red staff (redstaf)

A millers' straight-edge, used in dre ing millstones. The true edge, reddened by ocher, is gently rubbed on the stone, and the projecting points are thus detected, even when the irregularity of surface is very minute. redstart (red'stärt), n. [ IMG:content-1795.jpg:[graphic] IMG:content-1796.jpg:[graphic] European Redstart ( Ruticilla phænicura). lated to the redbreast and bluethroat. Also fire tail, red tail, etc. A similar species, R. titys or tithys, is known as the black redstart. (b) In the United States, a fly-catching warbler, Setophaga ruticilla, of the family Sylvicolidæ or Mniotiltidæ. The male is lustrous blue-black, with white belly and vent, the sides of the breast, the lining of the wings, and much of the extent of the wing and tail feathers fiery orange or flame-color, the bill and feet black. The female is mostly plain olivaceous, with the parts which are orange in the male clear pale yellow. The length is 5 inches, the extent 79. This beautiful bird abounds in woodland in eastern North America; it is migratory and insectivorous, has a singular song, builds redstart American Redstart ( Setophaga ruticilla ). a neat nest in the fork of a branch, and lays four or five eggs, which are white, speckled with shades of reddish brown. Blue-throated redstart. Same as bluethroat. redstreak (red's trēk), n. 1. A sort of apple, so called from the color of the skin. The redstreak, of all cyder fruit, hath obtained the preference. Mortimer, Husbandry. 2. Cider pre ed from redstreak apples. Here ford shire redstreak made of rotten apples at the Three Cranes, true Brunswick Mum brew'd at S. Katherines. Character of a Coffee - house (1673), p. 3. ( Hall i well .) redtail (red'tāl), n. and a. I. n. 1. Same as redstart (a).-2. The red-tailed buzzard, Buteo borcalis, one of the commonest and largest hawks of North America, when adult having the upper side of the tail bright chestnut-red. The plumage otherwise is very variable, not only with age, but also according to geographical distribution, there being several varieties or local races in western parts of the continent. It is commonly known as hen - hawk or chicken hawk, and the young, without the red tail, is the white breasted hawk . The male is from 19 to 22 inches long, and 48 inches or more in spread of wing; the female is 21 to 24 inches long, and spreads 56 inches. See cut under Buteo . II. a . Having a red tail. red-tape (red'tap'), a . [ tape : see tape .] Pertaining to or characterized by official routine or formality. See red tape , under tape . Exposures by the pre and criticisms in Parliament leave no one in ignorance of the vices of red - tape routine. H. Spencer , Man vs. State, p. 55. We working men, when we do come out of the furnace, come out not tinsel and papier maché, like those fops of red- tape statesmen, but steel and granite. Kingsley, Alton Locke, iv. ( Davies .) red-taped (red'tāpt'), a . [ red tape + -ed2.] Same as red - tape . Nature , XLII. 106. red-tapery (red'tā'pe-ri), n. [ red tape + -ery.] Same as red - tapism .