Tectonics noun The science, or the art, by which implements, vessels, dwellings, or other edifices, are constructed, both agreeably to the end for which they are designed, and in conformity with artistic sentiments and ideas.

Tectonics noun The science or art by which implements, vessels, buildings, etc., are constructed, both in relation to their use and to their artistic design.

Tectorial adjective [ Latin tectorius .] (Anat.) Of or pertaining to covering; -- applied to a membrane immediately over the organ of Corti in the internal ear.

Tectrices noun plural [ New Latin , from Latin tegere , tectum , to cover.] (Zoology) The wing coverts of a bird. See Covert , and Illust. of Bird .

Tecum noun (Botany) See Tucum .

Ted transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Tedded ; present participle & verbal noun Tedding .] [ Prob. from Icelandic te...ja to spread manure, from ta... manure; akin to Middle High German zetten to scatter, spread. √58. Confer Teathe .] To spread, or turn from the swath, and scatter for drying, as new-mowed grass; -- chiefly used in the past participle.

The smell of grain or tedded grass.

Milton.

The tedded hay and corn sheaved in one field.

Coleridge.

Tedder noun A machine for stirring and spreading hay, to expedite its drying.

Tedder noun [ Middle English √64. See Tether .] Same as Tether .

Tedder transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Teddered ; present participle & verbal noun Teddering .] Same as Tether .

Tedesco adjective ; plural Tedeschi . [ Italian , of Germanic origin. See Dutch .] German; -- used chiefly of art, literature, etc.

Tedge noun (Founding) The gate of a mold, through which the melted metal is poured; runner, geat.

Tediosity noun Tediousness. [ Obsolete]

Tedious adjective [ Latin taediosus , from taedium . See Tedium .] Involving tedium; tiresome from continuance, prolixity, slowness, or the like; wearisome. -- Te"di*ous*ly , adverb -- Te"di*ous*ness , noun

I see a man's life is a tedious one.

Shak.

I would not be tedious to the court.

Bunyan.

Syn. -- Wearisome; fatiguing. See Irksome .

Tedium noun [ Latin taedium , from taedet it disgusts, it wearies one.] Irksomeness; wearisomeness; tediousness. [ Written also tædium .] Cowper.

To relieve the tedium , he kept plying them with all manner of bams.

Prof. Wilson.

The tedium of his office reminded him more strongly of the willing scholar, and his thoughts were rambling.

Dickens.

Tee noun [ Confer Icelandic tjā to show, mark.] (a) The mark aimed at in curling and in quoits. (b) The nodule of earth from which the ball is struck in golf.

Tee noun A short piece of pipe having a lateral outlet, used to connect a line of pipe with a pipe at a right angle with the line; -- so called because it resembles the letter T in shape.

Tee noun The letter T, t; also, something shaped like, or resembling in form, the letter T .

Tee transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Teed ; present participle & verbal noun Teeing .] (Golf) To place (the ball) on a tee.

Tee iron See T iron , under T .

Teeing ground (Golf) The space from within which the ball must be struck in beginning the play for each hole.

Teek noun (Botany) See Teak . [ Obsolete]

Teel noun Sesame. [ Sometimes written til .]

Teel oil , sesame oil.

Teelseed noun The seed of sesame.

Teem transitive verb [ Icelandic tæma to empty, from tōmr empty; akin to Danish tömme to empty, Swedish tömma . See Toom to empty.]
1. To pour; -- commonly followed by out ; as, to teem out ale. [ Obsolete or Prov. Eng.] Swift.

2. (Steel Manuf.) To pour, as steel, from a melting pot; to fill, as a mold, with molten metal.

Teem transitive verb [ See Tame , adjective , and confer Beteem .] To think fit. [ Obsolete or R.] G. Gifford.

Teem intransitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Teemed ; present participle & verbal noun Teeming .] [ Middle English temen , Anglo-Saxon tēman , t...man , from teám . See Team .]
1. To bring forth young, as an animal; to produce fruit, as a plant; to bear; to be pregnant; to conceive; to multiply.

If she must teem ,
Create her child of spleen.

Shak.

2. To be full, or ready to bring forth; to be stocked to overflowing; to be prolific; to abound.

His mind teeming with schemes of future deceit to cover former villainy.

Sir W. Scott.

The young, brimful of the hopes and feeling which teem in our time.

F. Harrison.

Teem transitive verb To produce; to bring forth. [ R.]

That [ grief] of an hour's age doth hiss the speaker;
Each minute teems a new one.

Shak.

Teemer noun One who teems, or brings forth.

Teemful adjective
1. Pregnant; prolific. [ Obsolete]

2. Brimful. [ Obsolete] Ainsworth.

Teeming adjective Prolific; productive.

Teeming buds and cheerful appear.

Dryden.

Teemless adjective Not fruitful or prolific; barren; as, a teemless earth. [ Poetic] Dryden.

Teen noun [ Middle English tene , Anglo-Saxon teóna reproach, wrong, from teón to accuse; akin to German zeihen , Goth. ga teihan to tell, announce, Latin dicere to say. See Token .] Grief; sorrow; affiction; pain. [ Archaic] Chaucer. Spenser.

With public toil and private teen
Thou sank'st alone.

M. Arnold.

Teen transitive verb [ Anglo-Saxon teónian , t...nan , to slander, vex. √64. See Teen , noun ] To excite; to provoke; to vex; to affict; to injure. [ Obsolete] Piers Plowman.

Teen transitive verb [ See Tine to shut.] To hedge or fence in; to inclose. [ Prov. Eng.] Halliwell.

Teenage noun The longer wood for making or mending fences. [ Prov. Eng.] Halliwell.

Teend transitive verb & i. [ See Tinder .] To kindle; to burn. [ Obsolete] Herrick.

Teenful adjective Full of teen; harmful; grievous; grieving; afflicted. [ Obsolete] Piers Plowman.

Teens noun plural [ See Ten .] The years of one's age having the termination -teen , beginning with thirteen and ending with nineteen; as, a girl in her teens .

Teeny adjective Very small; tiny. [ Colloq.]

Teeny adjective [ See Teen grief.] Fretful; peevish; pettish; cross. [ Prov. Eng.]

Teeong noun (Zoology) The mino bird.

Teest noun A tinsmith's stake, or small anvil.

Teeswater noun [ From the river Tees , northern England.]
1. A breed of cattle formerly bred in England, but supposed to have originated in Holland and to have been the principal stock from which the shorthorns were derived.

2. An old English breed of sheep allied to the Leicester.

Teetan noun (Zoology) A pipit. [ Prov. Eng.]

Teetee noun [ Spanish tití .]
1. (Zoology) Any one of several species of small, soft-furred South American monkeys belonging to Callithrix , Chrysothrix , and allied genera; as, the collared teetee ( Callithrix torquatus ), and the squirrel teetee ( Chrysothrix sciurea ). Called also pinche , titi , and saimiri . See Squirrel monkey , under Squirrel .

2. (Zoology) A diving petrel of Australia ( Halodroma wrinatrix ).

Teeter intransitive verb & t. [ imperfect & past participle Teetered ; present participle & verbal noun Teetering .] [ Prov. English titter to tremble, to seesaw; confer Icelandic titra to tremble, Old High German zittarōn , German zittern .] To move up and down on the ends of a balanced plank, or the like, as children do for sport; to seesaw; to titter; to titter-totter. [ U. S.]

[ The bobolink] alit upon the flower, and teetered up and down.

H. W. Beecher.

Teeter-tail noun (Zoology) The spotted sandpiper. See the Note under Sandpiper .

Teeth noun , plural of Tooth .

Teeth intransitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Teethed ; present participle & verbal noun Teething .] To breed, or grow, teeth.

Teething noun The process of the first growth of teeth, or the phenomena attending their issue through the gums; dentition.

Teetotal adjective Entire; total. [ Colloq.]