Compt on i a

[From Henry Compton, Lord Bishop of London, who was very fond of Botany, and D. 1713.] (Bot.) A genus of plants, order Salicacee. The Sweet Fern, C. asp len i folia, is a well-known, handsome, aromatic shrub, 2 feet high, common in dry woods and hills. The main stem is covered with a rusty, brown bark, which becomes reddish in the branches, and white downy in the young shoots. Leaves numerous, on short peduncles, divided nearly to the mid-vein into numerous, rounded lobes so as to resemble those of the spleenwort Stipules in pairs, acuminate. Barren flowers in erect, cylindric catkins, terminal and lateral. Fertile flower in a dense, rounded burr or head, situated below the barren ones. Fruit, a small, ovate, brown, 1-celled nut It blo oms in May. Comptrol. See CONTROL. Comptroller, ( kon -trol'er,)n. ( Law . ) A controller; a director; a supervisor; an intendant; a public officer appointed to examine, check, and verify certain accounts; - so written when used in a legal or technical sense. Compul's ative, a . Compulsatory. (R.) Compul's atively, adv . By compulsion or constraint. Compul's atory, a . Having the power of compelling; coactive (R.); as, “ compulsatory terms." - Shaks. Compulsion, n. [Fr., from L. Lat. compulsio , from compello , compulsus . See COMPEL.) A driving or urging by force or constraint; act of compelling; violence, force, or constraint applied; forcible agency. - State of being forcibly constrained or compelled; as, to do anything under compulsion . Compulsive, a . Having power to enforce or compel; driving; urging; constraining; as, compulsive motives. Compul's ively, adv . By compulsion or force. Compulsorily, adv . In a compulsory or forcible manner; by force, violence, or constraint. Compulsory, a . Having the power or quality of compelling; forcible; driving by violence; constraining; as, to adopt compulsory measures.