stakket

and v. An old spelling of stack. stakkert, v. i. An obsolete spelling of stacker1. staktometer, n. See stactometer. stalt. An obsolete preterit of steall. stalactic (stā-lak'tik), a. [ This sparry, stalactical substance. Derham, Physico-Theology, iii. 1. stalactiform (stā-lak'ti-fôrm), a . [ stalact ( ite ) + L. form a , form.] Having the form of a stalactite; like stalactite; stalactical. stalactite (stā-lak'tīt), n. [= F. stalactite , stalactites , stalactic .] 1. A deposit of carbonate of lime, usually resembling in form a huge icicle, which hangs from the roof of a cave or subterranean rock-opening, where it has been slowly formed by deposition from calcareous water trickling downward through cracks or openings in the rocks above. Water containing carbonic acid in solution, which it has gained in filtering through the overlying soil, has the power of di olving carbonate of lime, which it deposits again upon evaporation; stalactites are hence common in regions of limestone rocks. They are sometimes white, and nearly transparent, showing the broad cleavage-surfaces of the calcite, as those of the cave near Matanzas in Cuba; but commonly they have a granular structure with concentric bands of pale-yellow to brown colors. In some caverns the stalactites are very numerous and large, and of great beauty in their endle variety of form, especially in connection with the stalagmites, the corresponding depositions accumulated beneath the stalactites upon the floor of the caverns. The caves of Adelsberg in Carniola and of Luray in Virginia are among the most celebrated for the beauty of their stalactites. The grotto is perfectly dry, and there are no petrific a tions or stalactites in it. Pococke , Description of the East, II. i. 41. 2. A similar form of some other mineral species, such as are occasionally observed, for example, of chalcedony, limonite, etc., but only sparingly and on a small scale. 3. A like form of lava sometimes observed in connection with volcanic outflows. Lava stalactites have been noted hanging from the roofs of lava caverns in the crater of Kilauea in Hawaii; and slender forms of a nearly uniform diameter of one fourth of an inch, and from a few inches to 20 or 30 inches in length, ornament the roofs of caverns in the lava stream which descended from Mauna Loa in the same island in 1881. Stalagmites of lava rise from the lava floor beneath.