||Ka"ma (kä"mä), n. (Theosophy) Desire; animal passion; -- supposed to create the ka"ma ru"pa (rp) [Skr. rpa shape, image], a kind of simulacrum or astral likeness of a man which exists after his death in an invisible plane of being, called ka"ma lo"ca (l"k) [Skr. lka space, world], until the impulses which created it are exhausted and it finally fades away.
Ka*pok" (?), n. [Prob. fr. the native name.] (Bot.) A silky wool derived from the seeds of Ceiba pentandra (syn. Eriodendron anfractuosum), a bombaceous tree of the East and West Indies.
||Ka`ra*kul" (?), n. [Russ. karakul' curly fleece of Bokhara and Khiva sheep.] Astrakhan, esp. in fine grades. Cf. Caracul.
Ka*ross" (?), n. [Native name.] A native garment or rug of skin sewed together in the form of a square. [South Africa]
The wants of a native . . . are confined to a kaross (skin cloak) or some pieces of cotton cloth.
James Bryce.
Kau"ri (?), n. (a) Kauri resin. (b) By extension, any of various species of Dammara; as, the red kauri (D. lanceolata).
{ Kauri resin, gum, or copal }. A resinous product of the kauri, found in the form of yellow or brown lumps in the ground where the trees have grown. It is used for making varnish, and as a substitute for amber.
Ka*zoo" (?), n. [Etymol. uncertain.] A kind of toy or rude musical instrument, as a tube inside of which is a stretched string made to vibrate by singing or humming into the tube.
Ke"a (k"; colloq. k"), n. [Maori.] (Zoöl.) A large New Zealand parrot (Nestor notabilis), notorious for having acquired the habit of killing sheep; -- called also mountain parrot.
||Ked"dah (?), n. [Malay kedah, fr. Ar. qadah hole.] An inclosure constructed to entrap wild elephants; an elephant trap. [India]
Keel, n. (Aëronautics) In a dirigible, a construction similar in form and use to a ship's keel; in an aëroplane, a fin or fixed surface employed to increase stability and to hold the machine to its course.
Kef"ir (?), n. An effervescent liquor like kumiss, made from fermented milk, used as a food and as a medicine in the northern Caucasus. -- Ke*fir"ic (#), a.
Kefir grains. Small hard yellowish aggregations found in the Caucasus region, and containing various yeasts and bacteria. They are used as a ferment in preparing kefir.
Ke"loid (?), a. [Gr. &?; crab's claw + -oid: cf. F. kéloïde, chéloïde.] (Med.) Applied to a variety of tumor forming hard, flat, irregular excrescences upon the skin.
Ke"loid, n. A keloid tumor.
Kep"i (?), n. [F. képi, of G. origin.] A military cap having a close-fitting band, a round flat top sloping toward the front, and a visor. As originally worn by the French in Algeria about 1830 it was tall and stiff with a straight visor. It is now lower, has a curved visor, and is frequently soft.
||Kép"vi*se*lö*ház` (?), n. [Hung., fr. képviselö representative + ház house.] (Hungary) See Legislature.
Ker"mes (?), n. (Zoöl.) [NL.] A genus of scale insects including many species that feed on oaks. The adult female resembles a small gall.
Kern (?), n. [Written also kirn.] [Cf. D. & G. kern kernal, E. kern to harden, kernel.] [Obs. or Prov. Eng. & Scot.] 1. Kernel; corn; grain.