ACROPODIUM

Acropodium (ak-ró-põ’di-um), n. (Gr. akros, the top, and pous, foot.] In zool. the upper surface of the whole foot.

Acropolis (a krop'o-lis), n. [Gr. akros, high. and polas, a city] The citadel of a Grecian city, usually situated on an eminence commanding the town, and strong by nature or art, that of Athens contained some of the finest buildings of the city, such as the Parthenon and Erechtheum.

Acrosaurus (ak'ró-sa-rus), n. [Gr. akros, extreme, and sauros, a lizard.] An extraordinary fossil reptile, with thirty or forty teeth, and a broad cheek-bone process, occurring in the trias sandstones of South Africa

Acrospire (ak'ro-spir), n. (Gr. akros, highest, and speira, a spire, or spiral line.] The first leaf which rises above the ground when corn germinates; also the rudimentary stem or first leaf which appears in malted grain; the developed plumule of the seed. Acrospired (ak'rō-spird), a. Having or exhibiting the acrospire; especially, in maltmaking, a term applied to the grains of barley which have sprouted so far as to exhibit the blade or plumule end, the root or radicle also appearing.

Acrosporous (a-kro'spor-us), a. [Gr. akros, a summit, and sporos, seed.] A term apellative of one of the two modes in which fruit is formed in fungi. In this method the spores are naked and produced at the tips of cells. For the other method see ASCIGEROUS

Across (a-kros), prep. [Prefix a, and cross.] 1. From side to side: opposed to along, which is in the direction of the length; athwart; quite over; as, a bridge is laid across a river. -2 Intersecting; passing over at any angle; as, a line passing acros8 another

Across (a-kros), adv. 1. From one side to another; crosswise.

With arms across, He stood, reflecting on his country's loss. Dryden. 2 Adversely; contrarily. Things go across.' Mir for Mags -3.† Used as a kind of exclamation when a sally of wit miscarried, in allusion to failure when jousting, as at the quintain. Good faith, across! Shak.

To break across, in tilting, to allow one's spear by awkwardness to be broken across by the body of the adversary, instead of by the push of the point.

One said he brake across. Sir P. Sidney. Acrostic (a-kros'tik), n. [Gr. akrostichion, an acrostic-akros, extreme, and stichos, order or verse.] 1. A composition in verse, in which the first, or the first and last, or ertain other letters of the lines, taken in order, form a name, title, motto, &c., which is the subject of the poem. Anagrams, chronograms, acrostics.' Burton. 2. A Hebrew poem of which the initial letters of the lines, or stanzas, were made to run over the letters of the alphabet in their order Twelve of the psalms are of this character, of which Psalm cxix. is the best example

Acrostic (a-kros'tik), a. That relates to or contains an acrostic; as, acrostic verses. Acrostically (a-kros'tik-al-li), adv. In the manner of an acrostic.

Acrotarsium (ak-ró-tárʼsi-um), n. [Gr. akros, highest, and tarsos, tarsus, sole of the foot.] In anat the upper surface of the tarsus. See TARSES

Acroteleutic (akʼrō-tel-ū”tik), a (Gr. akros, extreme, and teleute, end] Eccles, an appellation given to anything added to the end of a psalm or hymn, as a doxology. Acroter (ak'ro-ter), n Same as Acroterium. Acroterial (ax-ró-te'ri-al), a. Pertaining to the acroterium; as, acroterial ornaments. Acroterium (ak-ró-tëʼri-um), n. pl. Acro

A

IL

A AA, Acroteria.

teria (ak-ro-teri-a). [Gr. akroterion, a summit, apex, from akros, highest.) 1. In arch.

31

an ornament, the apex or angles of a pediment. The term is generally restricted to the small pedestals placed on the apex and angles of a pediment for the support of statues or other ornaments. It is also used to denote the pinnacles or other ornaments on the horizontal copings or parapets of buildings, and which are sometimes called acroterial ornaments.-2. In anat. an extremity of the human body, as a hand, a foot, &c.

Acrothalliginæ (ak-rō-thal'li-ji”nē), n. pl. [Gr. akros, extreme, thallos, a thallus or frond, and gennao, to produce.] In bot. a term for cryptogamic plants which increase only at the top, and have thalli in place of leaves.

Acrothymion (ak - rō-thim'i-on), n. [Gr. akros, extreme, and thymos, thyme.] In med. a rugose wart, with a narrow basis and broad top, compared by Celsus to the flower of thyme. Called also Thymus. Acrotic (a-krot'ik), a. [L. L. acroticus, from Gr. akros, extreme.] Belonging to or affecting external surfaces; as, acrotic diseases. Acrotomous (a-krot'ó-mus), a. [Gr. akros, extreme, and tomos, a cutting.] In mineral. having a cleavage parallel to the top or base. Acrylic (a-kril'ik), a. Of or pertaining to acrolein.-Acrylic acid (CHO), an agreeably smelling liquid, produced by the oxidation of acrolein. This acid is monobasic, and its salts are very soluble in water. Act (akt), v.i. [L. ago, actum, to exert power, to put in motion, to do; Gr. ago, to lead; allied to Icel. aka, to drive, and probably to E. acre (which see).] 1. To exert power; to produce effects; as, the stomach acts upon food; the will acts upon the body in producing motion.

How body acts upon the impassive mind. Garth. 2. To be in action or motion; to carry into effect a purpose or determination of the mind.

He hangs between in doubt to act or rest. Pope. 3. To behave, demean, or conduct one's self, as in morals, private duties, or public offices.

He most lives

Who thinks most, feels the noblest, acts the best. P. J. Bailey.

4. To perform, as an actor; to represent a character; to feign; as, he acts very well; he is only acting. To act up to, to equal in action; to perform an action or series of actions correspondent to; to fulfil; as, he has acted up to his engagement or his advantages.

Act (akt), v.t. 1. To transact; to do or per

form.

Thou wast a spirit too delicate

To act her earthy and abhorr'd commands. Shak. Industry doth beget ease by procuring good habits and facility of acting things expedient for us to do.

Barrow.

2. To represent as real; to perform on or as on the stage; to play; hence, to feign or counterfeit; as, to act Macbeth; to act the same part nightly. "With acted fear the villain thus pursued.' Dryden.-3. To perform the office of; to assume the character of; as, to act the hero.-4. † To put in action; to actuate.

Most people in the world are acted by levity and humour. South. Self-love, the spring of motion, acts the soul. Pope. Act (akt), n. 1. That which is being done or which has been done; the exertion of power; the effect of which power exerted is the cause; as, the act of giving or receiving; a deed. In this sense it denotes an operation of the mind as well as of the body.

Illustrious acts high raptures do infuse. Waller. -In the act, in the actual performance or commission: said especially of persons who are caught when engaged in some misdeed.

This woman was taken in the very act. Jn. viii. 4. -In act to, prepared or ready to; on the very point: implying a certain bodily disposition or posture; as, in act to strike.

Gathering his flowing robe, he seemed to stand In act to speak, and graceful stretched his hand. Pope.

2. A state of reality or real existence, as opposed to a possibility; actuality.

The seeds of plants are not at first in act, but in possibility, what they afterwards grow to be. Hooker.

3. A part or division of a play performed without interruption, in which a definite and coherent portion of the plot is represented; generally subdivided into smaller

ACTINIADE

portions, called scenes. - 4. The result of public deliberation, or the decision of a prince, legislative body, council, court of justice, or magistrate; a decree, edict, law, statute, judgment, resolve, award, determination; as, an act of parliament; an act of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland. 5. In English universities, a thesis maintained in public by a candidate for a degree, or to show the proficiency of a student. At Oxford, the occasion when masters and doctors complete their degrees is also called the act.-6. In law, an instrument or deed in writing, serving to prove the truth of some bargain or transaction; as, I deliver this as my act and deed. -Act of bankruptcy. See under BANKRUPTCY.—Act of faith, auto de fé (which see).-Act of God, in law, an accident or event which takes place without human intervention, and is beyond man's control, as the consequences arising from storms, lightning, &c., and which no party is bound to make good to another, independently of special contract.-Act of grace, a term sometimes applied to general pardons at the beginning of a new reign, &c.—Act of indemnity. See INDEMNITY.-Act of Parliament. See PARLIAMENT. Act of sederunt, an ordinance of the Court of Session under authority of an act of the Scottish Parliament passed in 1540, by which the judges are empowered to make such statutes as may be necessary for expediting justice.-Action, Act. ACTION.

See

Acta (ak'ta), n. pl. [L.] 1. Acts.-2. Specifically, proceedings in a legal or ecclesiastical court. Acta Sanctorum, the Acts of the Saints, the name sometimes applied to all collections of accounts of ancient saints and martyrs, both of the Roman and Greek Churches, but specifically the name of a work begun by the Bollandists, a society of Jesuits, in 1643, and not yet completed, portions of it still appearing at intervals, it being carried on in the order of the calendar.

Actæa (ak-te'a), n. [L. actaa, herb-christopher, Gr. akte, aktea, the elder, from the leaves resembling those of the elder.] A genus of plants, nat. order Ranunculaceæ, found in Europe, the north of Asia, and America. The species are possessed of nauseous and deleterious properties. Two American species are considered to be a remedy for the bite of the rattlesnake-hence called rattlesnake herbs. A. spicata is called in England herb-christopher and bane-berry.

Actian (ak'shi-an), a. Relating to Actium, a town and promontory of Epirus; as, Actian games, which were instituted by Augustus to celebrate his naval victory over Anthony, near that town, Sept. 2, B.C. 31. They were celebrated every five years. Hence, Actian years, reckoned from that

era.

Actinenchyma (ak-tin-en'ki-ma), n. [Gr. aktis, aktinos, a ray, and enchyma, infusion.] The radiated cellular tissue of some medullas; stellate cellular tissue. Acting (akt'ing), p. and a. Performing duty, service, or functions; often applied to one who does the real work of an office for a nominal or honorary holder of the post; one who does interim duty for a superior in the case of the latter's absence or decease.

The day after Captain Kearney's decease, his acting successor made his appearance aboard. Marryat. Actinia (ak-tin'i-a), n. A genus of zoophytes, belonging to the Radiata of Cuvier, regarded as the type of the class Actinozoa, sub-kingdom Colenterata, in modern classification. The body is cylindrical, and is attached by one extremity, the mouth occupying the middle of the upper or free extremity. Tentacles, disposed in concentric circles, surround the mouth, which, when spread, resemble the petals of a flower; whence the popular name animal-flowers, sea-anemones (which see). They are not perfectly radial in symmetry, the common polyp of the seashore (A. mesembryanthemum) having the oral aperture slightly elliptical, the long axis being marked by a tubercle at either end; the animal thus presents a faint but well-marked indication of bilateral symmetry. They move by alternately contracting and expanding their base, and by their tentacles. The species are often of brilliant colours, and many of them are eaten. See ACTINOZOA.

Actiniadæ (ak-tin-î'a-dē), n. pl. A family of Colenterata, belonging to the order Heli

ACTINIC

anthoida, of which the genus Actinia is the type. See ACTINIA.

Actinic (ak-tin'ik),a. 1. Pertaining to actinism; specifically, pertaining to the chemical rays of the sun.-2. In photog. applied to a compound lens when the real image which it gives upon the screen is such that a large number of those coloured rays which exert chemical action upon the substances composing the sensitive tablet are combined with sufficient of the luminous rays to render the image visible. See ACTINISM. Actiniform (ak-tin'i-form), a. [Gr. aktis, aktinos, a ray, and L. forma, form.] Having a radiated form.

Actinism (ak'tin-izm), n. [Gr. aktis, aktinos, a ray.] 1. The radiation of heat or light; or that branch of natural philosophy which treats of the radiation of heat or light. 2. The property of the chemical part of the sun's rays, which, as seen in photography, produces chemical combinations and decompositions. A ray, when decomposed by refraction through a prism, is found to possess three properties, viz. the luminous, the heating, and the chemical or actinic, the two latter acting at opposite ends of the spectrum. The actinic property or force, or actinism, begins among the violet rays, and extends a long way beyond the visible spectrum.

Actinocarpus (ak'tin-ō-kär"pus), n. [Gr. aktis, aktinos, a ray, and karpos, fruit.] A genus of plants, nat. order Alismaceæ; starfruit. A. Damasonium is a British plant, growing in ditches and pools, mostly in a gravelly soil.

Actino-chemistry (ak'tin-ō-kem"is-tri), n. Chemistry in its relation to actinism. See ACTINISM.

Actinograph (ak-tin'ō-graf), n. [Gr. aktis, aktinos, a ray, and graphō, to write.] An instrument for measuring and registering the variations of actinic or chemical influence in the solar rays, the intensity of which bears no direct relation to the quantity of light, but varies at different periods of the day and of the year. There are several forms of this instrument, all of them depending on the same principle, namely, the depth of the blackening effect of the chemical rays allowed to fall on a sensitive piece of paper for a given time.

Actinoid (ak'tin-oid), a. [Gr. aktis, aktinos, a ray, and eidos, likeness.] Resembling a ray or rays; radiated.

Actinoida (ak'tin-oid-a), n. pl. A class of marine Radiata; the same with Actinozoa (which see).

Actinolite (ak-tin'ō-lit), n. [Gr. aktis, aktinos, a ray, and lithos, a stone.] A mineral, called by Werner strahlstein (ray - stone), nearly allied to hornblende, and consisting chiefly of silica, calcium, magnesium, and iron. Actinolite schist, a metamorphic rock consisting principally of actinolite, with an admixture of mica, quartz, or feldspar; its texture is slaty and foliated.

Actinolitic (ak-tin'ō-lit"ik), a. Like or per

taining to actinolite.

Actinometer (ak-tin-om'et-ér), n. [Gr. aktis, aktinos, a ray, and metron, measure.] An instrument for measuring the intensity of the sun's actinic rays. Several of these instruments have been invented based upon the production of certain chemical reactions by means of the chemical rays. Actinometric (ak-tin'ō-met"rik), a. Of or belonging to the actinometer, or the measurement of the chemical action of the sun's rays.

Actinosoma (ak-tin'ō-sõ′′ma), n. [Gr. aktis, aktinos, a ray, and soma, body.] A term employed to designate the entire body of any actinozoön, whether this be simple (as in the sea-anemones) or composed of several zooids (as in most corals).

Actinote (ak'tin-öt), n. [Gr. aktis, aktinos, a ray.] A radiated mineral, consisting of silicate of calcium and magnesium. Actinozoa (ak-tin'ō-zō'a), n. pl. [Gr. aktis, aktinos, a ray, and zoon, an animal.] A class of radiated, soft marine zoophytes, embracing the sea-anemones, corals, sea-pens, &c., in which the stomach acts also as a lung, and is separated from the mouth by a space divided into chambers by partitions bearing the reproductive organs. Some are compound, living on a polypidom, some adhere to rocks, &c., and some are free. All have beautifully rayed tentacula arranged around the mouth, which, when displayed, present in some genera, as Actinia, no remote resemblance to some of our finest composite flowers.

They are reproduced by germs thrown out at the mouth, by gemmules or buds developed on the base of their disk, and by division, each separated part becoming a complete animal. They present that strange generative phenomenon known as metagenesis or alternation of generation. They, with the Hydrozoa, constitute the sub-kingdom Coelenterata.

Actinozoon (ak-tin'ō-zō"on), n. [See ACTINOZOA.] An individual member of the Actinozoa, whether simple or compound. Action (ak'shon), n. [L. actio. See ACT.] 1. The state or manner of acting or being active, as opposed to rest; activity; active exertion; energy manifested in outward acts; bustle or traffic of life; as, a man of action. 'A life of civic action.' Tennyson.

It is necessary to that perfection of which our present state is capable that the mind and body should both be kept in action. Johnson.

I myself must mix with action lest I wither by despair. Tennyson.

2. An act or thing done; a deed; an exploit: a feat; specifically, in ethics, any result of activity regarded as proceeding from a moral agent.

The Lord is a God of knowledge, and by him ac tions are weighed. 1 Sam. ii. 3.

3. The exertion of power or force by one thing on another; agency; operation; impulse; as, the action of wind upon a ship's sails. 4. In poetry and the drama, the connected series of events on which the interest of the piece depends; the main subject or fable as distinguished from an incidental action or episode. The unity of action is regarded as one of the dramatic unities.

This action should have three qualifications: first, it should be one action; secondly, it should be an entire action; and thirdly, it should be a great action. Addison.

5. In rhet. gesture or gesticulation; the external deportment of the speaker, or the accommodation of his attitude, voice, gestures, and countenance to the subject, or to the thoughts and feelings of the mind.

Suit the action to the word, the word to the action. Shak.

6. In physiol. any one of the active processes going on in an organized body; some manifestation of vital activity; the performance of a function; as, the action of the stomach or the gastric juice on the food; a morbid action of the liver. Among these actions some are distinguished as voluntary, as the contractions of the voluntary muscles; involuntary, as those of the lungs and heart; mixed, as those of respiration, deglutition, &c.; reflex, which doubtless include most involuntary actions, but correspond also to those performed by voluntary muscles under the influence of stimuli which do not reach the consciousness.-7. In law, (a) a suit or process, by which a demand is made of a right; a claim made before a tribunal. Actions are real, personal, or mixed; real, or feudal, when the demandant claims a title to real estate; personal, when a man demands a debt, personal duty, or damages in lieu of it, or satisfaction for an injury to person or property; and mixed, when real estate is demanded, with damages for a wrong sustained. Actions are also civil or penal; civil, when instituted solely in behalf of private persons, to recover debts or damages; penal, when instituted to recover a penalty imposed by way of punishment. (b) The right of bringing an action; as, the law gives an action for every claim.-8. [A French usage.] A share in the capital stock of a company, or in the public funds; in the plural, stocks.-9. In painting and sculp. (a) the attitude or position of the several parts of the body, as expressive of the passions or emotions by which it is actuated. (b) The effect of a figure or figures acting together. (c) The principal event which forms the subject of a picture or bas-relief. 10. Battle; fight; engagement between troops, whether on land or water. How many gentlemen have you lost in this action Shak.

11. The mechanism of a pianoforte, organ, or other compound instrument of the same kind. 12. The movement or works of a watch or clock.-13. In the manege, general movements of the limbs and body; as, a horse of fine action. -Quantity of action, in physics, the product of the mass of a body by the space it runs through and its velocity.Principle of least action, Lagrange's name for a law of motion which he enunciates thus:-'In a system of moving bodies,

ACTIVE

the sum of the products of the masses of the bodies by the integral of the products of the velocities, and the elements of the spaces passed over is constantly a maximum or minimum.'-Action, Act. In many cases action and act are synonymous, but some distinction between them is observable. Action seems to have more relation to the power that acts, and its operation and process of acting; and act more relation to the effect or operation complete. Action is also more generally used for ordinary transactions, and act for such as are remarkable or dignified; as, all our actions should be regulated by prudence; a prince is distinguished by acts of heroism or humanity. Act is individual, but we speak of a course of action.

Actionable (ak'shon-a-bl), a. Furnishing ground for an action at law; characterized by something for which an action at law may be sustained; as, to call a man a thief is actionable.

Actionably (ak'shon-a-bli), adv. In an actionable manner; in a manner that may subject to legal process.

In

Actionary, Actionist (ak'shon-a-ri, ak'shon-ist), n. A proprietor of stock in a joint-stock company; one who owns actions or shares of stock. [Rare.] Action-sermon (ak'shon-sér'mon), n. the Scotch Church, the sermon preached prior to the dispensation of the communion. Action-taking † (ak'shon-tak-ing), a. Litigious; accustomed to seek redress by law in place of by the sword: a term of contempt. A lily-livered, action-taking knave.' Shak Actious (ak'shus), a. Active; full of activity. Warner. [Very rare.] Actitation (ak-ti-ta'shon), n. [L. actito, actitatum, to act or plead frequently, only spoken of lawsuits and dramas; double freq. from ago, actum, to act.] Frequent action; specifically, the debating of lawsuits. [Rare.]

Activate (ak'tiv-at), v.t. To make active; to intensify.

Snow and ice, especially being holpen, and their cold activated by nitre or salt, will turn water to ice, and that in a few hours. Bacon.

Active (ak'tiv), a. [L. activus; Fr. actif, active. See ACT.] 1. Having the power or property of acting; having the property of causing change or communicating action or motion; having the power to exert an influence; as, attraction is an active power; the active powers of the mind: opposed to passive.-2. Having the power of quick motion, or disposition to move with speed; nimble; lively; brisk; agile; as, an active animal. Hence-3. Busy; constantly engaged in action; pursuing business with vigour and assiduity: opposed to dull, slow, or indolent; as, an active officer. It is also opposed to sedentary; as, an active life. Hence-4. In com. indicating much business; as, an active demand for iron; freights are active.-5. In a state of action, operation, or motion; actually proceeding; accompanied by overt action: opposed to dormant or suspended. 'Active hostilities." Motley.

The world hath had in these men fresh experience how dangerous such active errors are. Hooker. 6. In med. applied to certain medicines which produce quick and notable changes upon the body; also, to the method of treatment in which active remedies are used. 7. Requiring action or exertion; practical; operative; producing real effects: opposed to speculative; as, the active duties of life.-8. In gram. (a) with some grammarians, expressing action; as, an active verb. Active verbs are subdivided into two classes, namely, active intransitive and active transitive; the former implying action confined to the actor; as, I walk, run, think; the latter action passing from the actor to an object; as, I chase the hare; I teach the boy. (b) With other grammarians, same as Transitive. Active capital or wealth, money or property that may readily be converted into money, and used in commerce or other employment for profit.-Active commerce, the commerce in which a nation carries its own and foreign commodities in its own ships, or which is prosecuted by its own citizens, as contradistinguished from passive, in which the productions of one country are transported by the people of another.-Active or living force, in physics, same as Vis vira (which see) -Active symptoms, in pathol. symptoms of excitement. SYN. Agile, alert, brisk, vigorous, nimble, lively, quick, sprightly, prompt, industrious, operative.

ACTIVE

Active+ (aktiv), n That which is active.

It is well knowe, both to reason and experience, every active worcheth on his passive. Chaucer. Actively (ak'tiv-li), adv. In an active manner; by action; in a state of action; nimbly; briskly; energetically; also in an active signification; as, a word is used actively. Activement (ak'tiv-ment), n. Business; employment. Bp. Reynolds.

Activeness (ak'tiv-nes), n. The quality of being active; the faculty of acting; nimbleness; quickness of motion: less used than activity.

What strange agility and activeness do our common tumbiers and dancers on the rope attain to. Bp. Wilkins. Activity (ak-tiv'i-ti), n. The state or quality of being active; the active faculty; active force, or a specific exertion thereof; nimbleness; agility; briskness; also, the habit of diligent and vigorous pursuit of business; as, a man of activity. It is applied to persons or things. All those activities, bodily and mental, which constitute our ordinary idea of life.' H. Spencer.

Salt put to ice increaseth the activity of cold. Bacon. Actless (akt'les), a. Without action or spirit. A poor, young, actless, indigested thing. Southern. [Rare.]

Acton (ak'ton), n. [Fr. hoqueton, O. Fr. acoton, auqueton, Sp. al-coton, Ar. al-q'oton, from being originally padded with cotton.] A kind of vest or tunic made of taffeta or leather, quilted, worn under the habergeon or coat of mail to save the body from bruises, and sometimes worn alone like a buffcoat; the coat of mail itself. His acton it was all of black.' Percy Reliq.

Yet was his helmet hack'd and hew'd, His acton pierced and tore. Sir W. Scott. Written also Acketon, Acqueton, Hacqueton. See GAMBESON.

Actor (ak'tér), n. 1. One that acts or performs; specifically, one that represents a character or acts a part in a play; a stageplayer.-2 In law, (a) an advocate or proctor in civil courts or causes. (b) A plaintiff. [In this sense properly a Latin word.] Actress (ak'tres), n. A female who acts or performs anything.

Virgil has, indeed, admitted Fame as an actress in the Eneid. Addison.

Specifically, a female who represents or acts a part in a play. [In explanation of numerous passages in our old plays, it is to be observed that actresses were not introduced till after the Restoration. In Shakspere's time female parts were performed by boys. "The king, one night, was impatient to have the play begin. Sire,' said Davenant, 'they are shaving the queen." Memoirs of Count

de Grammont.]

Acts of the Apostles. One of the books of the New Testament, the authorship of which is commonly ascribed to St. Luke. It begins with the ascension of Christ, and gives an account of the early spread of the gospel, and more especially of the part played therein by St. Paul, little being said of the other apostles except St. Peter. The narrative comes down to 62 A.D. Actual (ak'tü-al), a. 1. Acting or existing really and objectively; existing in act; real; effectively operative; effectual: opposed to virtual, potential, nominal, speculative.

The actual cautery, or the burning the body by a red-hot iron, is opposed to the virtual cautery, which produces the same effect, in a different way, by means of caustics and escharotics. Cruikshank.

So Alfenus was a cobbler, even when not at work, that is, he was a cobbler potential; whereas, when busy in his booth, he was a cobbler actual.

Sir W. Hamilton. Peter the Great, introducing new offices, nominated the eldest Boyars, or those of the first class actual privy-councillors; and those of the second class privy-councillors. Brougham.

For he that but conceives a crime in thought Contracts the danger of an actual fault. Dryden. 2 Now existing; present; as, in the actual position of affairs.-3. Active. 'Beside her walking and other actual performances. Shak-Actual sin, in theol. that committed by a person himself, in opposition to original nn, inherited from Adam. Actuality (ak-tu-al'i-ti), n. 1. The state of being actual, as opposed to potentiality; reality, as opposed to ideality.

It will be found that Pope himself has no small portion of this actuality of relation-this nudity of description, and poetry without an atmosphere. Crabbe.

2. That in which anything is realized. Nature and religion are the bands of friendships; excellency and usefulness are its great endearments; society and neighbourhood, that is, the possibilities and the circumstances of converse, are the determinations and actualities of it. Fer. Taylor.

33

Actualization (ak'tú-al-iz-a"shon), n. A making real or actual; the reducing of an idea to a state of actuality or realness; the state of being made actual. He (Aristotle) seeks the idea only in its actualization." J. H. Seelye.

Actualize (ak'tu-al-iz), v. t. To make actual. Actually (ak'tu-al-li), adv. 1. In fact; really; in truth.-2. With outward and active manifestation.

Of all your sex, yet never did I know Any that yet so actually did shew Such rules for patience, such an easy way. Dryden. Actualness (ak'tü-al-nes), n. The quality of being actual. [Rare.]

Actuarial (ak-tü-a'ri-al), a. Of or pertaining to an actuary or actuaries, or to the business of an actuary; as, the Actuarial Society of Edinburgh. Actuary (ak'tü-a-ri), n.

[L. actuarius, a clerk, a registrar.] 1. A registrar or clerk: a term of the civil law, and used originally in courts of civil law jurisdiction; specifically, (a) a clerk that registers the acts and constitutions of the lower house of convocation. (b) An officer appointed to keep savings-banks' accounts.-2. An official in a joint-stock company, particularly an insurance company, whose duty it is to make the necessary computations required in the business, and generally to advise on all questions relating to statistics and finance; a person skilled in the doctrine of life annuities and insurances, who is in the habit of giving opinions upon cases of annuities, reversions, &c.

Actuate (ak'tü-at), v. t. pret. & pp. actuated; ppr. actuating. [From act.] 1. To put into action; to move or incite to action; as, men are actuated by motives or passions.

Men of the greatest abilities are most fired with ambition; and, on the contrary, mean and narrow minds are the least actuated by it. Addison.

2. To invigorate; to develop; to strengthen: said of inanimate objects.

The light made by this animal depends upon a living spirit, and seems by some vital irradiation to be actuated into this lustre. Sir T. Browne.

3. To carry out; to execute; to perform. To actuate what you command.' Jer. Taylor.

Put into action.

Actuate (ak'tū-āt), a.
South. [Rare.]
The state of
Actuation (ak-tu-a'shon), n.
being put in action; effectual operation.

I have presupposed all things distinct from him to have been produced out of nothing by him, and consequently to be posterior not only to the motion, but the actuation of his will. Bp. Pearson.

Actuator (ak'tü-at-ér), n. One who actuates or puts in action.

Actuose (ak'tü-ös), a. Having the power of action; having strong powers of action. Bailey. [Rare.]

Actuosity (ak-tú-os'i-ti), n. [Rare.] 1. Power or state of action.-2. In metaph. a state of activity which is complete in itself without leading to any result which must be regarded as its completion. That actuosity in which the action and its completion coincide, as to think, to see.' J. Hutchison Acture (ak'tür), n. Action; performance. Stirling.

Shak.

Actus (ak'tus), n. [L.] In law, a road for passengers riding or driving; a highway. [Rare. J

Acuatet (ak'ü-at), v. t. pret. & pp. acuated; ppr. acuating. [L. acuo, to sharpen. See ACID.] To sharpen; to make pungent or

corrosive.

Acuate t (ak'ü-at), a. Sharpened; pointed. Ashmole.

Acuition (ak-ü-i'shon), n. [From L. acuo, to sharpen.] The sharpening of medicines to increase their effect, as by the addition of a mineral acid to a vegetable acid. Acuity+ (a-kü'i-ti), n. Sharpness. acuity or bluntness of the pin that bears the card.' Perkins.

The

ACUPUNCTURE

bot. having prickles or sharp points; pointed: used chiefly to denote plants having prickles fixed in the bark, in distinction from thorns, which grow from the wood. -2. In zool. having a sting.

Aculeate (a-ku'lé-at), n. A hymenopterous insect, one of the Aculeata.

Aculeate (a-kü'lē-at), v. t. pret. & pp. aculeated; ppr. aculeating. To make pointed; to sharpen. [Rare.]

Aculeiform (a-kü'le-i-form),a. Formed like a prickle.

Aculeolate (a-kü'lē-ō-lat), a. In bot. having small prickles or sharp points. Gray. Aculeous (a-kü'lé-us), a. In bot. having prickles; aculeate; thorny. Sir T. Browne. Aculeus (a-kü'le-us), n. pl. Aculei (a-ku'le-i). [L.] In bot. a hard, sharp, conical hair, or cellular process of the epidermis or bark of plants; a prickle.

Acumen (a-kü'men), n. [L. acumen, from acuo, to sharpen.] Quickness of perception; the faculty of nice discrimination; mental acuteness or penetration; keenness of insight. His learning, above all kings christened, his acumen, his judgment, his memory.' Sir E. Coke.

Acuminate (a-kú'min-at),a. [L. acuminatus,

sharpened, from acumen.] Pointed; acute; specifically, in bot. having a long tapering termination: applied to leaves. When the narrowing takes place at the base it is so expressed, e.g. acuminate at the base; when used without any limitation it always refers to the apex of the leaf. Acuminate (a-kü'min-āt), v. t. To render sharp or keen. 'To acuminate despair. Cowper. [Rare.] Acuminate (a-kü'min-at), Acuminate Leaf. v.i. To taper to a point; to rise like a cone.

They (the bishops)... acuminating still higher and higher in a cone of prelaty, instead of healing up the gashes of the church... fall to gore one another with their sharp spires, for upper places and precedence. Milton. Acuminated (a-kü'min-at-ed), a. Sharpened to a point; acuminate.

This is not acuminated and pointed, as in the rest, but seemeth, as it were, cut off. Sir T. Browne. Acumination (a-ku'min-a"shon), n. 1. Act of acuminating, or state of being acuminated; sharpening; termination in a sharp point.-2. Something with a sharp point; a pointed extremity.

The coronary thorns... did also pierce his tender and sacred temples to a multiplicity of pains, by their numerous acuminations. Bp. Pearson.

3. Acuteness of intellect. [Rare.] Wits, which erect and inscribe, with notable zeal and acumination, their memorials in every mind they meet with. Waterhouse. Acuminose, Acuminous (a-kú'min-ōs, akü'min-us), a. In bot. having a sharp or tapering point. [Rare.] Acupression (ak-u-pre'shon), n. Acupressure (which see).

Acupressure (ak-u-pre'shur), n. [L. acus, a needle, and E. pressure.] In surg. a method of stopping hæmorrhage in arteries in amputations, &c., consisting in pressing the artery closely by means of a pin or needle or bit of inelastic wire, introduced through the sides or flaps of the wound, instead of tying with a thread. There are various modes of inserting the pin. Acupuncturation (ak-u-pungk'tür-a"shon), n. Pricking with a needle; acupuncture. Acupuncturator (ak-u-pungk'tu-rat-ér), n. An instrument for performing the operation of acupuncture.

Acupuncture (ak-u-pungk'tür), n. [L. acus, a needle, and punctura, a pricking. See PUNCTURE.] 1. A surgical operation resorted to in certain complaints, as in headaches and lethargies, &c., and consisting in the insertion of a delicate needle or set of needles beneath the tissues. This operation has for many ages been practised, and is still in high repute in China, Japan, and India. In modern surgery it is confined to muscular, tendinous, and aponeurotic parts, and is employed chiefly to relieve neuralgic and chronic rheumatic pains, the needles being sometimes used to conduct a galvanic current, and sometimes made hollow to convey an anodyne or sedative into the tissues. 2. A mode of infanticide in some countries, a needle being forced into the brain through the spinal marrow, &c.

w, wig; wh, whig; zh, azure.-See KEY.

ACURU

Acuru (ak ́ö-rö), n. The name in India of a fragrant aloe-wood. Acutangular (a-kūt’ang-gū-lér), a. Acuteangular (which see). Warburton. Acute (a-kut'), a. [L. acutus, sharp-pointed, from acuo, to sharpen. From root ac, ak, a point. See ACID.] 1. Sharp at the end; ending in a sharp point: opposed to blunt or obtuse; specifically applied in bot. to a leaf or a division of the floral envelope ending in a sharp point; and in geom. to an angle less than a right angle. See ACUTE-ANGLED.--2. Possessing, exhibiting, or characterized by nice discernment or discrimination; perceiving or using minute distinctions, or characterized by the use of such; characterized by keenness of insight: opposed to dull or stupid: (a) applied to persons; as, an acute reasoner. The acute and ingenious author.' Locke. (b) Applied to mental endowments; as, the author possesses an acute reasoning faculty. In the following passage Shakspere uses the word in the sense of reaching a high pitch, peculiarly great; but as he puts it in the mouth of a pedant, Schmidt suggests that it may be purposely misused.

Acute Leaves.

Were our senses made much quicker and acuter. the appearance and outward scheme of things would have quite another face to us. Locke.

4. Keen; sharp: said of pain. - 5. High in pitch; shrill: said of sound: opposed to grave: in this sense specifically applied to an accent which elevates or sharpens the voice.-6. In med. a term applied to a disease which is attended with more or less violent symptoms, and comes speedily to a crisis, as a pleurisy: opposed to chronic.-SYN. Subtle, ingenious, keen, penetrating, sharp, shrill.

Acute (a-kut), v.t. To render the accent acute. [Rare.]

He acutes his rising inflection too much. Walker. Acute-angled (a-kut' ang-gld), a. Having sharp or acute angles, or angles less than right angles.-An acute-angled triangle, one that has all its angles less than right angles. Acute-angular (a-küt'ang-gü-lér), a. 1. Having an angle less than a right angle.-2. In bot. applied to stems with sharp corners or edges, as in the Labiata. Acutely (a-kut'li), adv. In an acute manner; sharply; keenly; with nice discrimination. Acutenaculum (ak'ū-tē-nak”ū-lum), n. [L. acus, a needle, and tenaculum, a holder, from teneo, to hold.] In surg. a needle with a handle, which is used to send it faster through the skin, &c., in stitching a wound. Acuteness (a-kut'nes), n. The quality of being acute; as, (a) the quality of being sharp or pointed; as, the lance-shaped windows form at their vertex angles of varying degrees of acuteness.' Oxford Glossary. (b) Fig. the faculty of nice discernment or perception; quickness or keenness of the senses or understanding. By an acuteness of the senses or of mental feeling we perceive small objects or slight impressions; by an acuteness of intellect we discern nice distinctions.

Mr. Colbert ... was a man of probity, of great industry, and knowledge of detail; of great experi ence and acuteness in the examination of public accounts. Adam Smith.

(c) In rhet. or music, sharpness or elevation of sound. (d) In med. violence of a disease, which brings it speedily to a crisis. Acutiator (a-ku ́shi-at"èr), n. In the middle ages, a person whose office was to sharpen instruments. Before the invention of firearms such officers attended armies to sharpen their weapons. Acutifoliate (a-küt-i-fō'li-ät), a. [L. acutus, sharp, from acuo, to sharpen, and folium, a leaf.] In bot. having sharp-pointed leaves. Gray

Acutilobate (a-kût-i-lō'båt), a. [L. acutus, sharp, and lobus, a lobe.] In bot. having acute lobes: said of certain leaves. Gray.

34

Acyanoblepsy (a-sï'an-ō-blep-si), n. [Gr. a, priv., kyanos, blue, blepo, to look on.] A defect in vision, in consequence of which the colour blue cannot be distinguished. Ad, prefix. [Akin to the L. conjunctions et, and, too, at, still, moreover, and to E. at

(which see).] A Latin preposition signifying to; and appearing as a prefix in a great number of words of Latin origin, in which case the final letter is usually assimilated to the first letter of the word to which it is prefixed; thus, in acclaim, affirm, alligation, approve, arrive, attrition, &c., the ac, af, al, ap, &c., are all modified forms of ad. In ascend, ascribe, the d has been lost altogether.

Adact † (a-dakt'), v. t. [L. adigo, adactumad, to, and ago, to lead or drive.] To drive; to compel. Fotherby.

Adactyl (a-dak'til), a. In zool. applied to a locomotive extremity without digits or toes. Written also Adactyle.

Adactyl (a-dak'til), n. [Gr. a, priv., and daktylos, a digit.] In zool. a locomotive extremity without digits. Written also Adactyle.

Adage (ad'āj), n. [Fr. adage; L. adagium, adagio, a proverb, by some derived from adigo, to adduce-ad, to, and ago, to bring; by others from ad, to, and aio, Skr. ah, to say, to speak.] A proverb; an old saying, which has obtained credit by long use; a wise observation handed down from antiquity. Unless the adage must be verified,

Adagyt (ad'a-ji), n. Same as Adage. Adalantado (ad'a-lan-tä"do), n. Adelantado.

Same as

Adalid (ad-a-lēd'), n. [Sp.] A commander. Irving.

Adam (ad'am), n. [Heb. ādām, a human being, male or female, perhaps so called from his ruddiness (adam, to be red). Gesenius.] 1. The name of the first man; the progenitor of the human race.-2. Jocularly, a serjeant or bailiff: explained by the commentators as referring to the fact that the buff worn by the bailiff resembled the native buff of our first parent.

Not that Adam that kept the garden, but that Adam that keeps the prison. Shak.

3. The frailty inherent in human nature, regarded as inherited from Adam in consequence of the fall.

And whipp'd the offending Adam out of him. Shak. -Adam's apple, (a) Pomum Adami, the prominence on the fore part of the throat formed by the anterior part of the thyroid cartilage of the larynx, so called from an idle notion that a piece of the forbidden fruit stuck in Adam's throat and occasioned the tumour. (b) A variety of the lime (Citrus Limetta) with a depression, which is fancifully regarded in Italy as the mark of Adam's teeth. See CITRON.-Adam and Eve, the popular name in the United States for a terrestrial orchid (A plectrum hiemale). --Adam's needle, the popular name of a genus of liliaceous plants, Yucca (which see). Adam's ale, Adam's wine, water. [Colloq.]

Adamant (ad'a-mant), n. [L. adamas, adamantis, Gr. adamas, the hardest iron or steel, anything inflexible, the diamond; lit. the unconquerable-Gr. a, priv., and damaō, to tame. See TAME and DIAMOND.] 1. A term formerly sometimes equivalent to diamond, but generally, as is now the case, used vaguely to express any substance of impenetrable hardness: it is chiefly a rhetorical or poetical word.

As an adamant harder than flint have I made thy
Ezek. iii. 9.

forehead.

But who would force the soul, tilts with a straw

Against a champion cased in adamant. Wordsworth. 2. Loadstone or magnet: a sense not uncommon in our earlier writers, though it is not easy to see why the word should have assumed this meaning.

You draw me, you hard-hearted adamant,
And yet you draw not iron, for my heart
Is true as steel.

ADAPTNESS

Adamantean (ad'a-mant-e"an), a. Hard as adamant. Useless the forgery

Of brazen shield and spear, the hammer'd cuirass, Chalybean temper'd steel, and frock of mail Adamantean proof. Millon.

Adamantine (ad-a-mant'in), a. 1. Made of adamant; having the qualities of adamant: impenetrable. In adamantine chains shall death be bound.' Pope. Each gun

From its adamantine lips

Flung a death-cloud round the ships. Campbell. 2. Resembling the diamond in hardness or in sparkling lustre.-Adamantine spar, (a) a very hard, hair-brown variety of corundum, often of adamantine, or diamond-like lustre. It yields a very hard powder used in polishing diamonds and other gems. (b) A hair-brown sapphire. (c) Corundum, from its hardness or peculiar occasional lustre. See CORUNDUM.

Adamic (a-dam'ik), a. Pertaining to Adam. -Adamic earth, common red clay, from a notion that Adam means red earth. Adamite (ad'am-it), n. Eccles. one of a sect of visionaries of the second century, who pretended to establish a state of innocence, and, like Adam, went naked. They ab horred marriage, holding it to be the effect of sin. Several attempts have been made to revive this sect, one as late as the fifteenth century. Adamitic (ad-am-it'ik), a. Of or pertaining to, or resembling the Adamites.

Nor is it other than rustic or Adamitic impudence to confine nature to itself. Fer. Taylor. Adansonia (ad-an-sō'ni-a), n. [From M. Adanson, a French botanist who travelled in Senegal.] A genus of plants, nat. order Sterculiaceæ. A. digitata is the African calabash-tree, or baobab-tree of Senegal. (See BAOBAB.) A. Gregorii, the only other species, is the cream-of-tartar tree of North Australia. See CREAM-OF-TARTAR TREE under CREAM.

Adapis (ad'a-pis), n. [Gr. a, intens., and dapis, a rug.] An extinct thick-skinned mammal of the tertiary formation, somewhat resembling a hedgehog, but about three times its size, discovered by Cuvier in the plaster quarries near Paris. Its teeth combine the characters of the Anoplotherium and the tapir.

Adapt (a-dapt'), v.t. [L. ad, to, and apto, to fit; Gr. hapto, to cling to, to overtake; Skr. ap, to come to, to obtain.] 1. To make suitable; to make to correspond; to fit or suit; to proportion.

A good poet will adapt the very sounds, as well as words, to the things he treats of."

For nature, always in the right,
To your decays, adapts my sight.

Pope. Swift.

2. Specifically, to remodel, work up, and render fit for representation on the stage, as a play from a foreign language or a novel. Adaptability (a-dapt'a-bil"i-ti), n. The quality of being capable of adaptation. Adaptable (a-dapt'a-bl), a. That may be adapted.

Adaptableness (a-dapt'a-bl-nes), n. Same as Adaptability.

Adaptation (ad-ap-tā'shon), n. 1. The act of adapting or making suitable; the state of being suitable or fit; fitness.

The exquisite adaptation of the almost numberless, though small asperities of the one, and the numerous little cavities of the other. Boyle.

2. That which is adapted; specifically, a play translated or constructed from a foreign language or a novel, and rendered suitable for representation; as, this comedy is a free adaptation from a French author. Adaptedness (a-dapt'ed-nes), n. State of being adapted; suitableness. Adapter (a-dapt'èr), n. 1. One who or that which adapts; specifically, one who translates, remodels, or works up, rendering fit to be represented on the stage, as a play from a foreign tongue or from a novel.2. In chem. same as Adopter (which see). Adaptiont (a-dap'shon), n. Adaptation; the act of fitting. Wise contrivances and prudent adaptions.' Cheyne. Adaptive (a-dapt'iv), a. Tending to adapt; suitable. Coleridge. (Rare.] Adaptiveness (a-dapt'iv-nes), n. The quality of being adaptive; suitableness. Adaptly (a-dapt'li), adv. In a suitable or convenient manner.

Shak.

ADAPTORIAL

Adaptorial (ad-ap-to'ri-al), a. Tending to adapt or fit; suitable [Rare] Adar (a'dar), (Possibly from Heb. adar, splendour, from the exuberance of vegetation in this month in Palestine.] A Hebrew month, answering to the latter part of February and the beginning of March, the twelfth of the sacred and sixth of the civil year.

Adarce (a-därʼsi), n. [Gr. adarkēs.] A saltish concretion on reeds and grass in marshy grounds in Galatia. It is soft and porous, and has been used to cleanse the skin in leprosy, tetters, &c.

Adarcon (a-dar'kon), n. In Jewish antiq. a gold coin worth about 258. sterling. The distinguishing mark of the piece was a crowned archer.

Adarme (a-dar'ma), n. A Spanish weight, the sixteenth of an ounce.

Adase, vt. Same as Adaze. Chaucer. Adatis (ad'at-is), n. A muslin or species of fine cotton cloth from India.

Adaunt (a-dant), v.t. [See DAUNT.] To subdue. Adaunted the rage of a lyon savage. Skelton

Adawi (a-da), v.t. (Prefix a, intens., and daw, in Prov. E. to daunt or frighten; connected by Wedgwood with such words as Icel thagga, to silence; M.H.G. dagen, gedagen, to be still; Hessian dachen, to allay or still.] 1. To daunt; to quell; to cow.

The sight thereof did greatly him adaw. Spenser. 2. To moderate; to abate.

Gins to abate the brightness of his beame
And fervour of his flames somewhat adawe.

Spenser.

Adawi (a-da'), v. i. To moderate; to become less vehement

Her wrathful corage gan apal, And haughtie spirits meekly to adaw. Spenser. Adaw, Adawet (a-da'), v.i. [Prefix a, inand O E. and Sc. daw, to wake out of tens, sleep, to dawn; A. Sax. dagian, dægian, Icel. daga, to become day, from A. Sax. dæg, Icel. dagr, day.] To awake.

But sire, a man that wakith out of his slep,
He may not sodeynly well taken keep,
Upon a thing, ne seen it parfytly
Til that he be adawed verrayly.

Chaucer.

Adawlet, Adawlut (a-da'let), n. [Hind.] In the East Indies, a court of justice, civil or criminal.

Adays (a-dáz), adv. [Prefix a, for on or of, and days, a genitive form of day.] 1. On or in days, as in the phrase now adays.-2. In the day-time.

I have miserable nights; ... but I shift pretty well adays. Mrs. Thrale.

Adazet (a-daz), v.t. (Prefix a, intens., and daze.] To dazzle. Sir T. More. Ad captandum (ad kap-tan'dum). [L] For the purpose of catching; as in the phrase, ad captandum vulgus, to catch the rabble: applied often as an adjective to meretricious attempts to catch popular favour or applause; as, ad captandum oratory. Adcorporate (ad-korpo-rát), v.t. pret. & pp. adcorporated; ppr. adcorporating. [See ACCORPORATE.] To unite, as one body with another; to accorporate.

Add (ad), vt. [L. addo, to add-ad, to, and de, to put, to place, to give.] 1. To set or put together; to join or unite, as one thing or sam to another, in an aggregate; as, add three to four; add still one more; add this to your store-2 To connect in some way; to bestow.

Add proof unto mine armour with thy prayers. Shak. And to add greater honours to his age than man could give him, he died fearing God.

Shak.

2. To say further; to subjoin; as, to what I have already said let me add this.--To add to, to augment; to increase; to make some addition to. [Though the verb in this phrase has no expressed object, yet it is often really transitive.]

Rehoboam said, I will add to your yoke. 1 Ki. xii. 14. The sea, all water, yet receives rain still, And in abundance addeth to his store. Shak.

-Add, Annex. Add, to put together so as to form an aggregate or whole; annex, literally to tie to, to join to at an end, as a smaller thing to a greater.

As easily as he can add together the ideas of two days or two years. Locke.

He annexed a codicil to his will.

Johnson.

SYN. Adduce, adjoin, annex. Add (ad), v. 1 To be or serve as an addition; to be added: with to; as, the consciousness of folly often adds to one's regret. [See To add to under ADD, v..]-2. To per

Addax (ad'aks), n. A species of antelope (Hippotragus (Oryx) nasomaculatus), and one of the largest of the genus, being of the size of a large ass, with much of its make. The horns of the male are particularly magnificent. They are about 4 feet long, and beautifully twisted into a wide-sweeping spiral of two turns and a half, with the points directed outwards. It has no proper mane on the back of the neck; but has tufts of hair on the forehead and throat, and large broad hoofs to tread on the sand. It was unknown to modern naturalists till discovered by the German traveller Rüppel on the barren sands of Nubia and Kordofan.

Head of Addax (Hippotragus nasomaculatus).

It is also found in the woody parts of Caffraria. It is the strepsiceros (twisted-horn) of the older writers.

Addecimate (ad-de'si-mät), v. t. [L. ad, to, and decimus, tenth.] To take or to ascertain the tithe or tenth part of; to tithe; to decimate. Bailey.

Addeem † (ad-dēm'), v. t. [Prefix ad, to, and deem.] 1. To award; to adjudge; to sentence.

Unto him they did addeem the prize. Spenser. 2. To deem; to judge; to determine; to esteem; to account.

She scorns to be addeemed so worthless-base. Daniel.

Addendum (ad-den'dum), n. pl. Addenda (ad-den'da). [L.] A thing to be added; an addition; an appendix to a work. Adder (ad'ér), n. [A. Sax. ætter, O.E. addre, addere, O. and Prov. E. and Sc. edder, D. and L.G. adder, Dan. otterslange, G. otter, an adder, a viper. These forms recall the A. Sax. ator, ætter, Icel. eitr, Dan. ædder, O.H.G. eitar, venom, poison, Icel. eitr-orm, a viper, O. H. G. eiten, to burn, yet this may be a casual resemblance, and more probably the word has lost an initial n, seen in A. Sax. nædre, næddre, neddre, O.

and Prov. E nedder, Icel. nadr, nadra, Goth. nadrs, G. natter, Ir. and Gael. nathair, O.W. neidr, which would appear to be the same word as L. natrix, a snake, adder. For a similar variety of form comp. apron, napron.] A venomous serpent or viper, an ophidian reptile, family Viperide, the Vipera communis, found in Britain and over Europe. It is rarely above

2 or 3 feet long, and has black spots on an olive, rich deep brown, or dirty brownishyellow ground. Its bite is rarely fatal to man. The name is often vaguely used for any poisonous serpent of the family Viperidae. -Great sea-adder, an acanthopterygian fish, the sea stickleback (Gasterosteus spinachia). It is 5 or 6 inches long, with fifteen or sixteen spinous rays on the back. It occurs in the North Sea.

Adder-bolt (ad'èr-bōlt), n. The dragon-fly. [Provincial]

Adder-fly (ad'ér-fli), n. A name of the dragonfly or Libellula. Sometimes called Adderbolt.

Adder-grass (ad'ér-gras), n. A name in the south of Scotland for the common Orchis maculata. See ORCHIS.

Adder-pike (ad'èr-pik), n. A species of fish, 5 or 6 inches long, found on our coast. Called also the Lesser Weever or Sting-fish. It is the Trachinus vipera, family Percidæ, of naturalists. See WEEVER.

Adder-stone (ad'èr-stōn), n. The name given in different parts of the country to certain rounded perforated stones or glass beads found occasionally, and supposed to have a

ADDITION

kind of supernatural efficacy in curing the bites of adders. They are believed by archologists to have been anciently used as spindle-whorls, that is, a kind of small flywheels to keep up the rotatory motion of the spindle. Some stones or beads of this kind or similar were by one superstitious tradition said to have been produced by a number of adders putting their heads together and hissing till the foam became consolidated into a bead, which was supposed to be a powerful charm against disease. Called also Serpent-stone and Druidical Bead.

Adder's-tongue (ad'érz-tung), n. A species of fern, of the genus Ophioglossum, whose spores are produced on a spike, supposed to resemble a serpent's tongue. See OPHIOGLOSSUM.

Adder's-wort (ad'èrz-wert), n. Snakeweed (Polygonum Bistorta), so named from its supposed virtue in curing the bite of serpents. Called also Bistort. Addibility (ad-i-bil'i-ti), n. The condition of being addible; the capability of being added. "The endless addition or addibility (if any one like the word better) of numbers.' Locke. [Rare.]

Addible (ad'i-bl), a. Capable of being added.

The clearest idea we can get of infinity is the confused, incomprehensible remainder of endless, addible numbers, which affords no prospect of stop or boundary. Locke.

Addicet (ad'dis), n. Same as Adze (which see).

Addict (ad-dikt), v.t. [L. addico, addictum, to devote-ad, to, and dico, to dedicate.] To devote or give up entirely; to apply habitually; to habituate; to attach closely: generally with a reflexive pronoun, and sometimes in a good sense, but, as now used, more often in a bad; as, to addict one's self to intemperance, to gambling, or the like. "The same addicted fidelity.' Milton. Addicted from their births so much to poesy.' Drayton. They have addicted themselves to the ministry of the saints. 1 Cor. xvi. 15. There has always prevailed among that part of mankind that addict their minds to speculation a propensity to talk much of the delights of retireAdventurer.

ment.

Charles came forth from that school with social habits, with polite and engaging manners, and with some talent for lively conversation, addicted beyond measure to sensual indulgence, incapable of self. denial and of exertion, without faith in human virtue or in human attachment, without desire of renown, and without sensibility to reproach. Macaulay. -To addict one's self to a person,† to attach or devote one's self to a person: a sense borrowed from the Romans, who used the word (addico) for assigning debtors in servitude to their creditors. 'Yours entirely addicted, madam.' B. Jonson.

I am neither author or fautor of any sect; I will have no man addict himself to me; but if I have anything right, defend it as truth's. B. Jonson. Addict + (ad-dikt'), a. Addicted.

If he be addict to vice,
Quickly him they will entice.

Shak.

The 'My

Addictedness (ad-dikt'ed-nes), n. quality or state of being addicted. former addictedness to make chymical experiments.' Boyle.

Addiction (ad-dik'shon), n. The act of devoting or giving up in practice; the state of being devoted; devotedness; devotion. An addiction to certain sciences.' Warburton.

Shak.

His addiction was to courses vain. Ad diem (ad di'em). [L.] In law, at the day. Addison's Disease (ad'di-sunz diz-ēz'), n. A structural disease of the supra-renal capsules characterized by anæmia, extreme prostration, and the brownish olive-green colour of the skin. Called also Supra-renal Melasma or Bronzed-skin Disease, first described by Dr. Addison.

Additament (ad-dit'a-ment), n. [L. additamentum, an addition, from addo, additum, to add. See ADD.] An addition, or the thing added. [Rare.]

In a palace there are certain additaments that contribute to its ornament and use. Sir M. Hale. Addition (ad-di'shon), n. [L. additio, from addo, to add.] 1. The act or process of adding: opposed to subtraction or diminution; as, a sum is increased by addition; to increase a heap by the addition of more. Specifically, in arith. the uniting of two or more numbers in one sum; also, the rule or branch of arithmetic which treats of adding numbers. Simple addition is the adding of numbers, irrespective of any things denoted by them, or the adding of sums of the same