literally denotes the beak or bill of a bird; and hence it has been figuratively applied to the beak, or head of a ship.

ROSCRUCIANS, Rosicrucians; or brothers of the rosy cross, a name assumed by a sect or cabal of hermetic philosophers, who appeared, or at least were first taken notice of, in Germany, in the beginning of the XVIIth century. They pretended to be masters of all sciences, and to have many important secrets, particularly that of the philosophers stone.

Their society is frequently denoted by the abbreviations F.R.C.