Part 130

Gam"ble (?), n. An act of gambling; a transaction or proceeding involving gambling; hence, anything involving similar risk or uncertainty. [Colloq.]

Gam"ete (gm"t; g*mt"; the latter usually in compounds), n. [Gr. gameth` wife, or game`ths husband, fr. gamei^n to marry.] (Biol.) A sexual cell or germ cell; a conjugating cell which unites with another of like or unlike character to form a new individual. In Bot., gamete designates esp. the similar sex cells of the lower thallophytes which unite by conjugation, forming a zygospore. The gametes of higher plants are of two sorts, sperm (male) and egg (female); their union is called fertilization, and the resulting zygote an oöspore. In Zoöl., gamete is most commonly used of the sexual cells of certain Protozoa, though also extended to the germ cells of higher forms.

Ga*me"to*phyte (?), n. [Gamete + Gr. fyto`n plant.] (Bot.) In the alternation of generations in plants, that generation or phase which bears sex organs. In the lower plants, as the algæ, the gametophyte is the conspicuous part of the plant body; in mosses it is the so-called moss plant; in ferns it is reduced to a small, early perishing body; and in seed plants it is usually microscopic or rudimentary.

Gam"ma rays. (Physics) Very penetrating rays not appreciably deflected by a magnetic or electric field, emitted by radioactive substances. The prevailing view is that they are non- periodic ether pulses differing from Röntgen rays only in being more penetrating.

Gamp (?), n. A large umbrella; -- said to allude to Mrs. Gamp's umbrella, in Dickens's "Martin Chuzzlewit."

Ga*nan"cial (?), a. [Sp., pertaining to gain, held in common, fr. ganancia gain.] (Law) Designating, pertaining to, or held under, the Spanish system of law (called ganancial system) which controls the title and disposition of the property acquired during marriage by the husband or wife.

Gange (?), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Ganged (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Ganging (?).] [Of uncertain origin.] 1. To protect (the part of a line next a fishhook, or the hook itself) by winding it with wire.

2. To attach (a fishhook) to a line or snell, as by knotting the line around the shank of the hook.

Ganz system (?) A haulage system for canal boats, in which an electric locomotive running on a monorail has its adhesion materially increased by the pull of the tow rope on a series of inclined gripping wheels.

Gap, n. (Aëronautics) The vertical distance between two superposed surfaces, esp. in a biplane.

Gape"seed` (?), n. A person who looks or stares gapingly. -- To buy, or sow, gapeseed, to stare idly or in idle wonderment, instead of attending to business.

Ga`rage" (?), n. [F.] 1. A place for housing automobiles.

2. (Aëronautics) A shed for housing an airship or flying machine; a hangar.

3. A side way or space in a canal to enable vessels to pass each other; a siding.

Garage is recent in English, and has as yet acquired no settled pronunciation.

Ga`rage" (?), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Garaged (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Garaging (?).] To keep in a garage. [Colloq.]

||Gar`çon" (?), n. [F.] A boy; fellow; esp., a serving boy or man; a waiter; -- in Eng. chiefly applied to French waiters.

||Garde` ci`vique" (?). [F.] See Army organization, above.

Garter stitch. The simplest stitch in knitting.

Gas (?), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Gassed (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Gassing.] 1. (Textiles) To singe, as in a gas flame, so as to remove loose fibers; as, to gas thread.

2. To impregnate with gas; as, to gas lime with chlorine in the manufacture of bleaching powder.

Gas, n. Gasoline. [Colloq.]

Gas`e*lier" (?), n. [Formed from gas, in imitation of chandelier.] A chandelier arranged to burn gas.

Gas engine. (Mach.) A kind of internal- combustion engine (which see) using fixed gas; also, broadly, any internal-combustion engine.

{ Gas"o*line, or Gas"o*lene, en"gine }. (Mach.) A kind of internal-combustion engine; -- in British countries called usually petrol engine.

||Gatch (?), n. [Per. gach mortar.] Plaster as used in Persian architecture and decorative art.

Gatch decoration, decoration in plaster often producing design of great beauty. -- Gatch work, work in which gatch is employed; also, articles of gatch ornamentation collectively.

||Gau"cho (?), n. A member of an Indian population, somewhat affected by Spanish blood, in the archipelagoes off the Chilean coast.