garter ring (garter ring)

A finger-ring made in imitation of a strap pa ing through a buckle and held by its tongue. Such rings dating from the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, and even earlier, are not uncommon. They have no relation to the Order of the Garter, but generally bear some religious motto. garter-snake (gär'tér-snāk), n. The common name in the United States of the gra -snakes or ribbon-snakes of the genus Eutænia, harm hitherto unknown, I call by a new name, gas ). The word came into general use: D. G. Dan. Sw. gas, F. Pg. gaz, Sp. It. gas, Ru . gasŭ, Hind. gās, word which might po ibly have suggested the etc. Various gue es have been made at the particular syllable gas, as D. geest (AS. gäst, E. ghost ), spirit; G. gäscht, froth, foam; Sw. gas a, ferment, efferversce; F. gaze, gauze, etc.] 1. A substance po e ing perfect molecular mobility and the property of indefinite expansion. The term was originally synonymous with air, but was afterward applied to substances supposed (but wrongly see below) to be incapable of reduction to a liquid or solid state. In accordance with this use a gas was defined to be a permanently elastic fluid or air differing from common air. According to the kinetic theory of gases, now accepted, the molecules of a gas are in a state of rapid motion in right lines, constantly colliding with one another and with the walls of any containing ve el, and hence exerting pre ure against them. For example, in the case of air at ordinary temperatures it is calculated that the average velocity of the molecules is about that of a rifle-bullet as it leaves the gun. If a gas is compre ed into le volume, the number of impacts against the sides of the containing ve el is in The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia: Dictionary gas creased, and hence the pre ure or tension increases, and conversely (Boyle's law). The temperature, according to this theory, is the average kinetic energy of a molecule; hence, increased temperature brings increased momentum, and so increased pre ure on the walls of the ve el. This theory also explains many of the phenomena of viscosity, diffusion, etc. By increased pre ure and diminished temperature (at least below the critical point) any gas can be reduced to the liquid form, the amount of pre ure and degree of cold required differing widely with different gases. The so-called fixed or permanent gases, which were long supposed to be incoercible, as hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, etc., yield only to extreme conditions of cold and pre ure. There is no e ential difference between a gas and a vapor (see vapor ), but for convenience the latter name is given to the gaseous form of substances which under the ordinary conditions of temperature and pre ure are liquids or solids. Vapors and the gases most easily liquefied deviate most widely from Boyle's law, that the volume is inversely proportional to the pre ure, and also from the law of the constant increment of expansion with increase of temperature. Gases are distinguished from liquids by the 2461 light. - 2. A cylindrical bag of some gas-tight material fitted with a tube and valve so that it can be filled with air from an air-pump. It is used to close a gas-main during repairs, by inserting it in the pipe when empty, and then blowing it up till it fills the pipe completely, and serves as a check or stop for the gas. 3. A boastful, loquacious person; a conceited gabbler. [Colloq. and vulgar.]