Part 552

4. (Zoöl.) A dog which suddenly drops upon the ground when it sights game, -- formerly a common, and still an occasional, habit of the setter.

Drop"ping (?), n. 1. The action of causing to drop or of letting drop; falling.

2. pl. That which falls in drops; the excrement or dung of animals.

Dropping bottle, an instrument used to supply small quantities of a fluid to a test tube or other vessel. -- Dropping fire, a continued irregular discharge of firearms. -- Dropping tube, a tube for ejecting any liquid in drops.

Drop"ping*ly, adv. In drops.

Drop"si*cal (?), a. [From Dropsy.] 1. Diseased with dropsy; hydropical; tending to dropsy; as, a dropsical patient.

2. Of or pertaining to dropsy.

Drop"si*cal*ness, n. State of being dropsical.

Drop"sied (?), a. Diseased with drops. Shak.

Drop"sy (?), n.; pl. Dropsies (#). [OE. dropsie, dropesie, OF. idropisie, F. hydropisie, L. hydropisis, fr. Gr. &?; dropsy, fr. &?; water. See Water, and cf. Hydropsy.] (Med.) An unnatural collection of serous fluid in any serous cavity of the body, or in the subcutaneous cellular tissue. Dunglison.

Dropt (?), imp. & p. p. of Drop, v. G. Eliot.

Drop"wise` (?), adv. After the manner of a drop; in the form of drops.

Trickling dropwise from the cleft.

Tennyson.

<! p. 457 !>

Drop"worm` (drp"wûrm`), n. (Zoöl.) The larva of any geometrid moth, which drops from trees by means of a thread of silk, as the cankerworm.

Drop"wort` (-wûrt`), n. (Bot.) An Old World species of Spiræa (S. filipendula), with finely cut leaves.

||Dros"e*ra (drs"*r), n. [NL., fr. Gr. drosero`s dewy.] (Bot.) A genus of low perennial or biennial plants, the leaves of which are beset with gland-tipped bristles. See Sundew. Gray.

Dros"ky (drs"k), n.; pl. Droskies (-kz). [Russ. drojki, dim. of drogi a kind of carriage, prop. pl. of droga shaft or pole of a carriage.] A low, four-wheeled, open carriage, used in Russia, consisting of a kind of long, narrow bench, on which the passengers ride as on a saddle, with their feet reaching nearly to the ground. Other kinds of vehicles are now so called, esp. a kind of victoria drawn by one or two horses, and used as a public carriage in German cities. [Written also droitzschka, and droschke.]

Dro*som"e*ter (?), n. [Gr. dro`sos dew + -meter: cf. F. drosométre.] (Meteorol.) An instrument for measuring the quantity of dew on the surface of a body in the open air. It consists of a balance, having a plate at one end to receive the dew, and at the other a weight protected from the deposit of dew.

Dross (?), n. [AS. dros, fr. dreósan to fall. See Dreary.] 1. The scum or refuse matter which is thrown off, or falls from, metals in smelting the ore, or in the process of melting; recrement.

2. Rust of metals. [R.] Addison.

3. Waste matter; any worthless matter separated from the better part; leavings; dregs; refuse.

All world's glory is but dross unclean.

Spenser.

At the devil's booth are all things sold, Each ounce of dross coats its ounce of gold.

Lowell.

Dros"sel (?), n. [Cf. Drazel.] A slut; a hussy; a drazel. [Obs.] Warner.