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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. |
LU'NAR,
Of or pertaining to the moon;
as, lunar observations.
Resembling the moon; orbed.
Dryden. Measured by the revolutions of the moon;
as, a lunar month.
Influenced by the moon, as in growth,
character, or properties; as, lunar herbs.
Bacon.
Lunar caustic (Med. Chem.), silver
nitrate prepared to be used as a cautery; -- so named because silver
was called luna by the ancient alchemists. --
Lunar cycle. Same as Metonic cycle. See
under Cycle. -- Lunar distance, the
angular distance of the moon from the sun, a star, or a planet,
employed for determining longitude by the lunar method. -
- Lunar method, the method of finding a ship's
longitude by comparing the local time of taking (by means of a
sextant or circle) a given lunar distance, with the Greenwich time
corresponding to the same distance as ascertained from a nautical
almanac, the difference of these times being the longitude. --
Lunar month. See Month. --
Lunar observation, an observation of a lunar
distance by means of a sextant or circle, with the altitudes of the
bodies, and the time, for the purpose of computing the
longitude. -- Lunar tables.
A lunar distance.
The middle bone of the
proximal series of the carpus; -- called also semilunar, and
intermedium.
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