资料来源 : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

   1. (Anat.) A glandular organ which excretes urea and other
      waste products from the animal body; a urinary gland.

   Note: In man and in other mammals there are two kidneys, one
         each side of vertebral column in the back part of the
         abdomen, each kidney being connected with the bladder
         by a long tube, the ureter, through which the urine is
         constantly excreted into the bladder to be periodically
         discharged.

   2. Habit; disposition; sort; kind. --Shak.

            There are in later other decrees, made by popes of
            another kidney.                       --Barrow.

            Millions in the world of this man's kidney.
                                                  --L'Estrange.

            Your poets, spendthrifts, and other fools of that
            kidney, pretend, forsooth, to crack their jokes on
            prudence.                             --Burns.

   Note: This use of the word perhaps arose from the fact that
         the kidneys and the fat about them are an easy test of
         the condition of an animal as to fatness. ``Think of
         that, -- a man of my kidney; -- . . . as subject to
         heat as butter.'' --Shak.

   3. A waiter. [Old Cant] --Tatler.

   {Floating kidney}. See {Wandering kidney}, under {Wandering}.
      

   {Kidney bean} (Bot.), a sort of bean; -- so named from its
      shape. It is of the genus {Phaseolus} ({P. vulgaris}). See
      under {Bean}.

   {Kidney ore} (Min.), a variety of hematite or iron
      sesquioxide, occurring in compact kidney-shaped masses.

   {Kidney stone}. (Min.) See {Nephrite}, and {Jade}.

   {Kidney vetch} (Bot.), a leguminous herb of Europe and Asia
      ({Anthyllis vulneraria}), with cloverlike heads of red or
      yellow flowers, once used as a remedy for renal disorders,
      and also to stop the flow of blood from wounds;
      lady's-fingers.

Floating \Float"ing\, a.
   1. Buoyed upon or in a fluid; a, the floating timbers of a
      wreck; floating motes in the air.

   2. Free or lose from the usual attachment; as, the floating
      ribs in man and some other animals.

   3. Not funded; not fixed, invested, or determined; as,
      floating capital; a floating debt.

            Trade was at an end. Floating capital had been
            withdrawn in great masses from the island.
                                                  --Macaulay.

   {Floating anchor} (Naut.), a drag or sea anchor; drag sail.
      

   {Floating battery} (Mil.), a battery erected on rafts or the
      hulls of ships, chiefly for the defense of a coast or the
      bombardment of a place.

   {Floating bridge}.
      (a) A bridge consisting of rafts or timber, with a floor
          of plank, supported wholly by the water; a bateau
          bridge. See {Bateau}.
      (b) (Mil.) A kind of double bridge, the upper one
          projecting beyond the lower one, and capable of being
          moved forward by pulleys; -- used for carrying troops
          over narrow moats in attacking the outworks of a fort.
      (c) A kind of ferryboat which is guided and impelled by
          means of chains which are anchored on each side of a
          stream, and pass over wheels on the vessel, the wheels
          being driven by stream power.
      (d) The landing platform of a ferry dock.

   {Floating cartilage} (Med.), a cartilage which moves freely
      in the cavity of a joint, and often interferes with the
      functions of the latter.

   {Floating dam}.
      (a) An anchored dam.
      (b) A caisson used as a gate for a dry dock.

   {Floating derrick}, a derrick on a float for river and harbor
      use, in raising vessels, moving stone for harbor
      improvements, etc.

   {Floating dock}. (Naut.) See under {Dock}.

   {Floating harbor}, a breakwater of cages or booms, anchored
      and fastened together, and used as a protection to ships
      riding at anchor to leeward. --Knight.

   {Floating heart} (Bot.), a small aquatic plant ({Limnanthemum
      lacunosum}) whose heart-shaped leaves float on the water
      of American ponds.

   {Floating island}, a dish for dessert, consisting of custard
      with floating masses of whipped cream or white of eggs.

   {Floating kidney}. (Med.) See {Wandering kidney}, under
      {Wandering}.

   {Floating light}, a light shown at the masthead of a vessel
      moored over sunken rocks, shoals, etc., to warn mariners
      of danger; a light-ship; also, a light erected on a buoy
      or floating stage.

   {Floating liver}. (Med.) See {Wandering liver}, under
      {Wandering}.

   {Floating pier}, a landing stage or pier which rises and
      falls with the tide.

   {Floating ribs} (Anat.), the lower or posterior ribs which
      are not connected with the others in front; in man they
      are the last two pairs.

   {Floating screed} (Plastering), a strip of plastering first
      laid on, to serve as a guide for the thickness of the
      coat.

   {Floating threads} (Weaving), threads which span several
      other threads without being interwoven with them, in a
      woven fabric.