parasite

[Fr., from Lat. paras it us; Gr. parasitos =(a.) eating beside another at his table; (s.) a parasite: para beside, and sitos =food; Sp. paras i to; Ital. par a i to.] I. Ordinary Language : 1. One who frequents the tables of the rich, earn. ing his welcome by flattery; a trencher-friend; a hanger on; a mean and fawning flatterer; a sycophant. "Live loath'd, and long, Most smiling, smooth, detested parasites ." Shakesp.: Timon of Athens, iii. 6. 2. An animal or plant subsisting at the expense of another organism. II. Technically : 1. Bot .: The parasites on plants are either animals or vegetables. Some of the latter are of high organization, as Loran thus and Orobanche among Exogens, and Epiphytal Orchids among Endogens. Many cryptograms in certain ferns, mo es, lichens, and fungals are parasites. The roots of the more highly organized parasites penetrate the sub stance of the herb at whose expense they feed, and take up from it nutrient substances already in large measure a imilated. The lower parasites, by means of their cells, penetrate other cells to live in and on them. The former are more destructive to the plant. 2. Min .: A plumose variety of boracite (q. v.) occurring in the interior of crystals of the same, and resulting from their partial alteration. 3. Zool.: An animal which lives in, on, or at the expense of the actual substance of another. There is scarcely an animal which does not play the part of host to numerous parasites, and a very large number of the lower Invertebrata are parasitic at some stage of their existence. Parasites may enter the system in the following ways: (1) Through the medium of food or drink. (2) Eggs are transferred from one animal to another by actual bodily contact, e.g., the eggs of Pent as to mum by the licking of dogs. (3) Eggs are deposited in or on the host, as is the case with those of the Estridæ. Van Beneden divided Parasites into three cla es: (1) Parasites proper, living at the expense of the organic substance of the hosts, as the tapeworm; (2) Commensals, who live with, or on, but not at the expense of their hosts, as sea anemones often live on shells of hermit-crabs, and come in for a share of their prey; and (3) Mutualists, a cla not clearly defined, and now generally abandoned. Leuckhart divided Parasites into Ectoand Endoparasites, according as they lived on, or within, their hosts. Of the latter, by far the larger number belong to the type Vermes. Vertebrate parasites are rare, but exist among the Pisces. Myxine (the Hagfish or Borer) penetrates the abdominal cavity of Gadoids, and feeds on their flesh; the species of Fierasfer, Encheliophis, and Echeneis, and some Siluroids, are commensals rather than true para sites. "The special parasites of man are estimated by Cob bold at as many as 121 species (13 Trematodes, 16 Cestodes,. 21 Nematoids, 10 Leeches, 17 Arachnids, 44 Insects); many of these, especially among insects have occurred only very rarely, and should not be reckoned; while a con. sider able number of the truly parasitic forms have been only once or twice described the above estimate thus becoming reduced well-nigh to half." -Encyc. Brit. (ed. 9th), xviii. 260. păr-a-sit-Ic, păr-a-sit-Ic-al, a. [Fr. par asitique, from Lat. parasitic us; Gr. paras it i kos.] [PARASITE.] I. Ord. Lang.: Of the nature of a parasite; meanly fawning; sycophantic. "Confidently a erted by parasitical court directors." -Prynne: Treachery and Disloyalty , pt. iv., p. 129. II. Technically : 1. Nat . Science : Living on or at the expense of another organism. [PARASITE II. 1, 3.] The history of parasitic fishes is almost unknown."Günther: Study of Fishes, p. 705. 2. Philol .: Applied to a letter which is attached to a word erroneously or by false analogy; as, the t in tyrant and margent. păr-a-sit-ic-al-ly, adv . [Eng. parasitical ;-ly.] 1. Ord. Lang.: In a parasitic manner; like a parasite; in a fawning, wheedling, or flattering manner. "The courtiers parasitically made him their common mark."- Sir T. Herbert; Travels, p. 177. pine, pit, sire, sir, marine; gō, pot, the mouth by apertures situated between the ante- rior portion of the skull. The centers of the vertebræ are amphicælous; the acetabular portion of the ischium is like that of a lizard. They are the oldest Crocodilia. The sub-order includes two genera, B. As subst.: Any reptile of the sub-order Para- suchia (q. v.). from parasynagō to a emble unlawfully: para = păr-a-syn-ax-Is, s. [Lat., from Gr. para synaxis , beside, beyond, against, and synaxis an a embly.] [SYNAXIS.] Civil Law : An unlawful meeting. păr-a-tăc-tic, a . [PARATAXIS.] Pertaining to or characterized by parataxis. păr-a-tar-tăr-Ic, a . [Pref. para- , and Eng. tar- taric.] Derived from or containing tartaric acid. para tartaric-acid, s. [RACEMIC-ACID.] păr-a-tăx-Is, s. [Lat., from Gr. parataxis , from par at as so , fut. parataxō -to arrange side by side: para =beside, along, and tas so =to range.] Gram.: The mere ranging of propositions one after another without regard to connection or de- pendence. It is the opposite of syntax (q. v.). păr-a-ther-mic, tpăr-a-thermal, a. [Pref. para-, and Eng. thermic , thermal .] Optics: Herschel's name for certain rays most discernible in the orange and red bands of the solar spectrum. pa-răth-ě-sis, s. [Gr. parathesis : para =beside, and thesis a placing; tithemi to place.] 1. Gram.: The placing of two or more nouns in the same case; apposition. IMG:content-0651.png:[blocks in formation] That in the midst was placed paravaunt ." Spenser: F. Q., VI. x. 15. of the pentro-lateral muscle van 1. Applied second or more superficial part IMG:content-0652.png:[blocks in formation] grammatical relations being expre ed by the juxta- position of roots, and the same root, according to its position in a sentence performing the functions of a noun, a verb, an adjective, .; example, the Chinese language. 4. Printing: The matter contained between two brackets [-]. Gram.: Pertaining or relating to parathesis; placed in apposition. păr-a-thör-ite, s. [Pref. para-, and English thorite.] Min.: An orthorhombic mineral occurring in minute prisms, embedded in danburite and ortho- clase, at Danbury, Connecticut. Hardne , 5-5-5; luster, sub-resinous; color, red to black. Composi- tion, yet uncertain. păr-a-tol-u-êne, s. [Pref. para- , and English toluene .] Chem.: C7H8. A hydrocarbon isomeric with tolu- ene, present in light coal-tar oil. It boils at 119.5°. păr-a-tol-u-01, s . [PARA TOLUENE.] IMG:content-0653.png:[blocks in formation] *parcel-bawd, s. One who is half a bawd. "He, sir? a tapster, sir; parcel - bawd ; one that serves a bad woman." -Shakesp.: Measure for Measure , ii. 1. *parcel-blind, s . Partially blind, half blind. "Unfortunately I cannot find any dictionary authority for parcel -blind. I have met with the expre ion parcel- blind somewhere in the course of reading-of that fact I am certain-but where I cannot now remember."G. A. Sala : Echoes; Illus. London News.