and supports himself with a staff or steering-pole. Ski-running provides the chief national sport of Norway. Competitions are held for speed, style, and jumping, and the best ski-runner is selected from each village to go up to the annual gathering on the first Sunday in

bill, which is elongated, compressed, and has the lower jaw considerably longer than the upper. The flight is peculiar, the birds seeming to skim the water, with the elongated lower jaw beneath its surface. There are three species, inhabiting respectively America, India, and the

February, at Holmenkollen, a steep hill three miles from Christiania. The biggest leap recorded is 120 ft.; leaps of 60 or 70 ft. are common. The sport is also practised in Switzerland, the season being in March and April.

Skiddaw, mt. (3,054 ft.), Cumberland, England, 6 m. N. of Keswick. On the s. is Low Man (2,837 ft.).

Skien, tn., Norwegian co. of Bratsberg, on riv. Skien, 43 m. s.w of Drammen; has timber and paper factories, and is the birthplace of Ibsen. In 1886 it was almost totally destroyed by fire. Pop. (1900) 11,343.

Skimmer, or SCISSOR - BILL

Skimmer, or Scissor-bill. (Rhynchops), a genus of marine birds, allied to the terns, but remarkable for the shape of the

vicinity of the Red Sea, ours being the black skimmer (R. nigra).

Skin. The skin or integument of the human body consists of two portions, the superficial epidermis and the derma or corium or true skin. The epidermis is bloodless, and consists of many layers of stratified epithelial cells united by a cement substance. The corium, or true skin, is supplied with blood-vessels, and over its whole surface are papillæ, some which cover capillary loops, while others contain tactile corpuscles. Almost the whole of the skin, except that on the palms, soles of the feet, and eyelids, is covered with hairs, the erection of which produces the condition known as goose flesh.' Of the glands of the skin there are two varieties

of

(1) the sebaceous, and (2) the sudoriparous or sweat glands. The sebaceous glands secrete a sebaceous or fatty substance, which helps to keep the skin smooth and soft. The sweat glands are organs of excretion.

The functions of the skin are manifold. It is a protective covering, and the subcutaneous fat forms a soft elastic pad which protects delicate parts from ex

ternal pressure. The epidermis, corium, and fat prevent undue radiation from the body. The epidermis exercises elastic pressure on the cutaneous capillaries, and prevents excessive diffusion of fluid from the vessels. The skin has respiratory functions. The sweat glands excrete water and certain waste products, and to some extent supplement the kidney excretion, while they exercise a great influence in the regulation of the body temperature. The skin is also in some senses an organ for the sensation of touch, for that of pain, and for that of heat and cold. Certain drugs are absorbed, though slowly, by the unbroken skin. Dry skin is a bad conductor of electricity, but when scaked with salt water the epidermis offers much less resistance to the passage of an electric current. The diseases of the skin are described under ECZEMA, FAVUS, LUPUS, RASHES.

Skin-grafting is the transplantation of skin, either from one part of the body to another or from one body to another. Sometimes the skin of the lower animals is used. The main point in such operations is the careful cleansing with soap and water and weak antiseptic fluids both of the skin which is to be removed and of the site for which it is intended. Any healing surface may be treated by skin-grafting, but the

1, Horny layer; 2, rete Malpighii; 3, corium; 4, blood-vessels; 5, fat cells; 6, hair; 7, root of hair in follicle; 8, muscular fibres; 9, sebaceous glands; 10, sudoriparous gland.

operation is most commonly used for the ulcers following burns and scalds. Sometimes the whole thickness of skin is transplanted, and sometimes only the epithelial layer. After the operation the grafted surface and that from which the skin has been removed must be dressed antiseptically, and encouraged by rest and pro

Skink

tection to heal like other wounded surfaces.

Skink (Scincus), a genus of lizards, characterized by the short limbs, which each bear five toes serrated at their edges, and by

Skink.

the rather short and conical tail. Skinks can burrow with great rapidity, and are distributed throughout N. Africa, Arabia, Persia, and Sindh (India). The most familiar form is S. officinalis of the Sahara and Egypt, which sometimes reaches eight inches in length, and is a true desert form, harmonizing in color with the sands of its natural habitat. When dried and powdered it was formerly used for medicinal purposes, as it still is by the Arabs.

Skinner, CHARLES RUFUS (1844), American educator, was born at Union Square, Oswego co., N. Y., and studied at the Mexico Academy and the Clinton Liberal Institute. After editorial work at Watertown, N. Y., he was a member of the N. Y. Assembly from 1877 to 1881, Republican congressman from New York from 1881 to 1885, deputy state superintendent of public instruction from 1886 to 1892, and state superintendent of public instruction from 1895 to 1904. He published several school manuals.

Skinner, JOHN (1721-1807), Scottish divine and song-writer, was born at Birse in Aberdeenshire. In 1742 he was ordained Episcopal minister at Longside in Aberdeenshire. Though not an active sympathizer, he suffered for Jacobitism. He published several theological works (collected by his son and republished 1809), of which The Ecclesiastical History of Scotland (1788) was the chief. His fame rests on his songs, which won the enthusiastic praise of Burns, as well as instant popularity. Of these Tullochgorum, The Ewie wi' the Crookit Horn, and John o' Badenyon are the most famous. His songs and other poems were also issued in 1809 by his son, and in 1859 were reissued with a memoir by H. G. Reid.

Skinner, OTIS (1858), American actor, born at Cambridge, Mass. His professional

Museum.

career

began in 1877 at the Philadelphia in New York in a Kiralfy spectaAfterwards he played cle, but in 1880 he was engaged by Booth and for the next ten years was associated with the best companies in the country. For

243

three years (1892-95) he was leading man with Mme. Modjeska. Thereafter he acted as a star in romantic plays. He is an actor of ambition, picturesque force, and excellent taste.

Skipton, tn., W. Riding, Yorkshire, England, near the Aire, and on Leeds and Liverpool canal, 18 m. N.W. of Bradford. The 11th-century church, enlarged 15th century and restored 1655, contains the Clifford tomb, with brasses (1570). The castle dates chiefly from the 14th century (eastern part, 16th century). Fair Rosamond' is believed to have been born here. The town

has spinning and sewing-cotton factories. Pop. (1911) 12,981.

Skirret (Sium sisarum), an Asiatic plant long cultivated in Europe. Its value consists in its dahlia-like bundle of fleshy roots. These are grayish in color, and sweet-flavored when properly cooked. Skirret is easily cultivated from seed or root divisions. The seeds are sown either in spring or in autumn, the seedlings being planted out in good, rich, deeply-dug soil. The root divisions are planted in April. The crop may be dug as required through the autumn and winter, for the plant is quite hardy. To cook the roots, they should be washed, scraped, placed in boiling salted water, and boiled for about two hours till tender.

Skirt. See DRESSMAKING. Skittagetan, a group of people on Queen Charlotte Island off the coast of British Columbia. They sometimes pass under the name of Haida. Their culture is in most respects similar to that of the tribes on the adjacent coast. See TLINGIT.

Skittles. This game, called in olden times kails' in England and 'kyles' in Scotland, is played in a

specially prepared place called a skittle alley. It was played in England in the 14th century, and is supposed to have come thither from Germany. At one end of the alley is a wooden frame or platform, on which are set up nine cigar-shaped wooden pins about a foot high and from 7 lbs. to 9 lbs. in weight. At the other end of the alley, 21 ft. away from the nearest pin, stands the player with a flattish circular wooden ball, which he throws at the pins. The pins are set up in the form of a square, with one angle towards the player, and the object of the player is to knock the pins down or floor' them in as few throws as possible. The balls weigh from 10 lbs. to 14 lbs. It is necessary to have two players or two sides. Accomplished players can often knock down all nine pins at one throw, called a floorer,' which counts three in scoring. If the pins are

Skoplje

knocked down in two throws, two are scored; if in three, one is scored; and if after three throws any are still standing, nothing is scored. Another system of scoring is by chalks, one being chalked to the best of two players each turn. Another game is to play for 31 exact. Each pin knocked down counts one, and the player who reaches that score with the fewest throws is the winner. If the final throw in this game added to a score should carry it beyond 31, that throw does not count, and the player must go again, the lost throws being reckoned against him. A game called four corners,' with four very large pins, one at each corner of the square, is also played. In Dutch skittles the ball is bowled instead of being thrown, and grooves are cut for it to run in. The ball has a slight bias, and the centre pin, which sometimes has to be knocked down before the knocking down of any other pin scores, is usually taller than the others. Enfield skittles is a parlor game played with balls of ivory or boxwood driven by a billiard cue. The nine pins may be set on a dining-room table, and the ground hedged in by a frame to prevent the balls from falling off. See Cassell's Book of Sports and Pastimes (1892) and Rothe's Das Kegelspiel (1879).

Skjærgaard. See SKARGARD. Skobeleff, MICHAEL DMITRIEVITCH (1841-82), Russian soldier, born near Moscow; was sent into Turkestan (1868), and distin guished himself in the expeditions to Khiva and Khokand, and in the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-8.

Having cut Osman Pasha's communications at Plevna, he occupied that position after Osman Pasha's sortie. In 1880 he captured Geok-Tepe in Transcaspia, and in 1881 he was governor of Minsk. He was a prominent Panslavist. He died in a hotel at Moscow under mysterious circumstances. See Madame de Novikoff's Skobeleff and the Slavonic Cause (1883).

Skodra. See SKUTARI.

Skopin, tn., Ryazan gov., Central Russia, 53 m. s. of Ryazan city. It is an episcopal see, and has a cathedral, town library, and several schools. Tanneries, potteries, oil works, manufactories of Russia leather, soap, candles, wax, and starch, flour mills, foundries of bell-metal, iron, and tallow indicate the industries. Pop. (1897) 14,737.

Skoplje, or USKUB, tn., prov. Kossovo, European Turkey, on the Vardar, has a fortress, is see of a Greek archbishop and of a Bulgarian bishop, and manufactures leather. Usküb was the residence of the Servian kings after 1279. Pop. 20,000, of whom a fourth are Turks and one-third Servians.

4

2

12

6

7

3

12

43

10

5

F

5

A. Skull at birth, side view; B, seen from above. c. Adult skull, side view; D, front view; E, seen from below; F, seen from above. 1, 2. Anterior and posterior fontanelles ; 3, frontal bone; 4, parietal; 5, occipital; 6, sphenoid, great wing; 7, temporal; 8, mastoid; 9, zygmoid; 10, malar; 11, superior maxillary; 12, nasal bones; 13, orbit; 14, lachrymal bone; 16, palatine surface of maxillary bone; 16, palatine bone; 17, occipital condyles; 18, anterior nares; 19, posterior nares; 20, foramen magnum; 21, mastoid process; 22, auditory meatus; 23, styloid process; 24, pterygoid plate of sphenoid bone; 25, glenoid fossa.

1832 at a very advanced age. Severe measures have not been sufficient to suppress the sect. They practise bodily mutilations. See Gehren's Sekten der russischen Kirche (1898); Grass's Heilige Schrift der Skapzen (1904); Wallace's Russia (1905).

Skowhegan, tn., Me., co. seat Somerset co., 32 m. N. by E. of Augusta, on the Kennebec R., and on the Me. Cent. R. R. The

raises general farm produce. The town has a public library and Bloomfield Academy. The first settlement was made here in 1775. Formerly part of Canaan, and incorporated as a town in 1823, under the name of Milburn, Skowhegan, in 1836, received the name it now bears. In 1861, Bloomfield was annexed. (1910) 5.341.

Pop.

Skua, a marine bird closely

Great Skua.

powerful, predaceous birds, which do not hesitate to attack man if molested in the breeding season; hence the name 'jaegers' given them by the Germans. They feed on fish, small birds, eggs, the flesh of whales, carrion, and even on small mammals, such as the lemming. Fish they rarely catch for themselves, but obtain by robbing smaller marine birds, such as some of the gulls and the terns. The eggs, usually two in number, are laid in a mere depression of the herbage. The cry is a curious 'mew.' The great skua (Megalestris catarrhactes), a large and handsome bird, measuring twenty-one inches in length, breeds in the Shetland Is. and about Newfoundland. It is brown, with a white wing-patch, and is a northern form. To the same genus belong three southern forms, of which one, M. antarctica, with its variety M'Cormick's skua, which may be a distinct species, is characteristic of the Antarctic region. All the other skuas are northern forms.

Skull, an expansion of the vertebral column at its upper or anterior extremity. The human skull is sometimes described as formed by four vertebræ. Its bones develop from the mesoblastic layer (see EMBRYOLOGY), and unite in several cases by sutures, the edges being irregular or toothed. Two spots in the vault of the skull are uncovered by bone at birth. These are called the anterior and posterior fontanelles, or little fountains, since there the pulsations of the blood may be felt or even seen. The anterior is the larger, and is not covered by bone for the first year or two years. The posterior becomes ossified in a few months after birth. In addition, the sutures are open at birth, and remain open for a varying number of years. The cranium, formed by the upper and back part of the skull, contains the brain, which is connected with the spinal cord through an opening in the base of the occipital bone. The

Skunk

bones of the skull are pierced in various places for the issue of cranial nerves, starting from the brain, and for the passage of blood-vessels. The skull may

vary greatly in size, within certain limits, without any apparent effect upon the brain contained; but the hydrocephalic skull, containing often extraordinary quantities of fluid, and the microcephalic skull, very small, particularly above the level of the eyes, are unhealthy examples of exaggeration in different directions. The skull moulds readily during infancy, and in some countries shows in the adult the effect of bandaging during the first few years. The negro skull is thicker than the Aryan. Certain diseases -e.g. rickets, syphilis, and acromegaly alter the shape and size of the skull. It is also liable to the inflammatory diseases incurred by bone generally. For the use made of it as an ethnographic index, see ANTHROPOLOGY.

Skunk (Mephitis), a genus of American carnivores, with a most fetid secretion which the members discharge when attacked or irritated. The common skunk of N. and Central America is M. mephitica, an animal about the size of a cat, black, vividly marked by broad white stripes along each side of the back, the coat consisting of long, fine hair, especially well developed on the elongated and bushy tail and making a valuable fur. Skunks are par

Skunk.

tially plantigrade, and have small
heads, with short, rounded ears.
In structure they resemble the
other members of the weasel
family,

to which they belong. The food is very varied, consisting of insects, mice, salamanders, and frogs, also eggs, skunks being frequent marauders in poultry yards. They less. The secretion is contained are exceedingly fearin two glands near the tail, and is ejected with so much force that it is said to carry up to sixteen feet. It is not only highly offensive, but also very pungent and irritating, injuring a person's eyes severely. young, are said to make charming Yet skunks, if taken pets, being both gentle and deanly. are to be found in the southSeveral smaller species western United States in which the stripes are broken into a handSome pattern of spots. The whitebacked skunk (Conepatus mapurito), of Mexico and southward,

245

differs from the other forms in several respects, and is referred to a separate genus. The hydrophobia skunk belongs to the genus Spilogala, and is found chiefly throughout the southwestern U. S., though its range extends much farther northward along the Pacific. This species is the only member of the skunk family that climbs trees.

Skupshtina. See SERVIA.

Skutari, SCUTARI, or SKODRA tn., Turkey, prov. Albania, S.E. of lake of same name, and on riv. Boyana, 16 m. from Adriatic; has a castle, a cathedral, wool-weaving manufactories, shipbuilding, and exports wool, maize, sumach, and hides. Pop. 33,000.

Skvira, tn., Kiev gov., S.W. Russia, 60 m. s.w. of Kiev city. It manufactures Astrakhan caps and pottery. Pop. (1897) 16,265, mainly Jews.

Sky. See ATMOSPHERE; CLOUD; DUST; METEOROLOGY.

Skye, largest isl. of Inner Hebrides, Inverness-shire, Scotland, extends 48 m. N.w. from Sound of Sleat to Little Minch, which separates it from Outer Hebrides. With bold and deeply indented coasts, the rock scenery is very grand. The interior consists chiefly of inhospitable moor and rugged mountain--e.g. Coolin Hills (3,234 ft.). Between the Coolins and Loch Scavaig lies the oppressively dark Loch Coruisk (see Scott's Lord of the Isles); and to the N. Glen Sligachan, possibly the grandest glen in Scotland. Area, 535 sq. m. Fishing and sheep-farming are the chief occupations. Portree is the capital, and is a fishing centre. See Macculloch's Misty Isle of Skye (1905). Pop. (1901) 14,608.

Skye Terrier, came originally from the Isle of Skye in Scotland, where it was kept for destroying foxes. Its length from point of nose to tip of extended tail should equal from three to three and a half times its height. Although smothered

Skye Terrier.

in hair, sometimes to such an extent as to obscure its vision, it is full of life, and ready for sport of any sort. Two varieties are shown in the ring, the prickeared and the drop-eared, and the following are the points: Head long, with powerful jaws and incisive teeth, closing level; skull wide at front of brow, nar

Slade

rowing between the ears, and tapering toward the muzzle, eyes hazel, medium size, close set; muzzle always black; ears (when prick) not large, erect and slanting towards each other and (when drop) larger, hanging straight, lying flat and close at front; body pre-eminently long and low; legs short, straight, and muscular; coat hard, straight, and flat, with average length of five and a half inches; tail gracefully feathered; color dark, light blue, gray, fawn with black points. The shade of the head and legs is approximately that of the body. See Lee's The Terriers (1896).

Skyros, or SKYRO, largest isl. of Sporades, Greece, 24 m. N.E. of Euboea, covers 79 sq. m. It was conquered by the Athenians under Cimon in 469 B.C., and holds a place in the legends of Achilles. The town of Skyro, or St. George, is on E. coast.

Slade, FELIX (1790-1868), English art collector, was born in London, and devoted his wealth to the acquisition of books and engravings, and in making a collection of glass, which on his death, together with his engravings and his pottery, he bequeathed to the British Museum. He also left money for the endowment of (Slade) professorships of fine art in Oxford and Cambridge, and in University College, London.

Slade, HENRY (c. 1825-1905), American spiritualistic medium, was born at Johnson's Creek, Hartford, Niagara co., N. Y., of which his parents were among the first settlers. He attended the local district school and seminary, and is said by schoolmates to have shown unusual powers when a lad as a medium, and in his influence over animals. He left home when about 21 years old, and at, and following the period of the American spiritualistic excitement in the '50s and '60s attracted great attention by his 'slate-writing,' purporting to deliver messages from the other world. Henry Ward Beecher attended his exhibitions in New York city, and admitted himself baffled by the mystery. He visited London in 1876, and gave 'sittings' to many leading people, among them scientists who were unable to explain what they saw in his presence. In September, however, Prof. E. Ray Lankester and Dr. Donkin visited him and exposed his trickery, and Slade was tenced to three months' imprisonment. The sentence was quashed through a technicality the following year, and Slade fled the country before a second summons could be issued. He died in a sanatorium in Belding, Mich., in September, 1905, with no known

sen

relatives. See Podmore's Modern Spiritualism (1903), and Truesdell's Bottom Facts of Spiritualism (1883).

Sladen, DOUGLAS ('BROOKE WHEELTON') (1856), English author and critic, born in London; was for a time professor of history in the University of Sydney, N.S.W.; has written Australian Lyrics (1882), A Summer Christmas (1884), In Cornwall and Across the Sea (1885), The Span ish Armada (1888), The Japs at Home (1892), A Japanese Marriage (1895), In Sicily (1901), Queer Things about Japan (1903– 05), Sicily, the New Winter Resort (1904), A Sicilian Marriage (1905), and Carthage and Tunis (1905). He was editor of Who's Who, 1897-9.

Slag, the mixture of silicates produced in many metallurgical operations. In making pig iron in a blast-furnace, from which the greatest quantity is obtained, it consists chiefly of lime, magnesia, alumina, and silica, and varies in character from a rough kind of semi-transparent glass, which remains unchanged by atmospheric influences, to an opaque grayish stone, which rapidly falls to pieces when the excess of lime present becomes 'slaked' by the action of the moisture of the air. A slag composed chiefly of silica and iron oxide is called a 'scoria' or 'cinder.' Blast-furnace slag is almost valueless. The vitreous kinds are used as road-metal and as railway ballast, and, when cast into blocks, for paving and building purposes; a little is converted, by blowing steam through it when molten, into a fibrous material known as slag wool, which is used as a non-conducting covering for steam-pipes and boilers. Slags containing a large proportion of lime are utilized to some extent to make cement, the slag being granulated and ground with additional lime. The slag obtained in the basic process of steelmaking is of considerable value as a fertilizer: besides lime, it contains about 12 per cent. of phosphoric acid. It requires to be very finely ground for use.

Slaked Lime. See LIME.

Slander. Defamation by spoken words, or intelligible signs, as the sign language employed by deaf and dumb persons. To be actionable, its effect must be to impair the reputation of a person for honesty or virtue, or injure him in his position, business, or occupation, or to bring upon him public contempt, ridicule, or hatred, or cause him to be shunned or avoided. By the common law, in order to recover, the plaintiff must show special damage, except in case of certain particularly scurrilous imputations, as accusations of offences

involving moral turpitude, or unchastity to a female. The latter cases are actionable without proof of special damage. The requirement that special damage must generally be shown, is the chief distinction between slander and libel (q.v.). The general rules of the law of libel govern in actions for slander in so far as they are applicable to spoken words. The defamatory words must be published, that is, made public. A person in a public or quasi-public position is subiect to 'fair comment,' and this involves questions of both law and fact. Truth is a justification for alleged slanderous statements. See DEFAMATION; LIBEL. Consult Newell, The Law of Libel and Slander (2d ed. 1898).

Slander of Title. False and malicious statements tending to discredit or cast suspicion upon the title of another to real or personal property, or to disparage its quality. To be actionable, such statements must cause special or actual damage. The plaintiff must show that he had a complete or qualified title, or at least a greater interest in the property than the defendant had; that the statements were made with malice, or without heed to the reasonable consequences; and that he suffered special damage as a result thereof. For example, if B has contracted to purchase goods from A, and C falsely and maliciously states to B that the goods are worthless, and B breaks his contract by refusing to take the goods because he believes C, A may sue C for slander of title. A mere statement of honest opinion, as that a picture is worthless from an artistic standpoint, will not constitute slander of title.

Slang (Fr. argot; Gm. Saunersprache, Jargon) is a name applied to a certain part of the current vocabulary which may be said to consist of such colloquial words and phrases as are felt to be out of the common run, exaggerated, highly metaphorical, or outré, without being at the same time the creation of the person who uses them. Slang shades off into ordinary colloquial speech, and is constantly supplying the ordinary spoken language with new words and phrases. Expressions stigmatized at first as pure slang are often in the end accepted as legitimate, as the words 'gloaming,' 'pony,' 'banter,' 'cab," and the term 'slang' itself. What is slang in one district or among one set of people may not be so elsewhere, but, in fact, an ordinary part of everyday speech. The distinction of certain words and phrases as slang implies the conception of a standard language or a normal form of speech, popularly regarded as correct. Yet slang is not sim

ply a departure from what is standard or normal. To begin with, it differs from dialect, with which it is sometimes confused. Dialect is the peculiar speech of a special district or locality, and may have a slang of its own. Nor is slang the same as vulgar speech. A vulgarism may be defined as a colloquialism which is rejected as undignified by speakers of a certain grade in the social scale. Slang consists of those words and phrases which stand out prominently even in colloquial speech by virtue of the characteristics above defined. But just as there are many grades of colloquial English, so there are many grades of slang. What is current in one class may be absolutely unknown or condemned in another. Even the different professions and occupations have special slangs of their own; there is the slang of commerce, of the army, of the college and school, of the stockexchange, and even of art. Slang is essentially vivid and striking; it comes quickly into general use; but for the same reason it is quickly overworked, grows stale, and is then as quickly dropped. Hence, while slang has, indeed, contributed to the common fund of speech in every language, its importance in this respect may easily be overrated, since for every slang word or phrase which is adopted, thousands are rejected. The vogue of any particular expression of this sort is apt to be very brief; and the constant use of slang tends not only to vulgarize, but to limit, one's command of language.

Very often slang adapts technical language to general use. Its expressions may be perfectly natural and legitimate as originally employed. They become slang when they are used metaphorically. They commend themselves to outsiders by their vigor and simplicity and somewhat bizarre character. Well-known examples of this class are 'panout,' from the language of golddigging; 'four-flusher," from the poker-player; 'cinch' to 'spot' (i.e. detect); a 'deal'; a 'walkover'; 'in the swim'; 'up the flume. The more unexpected or picturesque the application, the more terse and emphatic the word, the better fitted it is to become slang. Hence such expressions as to 'cut' a person, a 'fast' life, bad 'form,' a 'wall-flower,' a 'bird,' jim-dandy,' a 'peach,' 'frozen face,' to 'dish' a person, 'fly the coop,' 'glad rags (for eveningclothes), to 'nail' for to catch, 'mazuma' for money, and words like 'gas' and 'green' and 'spicy,' all become slang in much the same way. 'Watered' stock and a 'corner' in wheat are of more limited use. To 'bring off' an event.