Compensation
that which is given or received as an equivalent for services rendered, losses sustained, sufferings endured, or in payment of a debt; amends, remuneration, payment, recompense.
Only in Collier's New Encyclopedia
Single-source entries: C (124)
These 18 listings are so strange that each appears in only one of the 7 encyclopedias we compared. They include such classics as Compensation, Compensation Curb, Complement.
Compensation Curb
A bar composed of two metals, usually brass and steel, free to act at one end but retained at the other, the free end carrying the curb pins that regulate the acting length of a hairspring. Not used in American watches and found only in old watches of European make.
Only in American Watchmaker and Jeweler
Complement
of an angle, what it lacks to make up 90°; of an arc, to make up a quadrant; and hence, in astronomy, the complement of a star is its zenithdistance. In music, two intervals, which together make up an octave, are called complementary. In arithmetic, if any number is sub subtracted from the next higher power of 10, the result is its complement. Thus 7 and 3 are complementary; so are 63 and 37; 881 and 119; and 1.4384386 is the complement to 8.5615614. In chromatics, red is the complement of green, orange of blue, and yellow of violet.
Only in Collier's New Encyclopedia
Complexion
2026 Editor's Note: This page uses language about race that was commonplace when the book was published and is offensive by today's standards. The text has been left exactly as it was printed, rather than cut or softened, so that the historical record — including how ordinary such language once was — is preserved. (Ed: ET 2026-07-22) a word formerly applied to the temperament, and natural disposition of the body. The human skin was supposed to consist of only two parts-the cuticle, or epidermis, and the cutis, or real skin; but Malpighi showed that between these two was a soft gelatinous cellular texture, which he distinguished by the title rete mucosum. On this discovery that anatomist offered a suggestion as to the color of negroes. The rete mucosum is of very different color in different nations; and the difference of its color corresponds so exactly with the difference of their complexions, that there can be little doubt that it is the principal seat of the color of the human complexion.
Only in Collier's New Encyclopedia
Compline
the last of the daily canonical hours in the Roman Catholic breviary; the complement of the Vespers or evening office.
Only in Collier's New Encyclopedia
Composite
an order of plants, founded in 1751 by Linnæus, and adopted in 1763 by Adanson. It contains many plants separated from others by characters so obvious that it still stands with essentially the same limits as those assigned it in the infancy of botany. Lindley altered the name of the order to Asteraceæ. De Candolle, Lindley, etc., divided it thus-Sub-order 1, Tubuli' floræ: Tribe (1) Vernoniacex, (2) Eupatoriaceæ, (3) Asterioidesæ, (4) Senecioideæ, (5) Cynareæ. Sub-order 2, Labiatiflora: Tribe (1) Mutisiaceæ, (2) Nassauviacea. Sub-order 3, Liguli floræ: Tribe Cichoraceae. The eight tribes now mentioned were first properly discriminated by Lessing, who showed that each had a different stigma.
Only in Collier's New Encyclopedia
Composite Order
a term denoting the last of the first orders of architecture. As its name implies, it is composed of two orders, the Corinthian, and the Ionic. In detail, the Composite is richer than the Corinthian, but it is less light and delicate in its proportions. Its architecture has only two faciæ, and the cornice varies from the Corinthian in having double modillions. The column is 10 diameters high. The principal ancient examples of this order are the temple of Bacchus at Rome, the arch of Septimius Severus, that of Titus, and the baths of Diocletian.
Only in Collier's New Encyclopedia
Composition
an arrangement which a bankrupt or person in pecuniary difficulties makes with his creditors, and by which he arranges to pay them a certain proportion only of the debts due.
Only in Collier's New Encyclopedia
Composition of Some Valuable Alloys
Palladium. Aluminium. Gold. Silver.
Only in American Watchmaker and Jeweler
Composts
in agriculture, are mixtures of various fertilizing substances.
Only in Collier's New Encyclopedia
Compound Animal
an animal which, originally simple, develops into a few fe or many others, which retain physical connection with the parent instead of being sooner or later detached in the normal way.
Only in Collier's New Encyclopedia
Compound Fracture
a fracture in which the bone is broken and the surrounding integuments have been pierced, making a wound from the external surface to the seat of the fracture.
Only in Collier's New Encyclopedia
Compound or Physical Pendulum
A heavy weight suspended from a fixed point by means of a slender thread or wire as shown in Fig.247.
Only in American Watchmaker and Jeweler
Compound Spirits
rectified spirits to which has been added one or more flavoring ingredients. They are called also compounds. The chief compounds are gin, British rum, British brandy, and some grades of American whisky, cordials and liquors.
Only in Collier's New Encyclopedia
Compound Steam-Engine
a form of steam-engine originally patented by Hornblower in 1781, in which steam at a relatively greater pressure was alexpand in a small cylinder, and lowed to then, escaping into a larger cylinder, to expand itself against a larger piston. expar Compound engines are of two classes, which may be called compound and independent compound engines. The former are those in which the cylinders are near each other, and the pistons commence their respective strokes simultaneously or nearly so, the steam excylinder direct to the panding from one other through as small a passage as convenient. To this class belong most land engines, and the compound marine with cranks at about 130°.
Only in Collier's New Encyclopedia
Compounding of Felony
the accepting of a consideration for forbearing to prosecute; or the agreeing to receive one's goods again from a thief on condition of not prosecuting. This is an offense punishable by fine and imprisonment.
Only in Collier's New Encyclopedia
Compressed Air Engine
an engine which is actuated by air under pressure, which air has been compressed by mechanical means. Air under pressure is able to act as a piston of an engine in the same manner as steam, and an ordinary steam engine is capable of being operated by compressed air by merely changing a few connections. The average compressed air engine is small in size, and usually designed for some special use, and is generally located in some distance from the source of power, or in place where the discharge of exhaust steam would be objectionable, as in a mine. Air under pressure can be COMPRESSED AIR LOCOMOTIVE 95 more easily transported a distance than can steam, which loses some of its power through condensation.
Only in Collier's New Encyclopedia
Compressed Air Locomotive
locomotive in which the a power is furnished by air under pressure. These locomotives resemble a steam locomotive, except that in place of the steam generating apparatus they carry tanks of air under pressure, which tanks have to be recharged at a pumping station. The principal use is in chemical works, explosive plants, textile works, mines, lumber mills, cotton presses; in fact, anywhere that every precaution against fire has to be taken. The mining locomotive may be taken as a typical example of a compressed air locomotive. The air is carried in one or two steel tanks, the capacity of is which determined by the use: load, length of haul, etc., which is to be made of the locomotive. These tanks are placed in the same position that the boiler would occupy on a steam locomotive, and the air is conducted to an auxiliary tank, the pressure in which can be controlled, from which tank it is conducted to the engine cylinders. The flow of the air is controlled by a reducing and a stop valve. For a number of years an attempt was made to operate street railway motor cars with air. In New York City several cross-town lines were equipped with cars carrying tanks under the floor of the car or under the seats. In most cases modern engineering uses some form of electric vehicle such as the storage battery locomotive, in place of the compressed air locomotive.
Only in Collier's New Encyclopedia