.
Enoch was not, for God took him. Genesis 5:24.
TOOL, n. [In old Law Latin, we find attile, attilia, stores, tools, implements.]
1. An instrument of manual operation, particularly such as are used by farmers and mechanics; as the tools of a joiner, cabinet maker, smith or shoemaker.
2. A person used as an instrument by another person; a word of reproach. Men of intrigue always have their tools, by whose agency they accomplish their purposes.
TOOL, v.t. To shape with a tool.
TOOM, a. Empty. [Not in use.]
TOOT, v.i. [L. do, dedi.]
1. To stand out or be prominent. [Not in use.]
2. To make a particular noise with the tongue articulating with the root of the upper teeth, at the beginning and end of the sound; also, to sound a horn in a particular manner.
This writer should wear a tooting horn.
3. To peep; to look narrowly. [Not in use, and probably a mistaken interpretation.]
TOOT, v.t. To sound; as, to toot the horn.
TOOTER, n. One who plays upon a pipe or horn.
TOOTH, n. plu. teeth. [L. dens.]
1. A bony substance growing out of the jaws of animals, and serving as the instrument of mastication. The teeth are also very useful in assisting persons in the utterance of words, and when well formed and sound, they are ornamental. The teeth of animals differ in shape, being destined for different offices. The front teeth in men and quadrupeds are called incisors, or incisive or cutting teeth; next to these are the pointed teeth, called canine or dog teeth; and on the sides of the jaws are the molar teeth or grinders.
2. Taste; palate.
These are not dishes for thy dainty tooth.
3. A tine; a prong; something pointed and resembling an animal tooth; as the tooth of a rake, a comb, a card, a harrow, a saw, or of a wheel. The teeth of a wheel are sometimes called cogs, and are destined to catch corresponding parts of other wheels.
Tooth and nail, [by biting and scratching,] with one’s utmost power; by all possible means.
To the teeth, in open opposition; directly to one’s face.
That I shall live, and tell him to his teeth.
To cast in the teeth, to retort reproachfully; to insult to the face.
In spite of the teeth, in defiance of opposition; in opposition to every effort.
To show the teeth, to threaten.
When the law shows her teeth, but dares not bite.
TOOTH, v.t. To furnish with teeth; as, to tooth a rake.
1. To indent; to cut into teeth; to jag; as, to tooth a saw.
2. To lock into each other.
TOOTHACHE, n. [tooth and ache.] Pain in the teeth.
TOOTHACHE-TREE, n. A shrub of the genus Zanthoxylum.
TOOTH-DRAWER, n. [tooth and draw.] One whose business is to extract teeth with instruments.
TOOTH-DRAWING, n. The act of extracting a tooth; the practice of extracting teeth.
TOOTHED, pp. or a. Having teeth or jags. In botany, dentate; having projecting points, remote from each other, about the edge.
TOOTH-EDGE, n. [tooth and edge.] The sensation excited by grating sounds, and by the touch of certain substances.
TOOTHFUL, a. Palatable. [Not in use.]
TOOTHLESS, a. Having no teeth.
TOOTHLETTED, a. In botany, denticulate; having very small teeth or notches; as a leaf.
TOOKPICK, TOOTHPICKER, n. [tooth and pick.] An instrument for cleaning the teeth of substances lodged between them.
TOOTHSOME, a. Palatable; grateful to the taste.
TOOTHSOMENESS, n. Pleasantness to the taste.
TOOTHWORT, n. A plant whose roots resemble human teeth, such as the Lathroea squamaria, various species of Dentaria, the Ophrys corallorrhiza, etc. This name is also given to the lead-wort, of the genus Plumbago, form its toothed corol.
TOOTHY, a. Toothed; having teeth.
TOOTING, ppr. Sounding in a particular manner.
TOP, n.
1. The highest part of any thing; the upper end, edge or extremity; as the top of a tree; the top of a spire; the top of a house; the top of a mountain.
2. Surface; upper side; as the top of the ground.
3. The highest place; as the top of preferment.
4. The highest person; the chief.
5. The utmost degree.
The top of my ambition is to contribute to that work.
If you attain the top of your desires in fame--
6. The highest rank. Each boy strives to be at the top of his class, or at the top of the school.
7. The crown or upper surface of the head.
8. The hair on the crown of the head; the forelock.
9. The head of a plant.
10. An inverted conoid which children play with by whirling it on its point, continuing the motion with a whip.
11. In ship-building, a sort of platform, surrounding the head of the lower mast and projecting on all sides. It serves to extend the shrouds, by which means they more effectually support the mast; and in ships of war, the top furnishes a convenient stand for swivels and small arms to annoy the enemy.
TOP-ARMOR, n. In ships, a railing on the top, supported by stanchions and equipped with netting.
TOP-BLOCK, n. In ships, a block hung to an eye-bolt in the cap, used in swaying and lowering the top-mast.
TOP-CHAIN, n. In ships, a chain to sling the lower yards in time of action, to prevent their falling when the ropes by which they are hung, are shot away.
TOP-CLOTH, n. In ships, a piece of canvas used to cover the hammocks which are lashed to the top in action.
TOP-DRAINING, n. The act or practice of draining the surface of land.
TOP-DRESSING, n. A dressing of manure laid on the surface of land.
TOPFULL, a. [top and full.] Full to the brim.
TOP-GALLANT, a. [See Top-sail.]
1. Highest; elevated; splendid; as a top-gallant spark.
TOP-HEAVY, a. top’-hevy. [top and heavy.] Having the top or upper part too heavy for the lower.
TOP-KNOT, n. [top and knot.] A knot worn by females on the top of the head.
TOPLESS, a. Having no top; as a topless highth.
TOPMAN, n. [top and man.] The man who stands above in sawing.
1. In ships, a man standing in the top.
TOP-MAST, n. In ships, the second mast, or that which is next above the lower mast. Above that is the top-gallant-mast.
TOP-MOST, a. [top and most.] Highest; uppermost; as the topmost cliff; the top-most branch of a tree.
TOP-PROUD, a. [top and proud.] Proud to the highest degree.
TOP-ROPE, n. A rope to sway up a top-mast, etc.
TOP-SAIL, n. A sail extended across the top-mast, above which is the top-gallant-sail.
TOP-SHAPED, a. In botany, turbinate.
TOP-SOILING, n. The act or art of taking off the top-soil of land, before a canal is begun.
TOP-STONE, n. A stone that is placed on the top, or which forms the top.
TOP-TACKLE, n. A large tackle hooked to the lower end of the top-mast top-rope and to the deck.
TOP, v.i. To rise aloft; to be eminent; as lofty ridges and topping mountains.
1. To predominate; as topping passions; topping uneasiness.
2. To excel; to rise above others.
But write thy best and top--
TOP, v.t. To cover on the top; to tip; to cap.
--A mount
Of alabaster, topp’d with golden spires.
Mountains topp’d with snow.
1. To rise above.
A gourd--climbing by the boughs twined about them, till it topped and covered the tree.
Topping all others in boasting.
2. To outgo; to surpass.
3. To crop; to take off the top or upper part.
Top your rose trees a little with your knife near a leaf-bud.
So, in America we say, to top corn, that is maiz, by cutting off the stalk just above the ear.
4. To rise to the top of; as, he topped the hill.
5. To perform eminently. [Not in use.]
TOPAN, n. A name of the horned Indian raven, or rhinoceros bird.
TOPARCH, n. [Gr. place, and a chief.] The principal man in a place or country.
TOPARCHY, n. A little state, consisting of a few cities or towns; a petty country governed by a toparch. Judea was formerly divided into ten toparchies.
TOPAZ, n. [Gr.] A mineral, said to be so called from Topazos, a small isle in the Arabic gulf, where the Romans obtained a stone which they called by this name, but which is the chrysolite of the moderns. The topaz is of a yellowish color. It sometimes occurs in masses, but more generally crystallized in rectangular octahedrons. Topaz is valued as a gem or precious stone, and is used in jewelry. It consists of silex, fluoric acid and alumin, in the following proportions; alumin 57 parts, silex 34, and fluoric acid 7 or 8.
Of topaz there are three subspecies, common topaz, shorlite and physalite.
TOPAZOLITE, n. A variety of precious garnet, of a topaz yellow color, or an olive green.
TOPE, n. A fish of the shark kind, the squalus galeus of Linne.
TOPE, v.i. To drink hard; to drink strong or spiritus liquors to excess.
If you tope in form, and treat--
TOPER, n. One who drinks to excess; a drunkard; a sot.
TOPET, n. A small bird, the crested titmouse.
N.B. The crested titmouse of Latham, Parus bicolor, is the toupet titmouse of Pennant.
TOPH, TOPHIN, n. [from the Latin.] A kind of sandstone.
TOPHACEOUS, a. Gritty; sandy; rough; stony.
TOPHET, n. [Heb. tophet, a drum.] Hell; so called from a place east of Jerusalem where children were burnt to Moloch, and where drums were used to drown their cries.
TOPHI, n. Ducksten; a stone formed by earthy depositions; called also tufa or trass.
TOPIARY, a. [L. topiarius, ornamented.] Shaped by clipping or cutting.
TOPIC, n. [Gr. place; L. topicus, topica.]
1. Any subject of discourse or argument. The Scriptures furnish an unlimited number of topics for the preacher, and topics infinitely interesting.
2. In rhetoric, a probable argument drawn from the several circumstances and places of a fact. Aristotle wrote a book of topics. Cicero defines topics to be the art of finding arguments.
3. Principle of persuasion.
Contumacious persons whom no topics can work upon.
4. In medicine, an external remedy; a remedy to be applied outwardly to a particular part of the body, as a plaster, a poultice, a blister and the like.
TOPIC, TOPICAL, a. [supra.] Pertaining to a place, limited; local; as a topical remedy.
1. Pertaining to a topic or subject of discourse, or to a general head.
TOPICALLY, adv. Locally; with limitation to a part.
1. With application to a particular part; as a remedy topically applied.
TOPOGRAPHER, n. [See Topography.] One who describes a particular place, town, city or tract of land.
TOPOGRAPHIC, TOPOGRAPHICAL, a. Pertaining to topography; descriptive of a place.
TOPOGRAPHICALLY, adv. In the manner of topography.
TOPOGRAPHY, n. [Gr. place, and description.] The description of a particular place, city, town, manor, parish or tract of land. It is of more limited application than choreography.
TOPPED, TOPT, pp. or a. Covered on the top; capped; surpassed; cropped; having the top cut off.
TOPPING, ppr. Covering the top; capping; surpassing; cropping; lopping.
1. a. Fine; gallant.
[But Johnson’s definition is probably incorrect.]
2. Proud; assuming superiority. [This is the sense in which the common people of N. England use the word, and I believe the true sense, but it is not elegant.]
TOPPING, n. In seamen’s language, the act of pulling one extremity of a yard higher than the other.
TOPPING-LIFT, n. A large strong tackle employed to suspend or top the outer end of a gaff, or of the boom of a main-sail, in a brig or schooner.
TOPPINGLY, adv. Proudly; with airs of disdain. [Not an elegant word, nor much used.]
TOPPLE, v.i. [from top.] To fall forward; to pitch or tumble down.
Though castles topple on their warders’ heads.
[This word is used chiefly of children when beginning to walk.]
TOPPLING, ppr. Falling forward.
TOPSY-TURVY, adv. In an inverted posture; with the top or head downwards; as, to turn a carriage topsy-turvy.
TOQUET, n. toka’. A kind of bonnet or head dress for women.
TOR, n. [L. turris.] A tower; a turret; also, a high pointed hill; used in names.
TORCH, n. [L. torqueo, tortus.] A light or luminary formed of some combustible substance, as of resinous wood or of candles.
They light the nuptial torch.
TORCH-BEARER, n. [torch and bear.]
One whose office is to carry a torch.
TORCHER, n. One that gives light. [Not used.]
TORCH-LIGHT, n. [torch and light.] The light of a torch or of torches.
1. A light kindled to supply the want of the sun.
TORCH-THISTLE, n. A plant of the genus Cactus. The common name of a subdivision of the genus Cactus, called also cereus, from cera, wax, from the resemblance of the stems to a wax candle. Torch-thistle is from the prickly stems, used by the Indians for torches.
TORCH-WORT, n. A plant.
TORE, pret. of tear. He tore his robe.
TORE, n. The dead grass that remains on mowing land in winter and spring. [Used in New England.]
TORE, n. [L. torus.] In architecture, a large round molding on the base of a column. It is distinguished from the astragali by its size. The bases of the Tuscan and Doric columns have only one tore, which is between the plinth and listel. In the Attic base there are two.
TOREUMATOGRAPHY, n. [Gr. sculpture, and description.] A description of ancient sculptures and basso-relievos.
TORMENT, n. [L. tormentum.; torqueo, torno; Eng. tour; that is, from twisting, straining.]
1. Extreme pain; anguish; the utmost degree of misery, either of body or mind.
The more I see
Pleasure about me, so much I feel
Torment within me.
Lest they also come into this place of torment. Luke 16:28; Revelation 9:5; Revelation 14:11.
2. That which gives pain, vexation or misery.
They brought to him all sick people that were taken with divers diseases and torments. Matthew 4:24.
3. An engine for casting stones.
TORMENT, v.t. To put to extreme pain or anguish; to inflict excruciating pain and misery, either of body or mind.
Art thou come hither to torment us before the time? Matthew 8:29.
He shall be tormented with fire and brimstone. Revelation 14:10.
1. To pain; to distress.
Lord, my servant lieth at home sick of the palsy, grievously tormented. Matthew 8:6.
2. To tease; to vex; to harass; as, to be tormented with importunities, or with petty annoyances.
3. To put into great agitation.
They soaring on main wing
Tormented all the air. [Unusual.]
TORMENTED, pp. Painted to extremity; teased; harassed.
TORMENTIL, n. A genus of plants, the septfoil. The root is used in medicines as a powerful astringent, and for alleviating gripes or tormina, whence its name.
TORMENTING, ppr. Paining to an extreme degree; inflicting severe distress and anguish; teasing; vexing.
TORMENTING, n. In agriculture, an imperfect sort of horse-hoeing.
TORMENTOR, n. He or that which torments; one who inflicts penal anguish or tortures.
1. In agriculture, an instrument for reducing a stiff soil.
TORN, pp. of tear.
Neither shall ye eat any flesh that is torn by the beasts in the field. Exodus 22:31.