droop, droupen, drowpyn, drupen

i. & t. [Icel. drúpa = to droop, from the same root as IMG:content-0561.png:[blocks in formation] Burns: To His Auld Mare Maggie. For the difference between to droop and to flag , droôped, pa . par. or a. [DROOP.] *droôp-er, s. [Eng. droop ; -er.] A spiritle , dull person. "If he [the historian] be pleasant, he is noted for a iester; if he be grave, he is reckoned for a drooper."Holinshed Ireland; Stan i hurst to Sir H. Sidneie. droôp-ing, *droup-ing, *drowp-ing, pr. par., a. & s. [DROOP.] A. As pr . par .: (See the verb.) B. As adjective : 1. Ord. Lang.: Hanging down. 2. Bot .: Inclining a little from the perpendicular, so that the apex is directed toward the horizon. droôp-ing-lý, adv. [Eng. drooping; -ly.] In a "The word of triumph fainted from his tongue; That hand, so raised, how droopingly it hung!" Byron: Lara, ii. 15. drop, s . [A. S. drop a a drop; dreópian = to drop; Icel. drop i =a drop; dreypa =to drop; Dut. drop=a drop; Sw. droppe ; Dan. drag he; O. H. Ger. tropfo ; Ger. tropfe . From the verb to drip (q. v.).] I. Ordinary Language : 1. Lit .: A globule or small portion of any liquid in a spherical form; as much of a liquid as falls at once when there is not a continual stream. "After dinner he rose, filled a goblet to the brim with wine, and, holding it up, asked whether he had spilt one drop."-Macaulay: Hist. Eng., ch. iv. 2. Figuratively : (1) Anything resembling a drop, or hanging as a drop: as, a pendant of a chandelier, a hanging diamond ornament or ear-ring, . [II. 3 (5).] (2) The smallest quantity of any liquor. (3) A falling trap-door or hatch. (4) A stage or platform on a gallows, contrived so as to fall from under the feet of persons who are to be hanged. "Hear one story more, and then I will stop. I dreamt Wood was told he should die by a drop , So methought he resolved no liquor to taste, For fear the first drop might as well be his last. But dreams are like oracles; 'tis hard to explain 'em, For it proved that he a drop at Kilmainham." Swift : A Serious Poem upon William Wood (1725). II. Technically : 1. Eng . Coal - trade : A machine for lowering loaded coal-cars from a high staith to the ve el, to avoid the breaking of the coal by dropping it from a height. It is a perpendicular lift in which the car is received in a movable and counterpoised cradle which is lowered and returned. A falling leaf is projected outward, to bring the wagon over the hatchway of the ve el. 2. Mach .: A swaging-hammer which drops between guides. [DROP-HAMMER.] 3. Architecture: (1) An ornament depending from the triglyphs of the Doric order; gutta. (2) A supplementary gas-tube to lower a gas-jet. [DROP-LIGHT. (3) A theatrical stage curtain. [DROP-SCENE.] (4) The depth of the hanger by which shafting is supported overhead. (5) A prismatic pendant for a chandelier, to increase the brilliancy of the display by the refraction of the rays of light. It is made of a gla lump molded in a pinching-tongs. 4. Naut .: The depth of a sail amidships. 5. Fort .: That part of the ditch sunk deeper than the rest, at the sides of a caponniere or in front of an embrasure. 6. Football : The same as DROP-KICK (q. v.). "The drop out was well returned, and some good drop kicking took place."- Field . IMG:content-0562.png:[blocks in formation] Weaving : A shuttle-box used in figure-weaving looms in which each shuttle carries it own color. The box is vertically adjustable by means of a pattern-chain or otherwise at the end of the shed, and, by automatic adjustment, the shuttle holding the required color is brought opposite to the shed and so as to be struck by the picker. drop-flue, a. (See the compound.) Drop - flue boiler : A boiler in which the caloric current descends by one or more steps or gradations, bringing it into contact with parts of the boiler in descending series; the object being to cause it to leave the boiler at the lower part, where the feedwater is introduced. marine; gō, pot, drop-kick. s. Football: A mode of kicking the ball by letting it drop from the hands, and kicking it as it begins to rebound from the ground.