an excessive quantity
the country suffers from an overabundance of laws

1. A brood or hatch of birds; an old bird with her brood of young; hence, a small flock or number of birds together;
2. A company; a bevy;
I am sure he will be vastly happy to oblige you, and will save all the best of the covies for you.

n. [Zyme + - scope.] (Physiol. Chem.) An apparatus for determining the fermenting power of yeast by measuring the amount of carbonic acid evolved from a given quantity of sugar.

n. 1. (Biogeography) An area or part of a region characterized by uniform or similar animal and plant life; a life zone; as Littoral zone, Austral zone, etc. The zones, or life zones, commonly recognized for North America are Arctic, Hudsonian, Canadian, Transition, Upper Austral, Lower Austral, and Tropical. 
2. (Cryst.) A series of faces whose intersection lines with each other are parallel. 
3. (Railroad Econ.) (a) The aggregate of stations, in whatsoever direction or on whatsoever line of railroad, situated between certain maximum and minimum limits from a point at which a shipment of traffic originates. (b) Any circular or ring-shaped area within which the street-car companies make no differences of fare. 
4. In the United States parcel-post system, any of the areas about any point of shipment for which but one rate of postage is charged for a parcel post shipment from that point. The rate increases from within outwards. The first zone includes the unit of area ´(a quadrangle 30 minutes square)´ in which the place of shipment is situated and the 8 contiguous units; the outer limits of the second to the seventh zones, respectively, are approximately 150, 300, 600, 1000, 1400, and 1800 miles from the point of shipment; the eighth zone includes all units of area outside the seventh zone.

n. [Russ., fr. zemlya land.] In Russia, an elective local district and provincial administrative assembly. Originally it was composed of representatives elected by the peasantry, the householders of the towns, and the landed proprietors. In the reign of Alexander III. the power of the noble landowners was increased, the peasants allowed only to elect candidates from whom the governor of the province nominated the deputy, and all acts of the zemstvo subjected to the approval of the governor. Theoretically the zemstvo has large powers relating to taxation, education, public health, etc., but practically these powers are in most cases limited to the adjustment of the state taxation.

(Physics) The widening and duplication, triplication, etc., of spectral lines when the radiations emanate in a strong magnetic field, first observed in 1896 by P. Zeeman, a Dutch physicist, and regarded as an important confirmation of the electromagnetic theory of light.

n. [Sp. aceituna zapatera.] (Olive trade) A cured olive which has spoiled or is on the verge of decomposition; loosely, an olive defective because of bruises, wormholes, or the like.

(yoon´ka), n. An Indian of a linguistic stock of tribes of the Peruvian coast who had a developed agricultural civilization at the advent of the Spaniards, before which they had been conquered by the Incas. They constructed irrigation canals which are still in use, adorned their buildings with bas-reliefs and frescoes, and were skilled goldsmiths and silversmiths. — Yun´can (#), a. Z.

a. Designating, or pertaining to, an important linguistic stock of North American Indians of the southwestern United States and northwestern Mexico, nearly all agriculturists and adept potters and basket makers. Their usual dwelling is the brush wikiup, and in their native state they wear little clothing. The Yuma, Maricopa, Mohave, Walapi, and Yavapai are among the chief tribes, all of fine physique.

An organization for promoting the spiritual, intellectual, social, and economic welfare of young women, originating in 1855 with Lady Kinnaird’s home for young women, and Miss Emma Robert’s prayer union for young women,in England, which were combined in the year 1884 as a national association. Now nearly all the civilized countries, and esp. the United States, have local, national, and international organizations.