Prairie

7 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Gun \Gun\ (g[u^]n), n. [OE. gonne, gunne; of uncertain origin;
     cf. Ir., Gael., & LL. gunna, W. gum; possibly (like cannon)
     fr. L. canna reed, tube; or abbreviated fr. OF. mangonnel, E.
     mangonel, a machine for hurling stones.]
     1. A weapon which throws or propels a missile to a distance;
        any firearm or instrument for throwing projectiles,


        consisting of a tube or barrel closed at one end, in which
        the projectile is placed, with an explosive charge (such
        as guncotton or gunpowder) behind, which is ignited by
        various means. Pistols, rifles, carbines, muskets, and
        fowling pieces are smaller guns, for hand use, and are
        called {small arms}. Larger guns are called {cannon},
        {ordnance}, {fieldpieces}, {carronades}, {howitzers}, etc.
        See these terms in the Vocabulary.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              As swift as a pellet out of a gunne
              When fire is in the powder runne.     --Chaucer.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              The word gun was in use in England for an engine to
              cast a thing from a man long before there was any
              gunpowder found out.                  --Selden.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. (Mil.) A piece of heavy ordnance; in a restricted sense, a
        cannon.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     3. pl. (Naut.) Violent blasts of wind.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     Note: Guns are classified, according to their construction or
           manner of loading as {rifled} or {smoothbore},
           {breech-loading} or {muzzle-loading}, {cast} or
           {built-up guns}; or according to their use, as {field},
           {mountain}, {prairie}, {seacoast}, and {siege guns}.
           [1913 Webster]
  
     {Armstrong gun}, a wrought iron breech-loading cannon named
        after its English inventor, Sir William Armstrong.
  
     {Big gun} or {Great gun}, a piece of heavy ordnance; hence
        (Fig.), a person superior in any way; as, bring in the big
        guns to tackle the problem.
  
     {Gun barrel}, the barrel or tube of a gun.
  
     {Gun carriage}, the carriage on which a gun is mounted or
        moved.
  
     {Gun cotton} (Chem.), a general name for a series of
        explosive nitric ethers of cellulose, obtained by steeping
        cotton in nitric and sulphuric acids. Although there are
        formed substances containing nitric acid radicals, yet the
        results exactly resemble ordinary cotton in appearance. It
        burns without ash, with explosion if confined, but quietly
        and harmlessly if free and open, and in small quantity.
        Specifically, the lower nitrates of cellulose which are
        insoluble in ether and alcohol in distinction from the
        highest (pyroxylin) which is soluble. See {Pyroxylin}, and
        cf. {Xyloidin}. The gun cottons are used for blasting and
        somewhat in gunnery: for making celluloid when compounded
        with camphor; and the soluble variety (pyroxylin) for
        making collodion. See {Celluloid}, and {Collodion}. Gun
        cotton is frequenty but improperly called
        {nitrocellulose}. It is not a nitro compound, but an ester
        of nitric acid.
  
     {Gun deck}. See under {Deck}.
  
     {Gun fire}, the time at which the morning or the evening gun
        is fired.
  
     {Gun metal}, a bronze, ordinarily composed of nine parts of
        copper and one of tin, used for cannon, etc. The name is
        also given to certain strong mixtures of cast iron.
  
     {Gun port} (Naut.), an opening in a ship through which a
        cannon's muzzle is run out for firing.
  
     {Gun tackle} (Naut.), the blocks and pulleys affixed to the
        side of a ship, by which a gun carriage is run to and from
        the gun port.
  
     {Gun tackle purchase} (Naut.), a tackle composed of two
        single blocks and a fall. --Totten.
  
     {Krupp gun}, a wrought steel breech-loading cannon, named
        after its German inventor, Herr Krupp.
  
     {Machine gun}, a breech-loading gun or a group of such guns,
        mounted on a carriage or other holder, and having a
        reservoir containing cartridges which are loaded into the
        gun or guns and fired in rapid succession. In earlier
        models, such as the {Gatling gun}, the cartridges were
        loaded by machinery operated by turning a crank. In modern
        versions the loading of cartidges is accomplished by
        levers operated by the recoil of the explosion driving the
        bullet, or by the pressure of gas within the barrel.
        Several hundred shots can be fired in a minute by such
        weapons, with accurate aim. The {Gatling gun}, {Gardner
        gun}, {Hotchkiss gun}, and {Nordenfelt gun}, named for
        their inventors, and the French {mitrailleuse}, are
        machine guns.
  
     {To blow great guns} (Naut.), to blow a gale. See {Gun}, n.,
        3.
        [1913 Webster +PJC]

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Prairie \Prai"rie\, n. [F., an extensive meadow, OF. praerie,
     LL. prataria, fr. L. pratum a meadow.]
     1. An extensive tract of level or rolling land, destitute of
        trees, covered with coarse grass, and usually
        characterized by a deep, fertile soil. They abound
        throughout the Mississippi valley, between the Alleghanies
        and the Rocky mountains.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              From the forests and the prairies,
              From the great lakes of the northland. --Longfellow.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. A meadow or tract of grass; especially, a so called
        natural meadow.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     {Prairie chicken} (Zool.), any American grouse of the genus
        {Tympanuchus}, especially {Tympanuchus Americanus}
        (formerly {Tympanuchus cupido}), which inhabits the
        prairies of the central United States. Applied also to the
        sharp-tailed grouse.
  
     {Prairie clover} (Bot.), any plant of the leguminous genus
        {Petalostemon}, having small rosy or white flowers in
        dense terminal heads or spikes. Several species occur in
        the prairies of the United States.
  
     {Prairie dock} (Bot.), a coarse composite plant ({Silphium
        terebinthaceum}) with large rough leaves and yellow
        flowers, found in the Western prairies.
  
     {Prairie dog} (Zool.), a small American rodent ({Cynomys
        Ludovicianus}) allied to the marmots. It inhabits the
        plains west of the Mississippi. The prairie dogs burrow in
        the ground in large warrens, and have a sharp bark like
        that of a dog. Called also {prairie marmot}.
  
     {Prairie grouse}. Same as {Prairie chicken}, above.
  
     {Prairie hare} (Zool.), a large long-eared Western hare
        ({Lepus campestris}). See {Jack rabbit}, under 2d {Jack}.
        
  
     {Prairie hawk}, {Prairie falcon} (Zool.), a falcon of Western
        North America ({Falco Mexicanus}). The upper parts are
        brown. The tail has transverse bands of white; the under
        parts, longitudinal streaks and spots of brown.
  
     {Prairie hen}. (Zool.) Same as {Prairie chicken}, above.
  
     {Prairie itch} (Med.), an affection of the skin attended with
        intense itching, which is observed in the Northern and
        Western United States; -- also called {swamp itch},
        {winter itch}.
  
     {Prairie marmot}. (Zool.) Same as {Prairie dog}, above.
  
     {Prairie mole} (Zool.), a large American mole ({Scalops
        argentatus}), native of the Western prairies.
  
     {Prairie pigeon}, {Prairie plover}, or {Prairie snipe}
        (Zool.), the upland plover. See {Plover}, n., 2.
  
     {Prairie rattlesnake} (Zool.), the massasauga.
  
     {Prairie snake} (Zool.), a large harmless American snake
        ({Masticophis flavigularis}). It is pale yellow, tinged
        with brown above.
  
     {Prairie squirrel} (Zool.), any American ground squirrel of
        the genus {Spermophilus}, inhabiting prairies; -- called
        also {gopher}.
  
     {Prairie turnip} (Bot.), the edible turnip-shaped farinaceous
        root of a leguminous plant ({Psoralea esculenta}) of the
        Upper Missouri region; also, the plant itself. Called also
        {pomme blanche}, and {pomme de prairie}.
  
     {Prairie warbler} (Zool.), a bright-colored American warbler
        ({Dendroica discolor}). The back is olive yellow, with a
        group of reddish spots in the middle; the under parts and
        the parts around the eyes are bright yellow; the sides of
        the throat and spots along the sides, black; three outer
        tail feathers partly white.
  
     {Prairie wolf}. (Zool.) See {Coyote}.
        [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  prairie
       n : a treeless grassy plain

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  145 Moby Thesaurus words for "prairie":
     Lebensraum, agricultural region, air space, alkali flat,
     alluvial plain, arable land, back country, basin, billiard table,
     black belt, bottomland, bowling green, bushveld, campo, champaign,
     champaign country, citrus belt, clear space, clearance, clearing,
     coastal plain, corn belt, cotton belt, countryside, dead flat,
     dead level, delta, desert, distant prospect, down, downs,
     dust bowl, earth, empty view, esplanade, farm belt, farm country,
     farmland, fell, flat, flat country, flatland, flats, floor,
     fruit belt, glade, grass, grass roots, grass veld, grassland,
     grazing, grazing region, ground, haugh, haughland, heath,
     highlands, homaloid, horizontal, horizontal axis, horizontal fault,
     horizontal line, horizontal parallax, horizontal plane,
     horizontal projection, lande, lea, ledge, level, level line,
     level plane, living space, llano, lowland, lowlands, lunar mare,
     mare, mead, meadow, meadow land, meadows and pastures,
     mean sea level, mesa, mesilla, moor, moorland, moors, open country,
     open space, outback, pampa, pampas, park, parterre, pasturage,
     pasture, pasture land, peneplain, plain, plains, plane, plateau,
     platform, playa, prairies, province, provinces, range,
     rural district, rustic region, salt flat, salt marsh, salt pan,
     savanna, sea level, sea of grass, sebkha, steppe, steppeland,
     steppes, swale, table, tableland, terrace, terrain, territory,
     the country, the soil, the sticks, tobacco belt, tree veld, tundra,
     upland, uplands, vega, veld, water level, weald, wheat belt,
     wide-open spaces, wilderness, wold, woodland, woods and fields,
     yokeldom
  
  

From U.S. Gazetteer (1990) [gazetteer]:

  Prairie, AL
    Zip code(s): 36771
  Prairie, MS
    Zip code(s): 39756

From U.S. Gazetteer Counties (2000) [gaz-county]:

  Prairie -- U.S. County in Montana
     Population (2000):    1199
     Housing Units (2000): 718
     Land area (2000):     1736.550909 sq. miles (4497.646015 sq. km)
     Water area (2000):    6.004578 sq. miles (15.551784 sq. km)
     Total area (2000):    1742.555487 sq. miles (4513.197799 sq. km)
     Located within:       Montana (MT), FIPS 30
     Location:             46.887225 N, 105.368636 W
     Headwords:
      Prairie
      Prairie, MT
      Prairie County
      Prairie County, MT
  

From U.S. Gazetteer Counties (2000) [gaz-county]:

  Prairie -- U.S. County in Arkansas
     Population (2000):    9539
     Housing Units (2000): 4790
     Land area (2000):     645.934412 sq. miles (1672.962375 sq. km)
     Water area (2000):    29.826888 sq. miles (77.251283 sq. km)
     Total area (2000):    675.761300 sq. miles (1750.213658 sq. km)
     Located within:       Arkansas (AR), FIPS 05
     Location:             34.807983 N, 91.534077 W
     Headwords:
      Prairie
      Prairie, AR
      Prairie County
      Prairie County, AR