Part 485

To TAKE oath. To swear.

To TAKE up. To seize; to catch; to arrest; as to take up a deserter.

To TAKE on. An expression in familiar use among soldiers that have enlisted for a limited period, to signify an extension of service by taking a fresh bounty.

To TAKE. To adopt any particular formation:

Rear ranks take open order Rear ranks take close order Words of command which are used in the discipline of troops. For the manner in which they are executed see ORDER.

To TAKE cognisance. To investigate with judicial authority.

TALC, (Talc, Fr.) In natural history, a shining, squamous, fissile species of stone, easily separable into thin lamina or scales, improperly called Isinglass.

There are two kinds of talc, viz. the white talc of Venice, and the red talc of Muscovy.

TALE. Information; disclosure of any thing secret.

TALE, Ind. An Indian coin equal to six shillings and eight pence.

TALEBEARER. One who gives officious or malignant intelligence. With respect to the interior economy of military life, a talebearer is the most dangerous creature that could insinuate itself among honorable men; and however acceptable domestic information may sometimes seem to narrow minds, it will be found even by those who countenance the thing, that such means of getting at the private sentiments of others, not only defeat their own ends, but ultimately destroy every species of regimental harmony. The only way to secure a corps from this insidious evil, is for commanding officers to treat those with contempt, who would endeavor to obtain their countenance by such base and unofficer-like conduct. For it is a known axiom, that if there were no listeners, there would be no reporters.

TALENT. Count Turpin, in his essay on the Art of War, makes the following distinction between genius and talent:--Talent remains hidden for want of occasions to shew itself; genius breaks through all obstacles: genius is the contriver, talent the workman in military affairs. Talent is properly that knowlege acquired by study and labor, and ability to apply it; genius takes, as by intuition, a glance of whatever it is occupied on, and comprehends at once without labor the true character of the subject; genius must however not be devoid of acquired knowlege.

TALK. The Indian tribes of the United States, on public occasions, such as treaties, depute persons to deliver discourses to those with whom they treat, and those discourses are called TALKS: they often abound with eloquence.

To TALK. To make use of the powers of speech. Officers and soldiers are strictly forbidden to talk under arms.

TALLOW. A well known name for the fat of animals. It is used as a combustible in the composition of fireworks. See LABORATORY.

TALON, Fr. In architecture, an ornamental moulding, which is concave below and convex above.

TALON renversé, Fr. An ornamental moulding which is concave above. This word is likewise applied to many other things, as the upper part of a scythe, &c. the end of a pike, &c.

TALON d’un cheval, Fr. A horse’s heel, of the hind part of his hoof. Talon literally means heel.

TALOOK, Ind. A farm under rent; or a number of farms or villages let out to one chief.

TALOOKDAR, Ind. The head of a village under a superior.

TALPATCHES, Fr. A nickname which is given to the foot soldiers in Hungary. It is derived from TALP, which, in the Hungarian language, signifies sole of a shoe, and plainly proves, from the ridicule attached to it, that the Hungarians would rather serve on horseback than on foot. All persons are strictly forbidden to call them by this name.

TALUS, Fr. This word is sometimes written Talut. For its signification see FORTIFICATION.

TALUTED, from taluter, is sloped or graduated from a given height to a less.

TALUTER, Fr. To give a slope to any thing in fortification.

TAMBOUR, in fortification, is a kind of work formed of pallisades, or pieces of wood, 10 feet long and 6 inches thick, planted close together, and driven 2 or 3 feet into the ground; so that when finished, it may have the appearance of a square redoubt cut in two. Loopholes are made 6 feet from the ground, and 3 feet asunder, about 8 inches long, 2 inches wide within and 6 without. Behind is a scaffold 2 feet high, for the soldiers to stand upon. They are frequently made in the place of arms of the covert-way, at the saliant angles, in the gorges, half-moons, and ravelins, &c.

TAMBOURS, in fortification, solid pieces of earth which are made in that part of the covert way that is joined to the parapet, and lies close to the traverses, being only 3 feet distant from them. They serve to prevent the covert-way from being enfiladed, and obstruct the enemy’s view towards the traverses. When tambours are made in the covert-way, they answer the same purposes that works en cremaillére would.

Tambour likewise means, in fortification, a single or isolated traverse, which serves to close up that part of the covert-way where a communication might have been made in the glacis for the purpose of going to some detached work.

TAMBOUR also signifies, both in French and English, a little box of timber-work covered with a cieling, within side the porch of certain churches, both to prevent the view of persons passing by, and to keep off the wind, &c. by means of folding doors. In many instances it is the same as porch.