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ERRATIC

Volume 9 · 71 words · 1860 Edition

(errare, to wander), wandering, not stationary. This term is applied to the planets as distinguished from the fixed stars. Geologists give the name of erratic blocks to those weather-worn and more or less rounded fragments of the harder rocks which are found scattered over the surface of the earth at great distances from the places whence they are supposed to be derived. Those of a middling size are usually termed boulders.