Word Meanings - BACKSTAFF - Book Publishers vocabulary database

An instrument formerly used for taking the altitude of the heavenly bodies, but now superseded by the quadrant and sextant; -- so called because the observer turned his back to the body observed.

Related words: (words related to BACKSTAFF)

• CALLOSUM
  The great band commissural fibers which unites the two cerebral hemispheres. See corpus callosum, under Carpus.
• CALLOW
  1. Destitute of feathers; naked; unfledged. An in the leafy summit, spied a nest, Which, o'er the callow young, a sparrow pressed. Dryden. 2. Immature; boyish; "green"; as, a callow youth. I perceive by this, thou art but a callow maid. Old Play .
• CALLE
  A kind of head covering; a caul. Chaucer.
• TAKING
  1. Apt to take; alluring; attracting. Subtile in making his temptations most taking. Fuller. 2. Infectious; contageous. Beau. & Fl. -- Tak"ing*ly, adv. -- Tak"ing*ness, n.
• INSTRUMENTAL
  Pertaining to, made by, or prepared for, an instrument, esp. a musical instrument; as, instrumental music, distinguished from vocal music. "He defended the use of instrumental music in public worship." Macaulay. Sweet voices mix'd with instrumental
• TURNSTONE
  Any species of limicoline birds of the genera Strepsilas and Arenaria, allied to the plovers, especially the common American and European species . They are so called from their habit of turning up small stones in search of mollusks and
• TURNINGNESS
  The quality of turning; instability; tergiversation. Sir P. Sidney.
• TURNING
  The pieces, or chips, detached in the process of turning from the material turned. (more info) 1. The act of one who, or that which, turns; also, a winding; a bending course; a fiexure; a meander. Through paths and turnings often trod
• QUADRANT
  The quarter of a circle, or of the circumference of a circle, an arc of 90º, or one subtending a right angle at the center. (more info) a whole, fr. quattuor four: cf. F. quadrant, cadran. See Four, and 1. The fourth part; the quarter. Sir T.
• TURN-SICK
  Giddy. Bacon.
• FORMERLY
  In time past, either in time immediately preceding or at any indefinite distance; of old; heretofore.
• OBSERVANCY
  Observance.
• TURNVEREIN
  A company or association of gymnasts and athletes.
• TURNHALLE
  A building used as a school of gymnastics.
• TURNSPIT
  A small breed of dogs having a long body and short crooked legs. These dogs were formerly much used for turning a spit on which meat was roasting. (more info) 1. One who turns a spit; hence, a person engaged in some menial office. His lordship
• TURNSOLE
  + sole the sun, L. sol. See Turn, Solar, a., and cf. A plant of the genus Heliotropium; heliotrope; -- so named because its flowers are supposed to turn toward the sun. The sunflower. A kind of spurge . The euphorbiaceous plant Chrozophora
• TURN-BUCKLE
  A loop or sleeve with a screw thread at one end and a swivel at the other, -- used for tightening a rod, stay, etc. A gravitating catch, as for fastening a shutter, the end of a chain, or a hasp.
• CALL
  callen, AS. ceallin; akin to Icel & Sw. kalla, Dan. kalde, D. kallen 1. To command or request to come or be present; to summon; as, to call a servant. Call hither Clifford; bid him come amain Shak. 2. To summon to the discharge of a particular
• TURNCOAT
  One who forsakes his party or his principles; a renegade; an apostate. He is a turncoat, he was not true to his profession. Bunyan.
• TURNBULL'S BLUE
  The double cyanide of ferrous and ferric iron, a dark blue amorphous substance having a coppery luster, used in dyeing, calico printing, etc. Cf. Prussian blue, under Prussian.
• RE-TURN
  To turn again.
• GYMNASTICALLY
  In a gymnastic manner.
• HYPERCRITICALLY
  In a hypercritical manner.
• UNEMPIRICALLY
  Not empirically; without experiment or experience.
• SCALLION
  A kind of small onion , native of Palestine; the eschalot, or shallot. 2. Any onion which does not "bottom out," but remains with a thick stem like a leek. Amer. Cyc.
• UNIVOCALLY
  In a univocal manner; in one term; in one sense; not equivocally. How is sin univocally distinguished into venial and mortal, if the venial be not sin Bp. Hall.
• PARABOLICALLY
  1. By way of parable; in a parabolic manner. 2. In the form of a parabola.
• STEREOGRAPHICALLY
  In a stereographical manner; by delineation on a plane.
• HEMEROCALLIS
  A genus of plants, some species of which are cultivated for their beautiful flowers; day lily.
• UNMISTAKABLE
  Incapable of being mistaken or misunderstood; clear; plain; obvious; evident. -- Un`mis*tak"a*bly, adv.
• NOCTURNAL
  1. Of, pertaining to, done or occuring in, the night; as, nocturnal darkness, cries, expedition, etc.; -- opposed to Ant: diurnal. Dryden. 2. Having a habit of seeking food or moving about at night; as, nocturnal birds and insects.
• ACRONYCALLY
  In an acronycal manner as rising at the setting of the sun, and vise versâ.
• SATURNISM
  Plumbum. Quain.
• LEAVE-TAKING
  Taking of leave; parting compliments. Shak.
• PHYSIOLOGICALLY
  In a physiological manner.
• DIAMETRICALLY
  In a diametrical manner; directly; as, diametrically opposite. Whose principles were diametrically opposed to his. Macaulay.