Emily Dickinson Lexicon

ARC-U-A'TION, n.

1. The act of bending; incurvation; the state of being bent; curvity; crookedness; great convexity of the thorax. – Coxe.
2. A method of raising trees by layers; that is, by bending branches to the ground, and covering the small shoots with earth, three inches deep upon the joints; making a basin of earth to hold the water. When these have taken root, they are removed into a nursery. – Chambers. Encyc.