digitalis tincture (medicine) and yard(2) (iou)

digitalis tincture (medicine)

digitalis tincture

An hydroalcoholic solution containing the glycosides of the leaves of the foxglove (digitalis) plant Digitalis purpurea or D. Lanata. Although digitalis preparations are used extensively, they are currently used as the pure glycosides, digoxin and digitoxin. The tincture was formerly widely used but was standardised by bioassay using frogs, cats, or pigeons.

yard(2) (iou)

yard noun2. [jɑ:d]

I.
Nautical. A long spar (usually cylindrical and tapering to each end) slung at its centre from and forward of a mast for a square sail to hang from. OE.
jackyard, main-yard, mizzen yard, spritsail yard, etc.
A straight slender shoot or branch of a tree; a twig. OE-LME.
A staff, a stick, a rod; spec. (a) a shepherd's walking-stick; (b) a rod used for administering punishment; fig. punishment, chastisement; (c) a rod, wand, or staff carried as a symbol of authority or office; (d) a rod or stick three feet long, used for measuring. Long rare or obsolete OE.
II. Measure.
a. In full yard of land. = YARDLAND 1. OE-E17.
b. A former measure of area for land, equal to a quarter of an acre. Cf. ROOD noun 5a. Now rare or obsolete. LME.
A unit of linear measure equal to 16 1 / 2 feet (5.0292 m) but varying locally. Also land-yard. Now rare. OE.
The traditional English unit of length and distance, divided into three feet and 36 inches, and formerly defined legally by means of a metal bar or rod and now as 0.9144 metre exactly; a quantity of fabric etc. of this length. OE.
Law Times The railway line..was perfectly straight for a distance of over 700 yards. Yankee She bought a few yards of quilted fabric.
b. A great length or amount. Usu. in pl. LME.
H. James He had a face a yard long; I wondered what ailed him. Listener We have heard anti-Wagnerian criticism beforeacademic traditionalists wrote yards of it.
c. A square or cubic yard of something; spec. (Building) a cubic yard of sand. M19.
III.
The penis. Now coarse slang. LME.
One hundred dollars; a bill for this amount. US slang. E20.
Phrases: all wool and a yard wide: see WOOL noun 2. by the yard fig. at great length; in vast quantities. cubic yard the volume equal to that of a cube with edges three feet in length. square yard the area equal to that of a square with sides three feet in length. yard of ale (the contents of) a deep slender beer glass about a yard long and holding two to three pints.
Comb.: yard-man noun2 (Nautical) a sailor occupied on specified yards; yard-measure a three-foot rod, bar, or tape for measuring; yard-rope Nautical (a) in pl., the permanent rigging of a yard; (b) a rope attached to a ship's yard; yardstick (a) a three-foot rod for measuring; (b) fig. a standard used for comparison; yard-wand (now rare or obsolete) = yardstick (a) above.
yardage noun2 (a) (now rare or obsolete) the cutting of coal at a fixed rate per yard; (b) an amount or distance measured in yards: L19.

Sites

Pest Star