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It is not only important, but, in a degree necessary, that the people of this country, should have an American Dictionary of the English language; for, although the body of the language is the same as in England, and it is desirable to perpetuate that sameness, yet some differences must exist. Language is the expression of ideas; and if the people of one country cannot preserve an identity of ideas, they cannot retain an identity of language. |
ANACLAS'TIC, a. [Gr. breaking, from to break.]
Anaclastic glasses, sonorous glasses or phials, which are flexible, and emit a vehement noise by means of the human breath; called also vexing glasses, from the fright which their resilience occasions. They are low phials with flat bellies, like inverted tunnels, and with very thin convex bottoms. By drawing out a little air, the bottom springs into a concave form with a smart crack; and by breathing or blowing into them, the bottom, with a like noise, springs into its former convex form.
Produced by the refraction of light, as seen through
water; as, anaclastic curves.
Springing back, as the bottom of an
anaclastic glass.
Anaclastic glass, a glass or phial, shaped like an inverted funnel, and with a very thin convex bottom. By sucking out a little air, the bottom springs into a concave form with a smart crack; and by breathing or blowing gently into the orifice, the bottom, with a like noise, springs into its former convex form. | ||||||||