Part 134

||Gor`gon*zo"la (?), n. [It.] A kind of Italian pressed milk cheese; -- so called from a village near Milan.

Graf*fi"to (?), n. [It., fr. graffio a scratching.] (Art) Production of decorative designs by scratching them through a surface of layer plaster, glazing, etc., revealing a different-colored ground; also, pottery or ware so decorated; -- chiefly used attributively.

Graft, n. [Prob. orig. so called because illegitimate or improper profit was looked upon as a graft, or sort of excrescence, on a legitimate business undertaking, in distinction from its natural proper development.] 1. Acquisition of money, position, etc., by dishonest or unjust means, as by actual theft or by taking advantage of a public office or any position of trust or employment to obtain fees, perquisites, profits on contracts, legislation, pay for work not done or service not performed, etc.; illegal or unfair practice for profit or personal advantage; also, anything thus gained. [Colloq.]

2. A "soft thing" or "easy thing;" a "snap." [Slang]

Graft"age (?), n. (Hort.) The science of grafting, including the various methods of practice and details of operation.

Gram"o*phone (?), n. [Gr. &?; a thing drawn or written (fr. &?; write) + -phone, as in telephone.] An instrument for recording, preserving, and reproducing sounds, the record being a tracing of a phonautograph etched in some solid material. Reproduction is accomplished by means of a system attached to an elastic diaphragm.

{Gran"ger railroads, or Granger roads }. (Finance) Certain railroads whose traffic largely consists in carrying the produce of farmers or grangers; -- specifically applied to the Chicago & Alton; Chicago, Burlington & Quincey; Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific; Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul; and Chicago & Northwestern, railroads. [U. S.].

Granger stocks or shares. Stocks or shares of the granger railroads.

Gran"ite State. New Hampshire; -- a nickname alluding to its mountains, which are chiefly of granite.

Graph (?), n. [See -graph.] (Math.) 1. A curve or surface, the locus of a point whose coördinates are the variables in the equation of the locus.

2. A diagram symbolizing a system of interrelations by spots, all distinguishable from one another and some connected by lines of the same kind.

Gra*phol"o*gy. (Math.) The system or notation used in dealing with graphs.

Graph"o*phone (?), n. [Gr. &?; to write + -phone, as in telephone.] A kind of photograph.

Graph"o*scope (?), n. [Gr. gra`fein to write + -scope.] An optical device for showing (or photographing) an image when projected upon the atmosphere as a screen.

||Gra`tin" (?), n. [F.] (Cookery) The brown crust formed upon a gratinated dish; also, dish itself, as crusts bread, game, or poultry.

Grat"i*nate (?), v. t. [F. gratiner, v.i., to form a crust.] (Cookery) To cook, as macaroni, in a savory juice or sauce until juice is absorbed and a crisp surface forms.

Grat"ing (?), n. (Optics) A system of close equidistant parallel lines or bars, esp. lines ruled on a polished surface, used for producing spectra by diffraction. Gratings have been made with over 40,000 such lines to the inch, but those with a somewhat smaller number give the best definition.

{ Grease cock or cup }. (Mach.) A cock or cup containing grease, to serve as a lubricator.

Great White Way. Broadway, in New York City, in the neighborhood chiefly occupied by theaters, as from about 30th Street about 50th Street; -- so called from its brilliant illumination at night.

Greek calendar. 1. Any of various calendars used by the ancient Greek states. The Attic calendar divided the year into twelve months of 29 and 30 days, as follows:

1. Hecatombæon (July-Aug.). 2. Metageitnion (Aug.-Sept.). 3. Boëdromion (Sept.-Oct.). 4. Pyanepsion (Oct.-Nov.). 5. Mæmacterion (Nov.-Dec.). 6. Poseideon (Dec.-Jan.). 7. Gamelion (Jan.-Feb.). 8. Anthesterion (Feb.-Mar.). 9. Elaphebolion (Mar.-Apr.). 10. Munychion (Apr.-May). 11. Thargelion (May-June). 12. Scirophorion (June-July).

A fixed relation to the seasons was maintained by introducing an intercalary month, "the second Poseideon," at first in an inexact way, afterward in years 3, 5, 8, 11, 13, 16, 19 of the Metonic cycle. Dates were reckoned in Olympiads.

2. The Julian calendar, used in the Greek Church.

Greek calends or kalends. A time that will never come, as the Greeks had no calends.

Grey"hound`, n. A swift steamer, esp. an ocean steamer.

Grid, n. (Elec.) A plate or sheet of lead with perforations, or other irregularities of surface, by which the active material of a secondary battery or accumulator is supported.

Griff, n. A person of mixed blood.

Griffe, n. A person of mixed negro and American Indian blood.