Select a letter for some words
Za
An old solfeggio name for B flat; the seventh harmonic, as heard in the or olian string; -- so called by Tartini. It was long considered a false, but is the true note of the chord of the flat seventh.
Zacco
See .
Zaerthe
Same as .
Zaim
A Turkish chief who supports a mounted militia bearing the same name.
Zaimet
A district from which a Zaim draws his revenue.
Zain
A horse of a dark color, neither gray nor white, and having no spots.
Zamang
An immense leguminous tree () of Venezuela. Its branches form a hemispherical mass, often one hundred and eighty feet across. The sweet pulpy pods are used commonly for feeding cattle. Also called .
Zamite
A fossil cycad of the genus .
Zamouse
A West African buffalo () having short horns depressed at the base, and large ears fringed internally with three rows of long hairs. It is destitute of a dewlap. Called also , and .
Zampogna
A sort of bagpipe formerly in use among Italian peasants. It is now almost obsolete.
Zante currant
A kind of seedless grape or raisin; -- so called from , one of the Ionian Islands.
Zantewood
A yellow dyewood; fustet; -- called also , and . See , and the Note under .
Zany
To mimic.
Zaphrentis
An extinct genus of cyathophylloid corals common in the Paleozoic formations. It is cup-shaped with numerous septa, and with a deep pit in one side of the cup.
Zapotilla
See .
Zareba
An improvised stockade; especially, one made of thorn bushes, etc.
Zauschneria
A genus of flowering plants. is a suffrutescent perennial, with showy red flowers much resembling those of the garden fuchsia.
Zealant
One who is zealous; a zealot; an enthusiast.
Zealed
Full of zeal; characterized by zeal.
Zealless
Wanting zeal.
Zealotist
A zealot.
Zebec
See .
Zebrine
Pertaining to, or resembling, the zebra.
Zebrinny
A cross between a male horse and a female zebra.
Zebub
A large noxious fly of Abyssinia, which like the tsetse fly, is destructive to cattle.
Zeitgeist
The spirit of the time; the general intellectual and moral state or temper characteristic of any period of time.
Zenik
See .
Zenithal
Of or pertaining to the zenith.
Zeppelin
A dirigible balloon of the rigid type, consisting of a cylindrical trussed and covered frame supported by internal gas cells, and provided with means of propulsion and control. It was first successfully used by .
Zerda
The fennec.
Zetetic
Seeking; proceeding by inquiry.
Zeuglodont
Any species of Zeuglodonta.
Zeugma
A figure by which an adjective or verb, which agrees with a nearer word, is, by way of supplement, referred also to another more remote; .
Zeugmatic
Of or pertaining to zeugma; characterized by zeugma.
Ziega
Curd produced from milk by adding acetic acid, after rennet has ceased to cause coagulation.
Zif
The second month of the Jewish ecclesiastical year, corresponding to our May.
Ziggurat
A temple tower of the Babylonians or Assyrians, consisting of a lofty pyramidal structure, built in successive stages, with outside staircases, and a shrine at the top; -- called also .
Zigzaggy
Having sharp turns.
Zimb
A large, venomous, two-winged fly, native of Abyssinia. It is allied to the tsetse fly, and, like the latter, is destructive to cattle.
Zimocca
A sponge () of flat form and fine quality, from the Adriatic, about the Greek islands, and the coast of Barbary.
Zincane
Zinc chloride.
Zinciferous
Containing or affording zinc.
Zincify
To coat or impregnate with zinc.
Zinco-
A combining form from ; in chemistry, designating as an element of certain double compounds. Also used adjectively.
Zincograph
A zinc plate prepared for printing by zincography; also, a print from such a plate.
Zincoid
Pertaining to, or resembling, zinc; -- said of the electricity of the zincous plate in connection with a copper plate in a voltaic circle; also, designating the positive pole.
Zincous
Of, pertaining to, or containing, zinc; zincic; .
Zink
See .
Zinkenite
A steel-gray metallic mineral, a sulphide of antimony and lead.
Zip
A hissing or sibilant sound such as that made by a flying bullet.
Zirco-
A combining form (also used adjectively) designating as an element of certain double compounds; zircono-; as in fluoric acid, sodium fluoride.
Zircofluoride
A double fluoride of zirconium and hydrogen, or some other positive element or radical; .
Zirconate
A salt of zirconic acid.
Zirconium
A rare element of the carbon-silicon group, intermediate between the metals and nonmetals, obtained from the mineral zircon as a dark sooty powder, or as a gray metallic crystalline substance. Symbol Zr. Atomic weight, 90.4.
Zircono
See .
Zoantharia
Same as .
Zoanthropy
A kind of monomania in which the patient believes himself transformed into one of the lower animals.
Zobo
A kind of domestic cattle reared in Asia for its flesh and milk. It is supposed to be a hybrid between the zebu and the yak.
Zoa
A peculiar larval stage of certain decapod Crustacea, especially of crabs and certain Anomura.
Zoilean
Having the characteristic of , a bitter, envious, unjust critic, who lived about 270 years before Christ.
Zoilism
Resemblance to Zoilus in style or manner; carping criticism; detraction.
Zoisite
A grayish or whitish mineral occurring in orthorhombic, prismatic crystals, also in columnar masses. It is a silicate of alumina and lime, and is allied to epidote.
Zokor
An Asiatic burrowing rodent () resembling the mole rat. It is native of the Altai Mountains.
Zllner's lines
Parallel lines that are made to appear convergent or divergent by means of oblique intersections.
Zonate
Divided by parallel planes; .
Zone
To girdle; to encircle.
Zonular
Of or pertaining to a zone; zone-shaped.
Zonure
Any one of several of South African lizards of the genus , common in rocky situations.
Zochemical
Pertaining to zochemistry.
Zogenic
Of or pertaining to zogeny, animal production.
Zogla
A colony or mass of bacteria imbedded in a viscous gelatinous substance. The zogla is characteristic of a transitory stage through which rapidly multiplying bacteria pass in the course of their evolution. Also used adjectively.
Zographer
One who describes animals, their forms and habits.
Zooid
Pertaining to, or resembling, an animal.
Zologer
A zologist.
Zologize
To study zology; esp., to collect animals for study.
Zomelanin
A pigment giving the black color to the feathers of many birds.
Zonomy
The laws of animal life, or the science which treats of the phenomena of animal life, their causes and relations.
Zopathology
Animal pathology.
Zophagan
A animal that feeds on animal food.
Zophilist
A lover of animals.
Zophite
A zophyte.
Zophytology
The natural history zophytes.
Zopsychology
Animal psychology.
Zosporic
Of or pertaining to zospores; of the nature of zospores.
Zope
A European fresh-water bream ().
Zoril
Same as .
Zoroastrian
Of or pertaining to , or his religious system.
Zoroastrian
A follower of Zoroaster; one who accepts Zoroastrianism.
Zostera
A genus of plants of the , or Pondweed family. is commonly known as , and .
Zouave
One of an active and hardy body of soldiers in the French service, originally Arabs, but now composed of Frenchmen who wear the Arab dress.
Zounds
An exclamation formerly used as an oath, and an expression of anger or wonder.
Zuchetto
A skullcap covering the tonsure, worn under the berretta. The pope's is white; a cardinal's red; a bishop's purple; a priest's black.
Zufolo
A little flute or flageolet, especially that which is used to teach birds.
Zuntilde;ian
Of or pertaining to the Zuntilde;is, or designating their linguistic stock.
Zwinglian
Of or pertaining to (1481-1531), the reformer of German Switzerland, who maintained that in the Lord's Supper the true body of Christ is present by the contemplation of faith but not in essence or reality, and that the sacrament is a memorial without mystical elements.
Zygantrum
See under .
Zygobranchiate
Of or pertaining to the Zygobranchia.
Zygodactyli
Same as .
Zygophyte
Any plant of a proposed class or grand division (, , or ), in which reproduction consists in the union of two similar cells. Cf. .
Zygosis
The process of the merging of two gametes. Same as .
Zymologist
One who is skilled in zymology, or in the fermentation of liquors.
Zymolysis
The action of enzymes, such as digestion or fermentation; also, the changes produced by such action.
Zymophyte
A bacteroid ferment.
Zymosis
A fermentation; hence, an analogous process by which an infectious disease is believed to be developed.
Zythem
See .