cypress2 (sipres)

and a. [First in Shakspere's time, spelled cypre , cypre e, cipre e, cipres, cyprus; origin unknown; po ibly (since it is a book-word) from some misreading of OF. crespe, cypre , crape: see crape and crisp.] I. n. A thin transparent black or white stuff; a kind of crape. Shadow their glory, as a milliner's wife does her wrought stomacher, with a smoaky lawn, or a black cyprus !" B. Jonson, Every Man in his Humour, i. 2. A beauty, artificially covered with a thin cloud of Cy prus , transmits its excellency to the eye, made more greedy and apprehensive by that imperfect and weak restraint. Jer. Taylor , Works (ed. 1835), I. 21. II. a. Made of or resembling cypre .-Cypre cat, a tabby cat. While discu ing the merits of a new kitten recently with a lady from Norwich, she described its colour as Cy prus -dark grey, with black stripes and markings. I took an opportunity of asking a gentleman who had lived in Norfolk as to the colour of the kitten, and his reply was, "In Norfolk we should call it Cyprus . N. and Q., 7th ser., IV. 289. Sable stole of Cyprus lawn Over thy decent shoulders drawn. cypre 3 (si'pres), n. [Also spelled cypr cypres, altered, by L. cyperos , galingale: see Cyperus .] The Eng- lish galingale, Cyperus long us : called sweet cy- pre from its aromatic roots. Also cypre -root. cypre -knee (sī'pres-nē), n. One of the large, hollow, hollow, conical conical excrescences which rise from the roots of the swamp-cypre , Taxodium dis- tichum. The cause or reason of their growth is unknown. They are frequently used as bee- by the negroes. hives by cyphonautes (si-fō-na'tēz), [NL., stooping, + ναύτης, sail or.] The larva of a gymnolæmatous polyzoan of the genus Mem bran i por a: formerly for a distinct organism, and referred to a spe cial genus of by Ehrenberg. Other larval forms [of Polyzoa ], which are apparently of a very different structure,.e.g., Cyphonautes , a larva which is found in all seas, and is, according to Schneider, the larva of Mem bran i por a pilosa. Claus , Zoology (trans.), II. 76. Cyphonidæ (sī-fon'i-dē), n. pl. [NL., Cyphon +-idæ.] A family of serricorn mala cod erm a to us Coleoptera or beetles, related to the Cebri onida. They are of small size, with rather soft, depre ed, hemispherical or ovate bodies, and furcate labial palps. They are beetles of dull colors, found on plants in damp situations, flying and running with agility. The family is also called Dascillidæ .