ACAC'ALOT, noun A Mexican fowl, the Tantalus Mexicanus, or

ACA'CIA, noun [Latin acacia a thorn, from Gr., a point.]

Egyptian thorn, a species of plant ranked by Linne under the genus mimosa, and by others, made a distinct genus. Of the flowers of one species, the Chinese make a yellow dye which bears washing in silks, and appears with elegance on paper.

ACACIA, in medicine, is a name given to the inspissated juice of the unripe fruit of the Mimosa Nilotica, which is brought from Egypt in roundish masses, in bladders.

Externally, it is of a deep brown color; internally, of a reddish or yellowish brown; of a firm consistence, but not very dry. It is a mild astringent. But most of the drug which passes under this name, is the inspissated juice of sloes.

ACACIA, among antiquaries, is a name given to something like a roll or bag, seen on medals, as in the hands of emperors and consuls. Some take it to represent a handkerchief rolled up, with which signals were given at the games; others, a roll of petitions; and some, a purple bag of earth, to remind them of their mortality.

ACA'CIANS, in Church History, were certain sects, so denominated from their leaders, Acacius, bishop of Cesarea, and Acacius, patriarch of Constantinople. Some of these maintained that the Son was only a similar, not the same, substance with the Father; others, that he was not only a distinct but a dissimilar substance.

ACADE'ME noun an academy; a society of persons. [Not used.]

ACADE'MIAL, a Pertaining to an academy.

ACADE'MIAN, noun A member of an academy; a student in a university or college.

ACADEM'IC, adjective Belonging to an academy, or to a college or ACADEM'ICAL, university - as academic studies; also noting what belongs to the school or philosophy of Plato - as the academic sect.

ACADEM'IC, noun One who belonged to the school or adhered to the philosophy of Socrates and Plato. The latter is considered as the founder of the academic philosophy in Greece.

He taught, that matter is eternal and infinite, but without form, refractory, and tending to disorder; and that there is an intelligent cause, the author of spiritual being and of the material world.

ACADEM'ICALLY, adverb In an academical manner.

ACADEMI'CIAN, noun a member of an academy, or society for promoting arts and sciences; particularly, a member of the French academies.

ACAD'EMISM, noun The doctrine of the academic philosophy.

ACAD'EMIST, noun a member of an Academy for promoting arts and sciences; also an academic philosopher.

ACAD'EMY, noun [Latin academia.] Originally, it is said, a garden, grove, or villa, near Athens, where Plato and his followers held their philosophical conferences.

1. A school, or seminary of learning, holding a rank between a university or college, and a common school; also a school for teaching a particular art, or particular sciences, as a military academy

2. A house in which the students or members of an academy meet; a place of education.

3. A society of men united for the promotion of arts and sciences in general, or of some particular art.

AC'ALOT, noun [Contracted from acacalotl.]

A Mexican fowl, called by some the aquatic crow. It is the ibis, or a fowl that very much resembles it.

AC'ALOT, Corvusaquaticus, water raven.

ACAMAC'U, noun A bird, the Brazilian fly catcher, or Todus.

ACANA'CEOUS, a acana'shus. [Gr. a prickly shrub.]

Armed with prickles. A class of plants are called acanaceae.

ACANTH'A, noun [Gr. a spine or thorn.]

In botany, a prickle; in zoology, a spine or prickly fin; an acute process of the vertebers.

ACANTHA'CEOUS, adjective Armed with prickles, as a plant.

ACAN'THARIS, noun In entomology, a species of Cimex, with a spinous thorax, and a ciliated abdomen, with spines; found in Jamaica.

ACANTH'INE, adjective [See acanthus.]

Pertaining to the plant, acanthus. The acanthine garments of the ancients were made of the down of thistles, or embroidered in imitation of the acanthus.

ACANTHOPTERYG'IOUS, a [Gr. a thorn, and a little feather, from a feather.]

In zoology, having back fins which are hard, bony and pricky, a term applied to certain fishes.

ACANTH'US, noun [G. and Latin acanthus from a prickle or thorn. See acantha.]

1. The plant bear's breech or brank ursine; a genus of several species, receiving their name from their prickles.

2. In architecture, an ornament resembling the foliage or leaves of the acanthus used in capitals of the Corinthian and Composite orders.

ACAN'TICONE, noun See Pistacite.

ACARN'AR, noun A bright star, of the first magnitude, in Eridanus.

ACATALEC'TIC, noun [Gr. not defective at the end, to cease.] A verse, which has the complete number of syllables without defect or superfluity.

ACAT'ALEPSY, noun [Gr. to comprehend.]

Impossibility of complete discovery or comprehension; incomprehensibility. [Little used.]

ACAT'ECHILL, noun a Mexican bird, a species of Fringilla, of the size of the siskin.

ACATER, ACATES. See Caterer and Cates.

ACATER, ACATES See Caterer and Cates.

ACAU'LINE, adjective [Latin a priv. and caulis, Gr. a stalk. See ACAU'LOUS, Colewort.]

In botany, without a stem, having flowers resting on the ground; as the Carline thistle.

ACCE'DE, verb intransitive [Latin accedo, of ad and cedo, to yield or give place, or rather to move.]

1. To agree or assent, as to a proposition, or to terms proposed by another. Hence in a negotiation.

2. To become a party, by agreeing to the terms of a treaty or convention.

ACCE'DING, participle present tense Agreeing; assenting: becoming a party to a treaty by agreeing to the terms proposed.

ACCEL'ERATE, verb transitive [Latin accelero, of ad and celero, to hasten, from celer, quick.

1. To cause to move faster; to hasten; to quicken motion; to add to the velocity of a moving body. It implies previous motion or progression.

2. To add to natural or ordinary progression; as to accelerate the growth of a plant, or the progress of knowledge.

3. To bring nearer in time; to shorten the time between the present time and a future event; as to accelerate the ruin of a government; to accelerate a battle.

ACCEL'ERATED, participle passive Quickened in motion; hastened in progress.

ACCEL'ERATING, participle present tense Hastening; increasing velocity or progression.

ACCELERA'TION, noun The act of increasing velocity or progress; the state of being quickened in motion or action. Accelerated motion in mechanics and physics, is that which continually receives accessions of velocity; as, a falling body moves towards the earth with an acceleration of velocity. It is the opposite of retardation.

Acceleration of the moon, is the increase of the moon's mean motion from the sun, compared with the diurnal motion of the earth; the moon moving with more velocity now than in ancient times - a discovery made by Dr. Halley.

The diurnal acceleration of the fixed stars, is the time by which they anticipate the mean diurnal revolution of the sun, which is nearly three minutes, fifty-six seconds.

ACCEL'ERATIVE, adjective Adding to velocity; quickening progression.

ACCEL'ERATORY, a Accelerating; quickening motion.

ACCEND', verb transitive [Latin accendo, to kindle; ad and candeo, caneo, to be white, canus, white; W. can, white, bright; also a song. Whence, canto, to sing, to chant; cantus, a song; Eng. cant; W. canu, to bleach or whiten, and to sing; cymnud, fuel. Hence, kindle, Latin candidus, candid, white. The primary sense is, to throw, dart, or thrust; to shoot, as the rays of light. Hence, to cant, to throw. See Chant and Cant.] To kindle; to set on fire. [The verb is not used.]

ACCENDIBIL'ITY, noun Capacity of being kindled, or of becoming inflamed.

ACCEND'IBLE, adjective Capable OF being inflamed or kindled.

ACCEN'SION, noun The act of kindling or setting on fire; or the state of being kindled; inflammation.

AC'CENT, noun [Latin accentus, from ad and cano, cantum, to sing; See Accend.]

1. The modulation of the voice in reading or speaking, as practiced by the ancient Greeks, which rendered their rehearsal musical. More strictly, in English,

2. A particular stress or force of voice upon certain syllables of words, which distinguishes them from the others. accent is of two kinds, primary and secondary; as in as'pira'tion. In uttering this word, we observe the first and third syllables are distinguished; the third by a full sound, which constitutes the primary accent; the first by a degree of force in the voice which is less than that of the primary accent but evidently greater than that which falls on the second and fourth syllables.

When the full accent falls on a vowel, that vowel has its long sound, as in vo'cal; but when it falls on an articulation or consonant, the preceding vowel is short, as in hab'it. accent alone regulates English verse.

3. A mark or character used in writing to direct the stress of the voice in pronunciation. Our ancestors borrowed from the Greek language three of these characters, the acute, the grave and circumflex. In the Greek, the first shows when the voice is to be raised; the second, when it is to be depressed; and the third, when the vowel is to be uttered with an undulating sound.

4. A modulation of the voice expressive of passions or sentiments.

The tender accents of a woman's cry.

5. Manner of speaking.

A man of plain accent obsolete

6. Poetically, words, language, or expressions in general.

Words, on your wings, to heaven her accents bear,

Such words as heaven alone is fit to hear.

7. In music, a swelling of sounds, for the purpose of variety or expression. the principal accent falls on the first note in the bar, but the third place in common time requires also an accent

8. A peculiar tone or inflection of voice.

AC'CENT, verb transitive To express accent; to utter a syllable with a particular stress or modulation of the voice. In poetry, to utter or pronounce in general. Also to note accents by marks in writing.

AC'CENTED, participle passive Uttered with accent; marked with accent.

AC'CENTING, participle present tense Pronouncing or marking with accent.

ACCENT'UAL, adjective Pertaining to accent.

ACCENT'UATE, verb transitive To mark or pronounce with an accent or with accents.

ACCENTUA'TION, noun The act of placing accents in writing, or of pronouncing them in speaking.

ACCEPT', verb transitive [Latin accepto, from accipio, ad and capio, to take.]

1. To take or receive what is offered, with a consenting mind; to receive with approbation or favor.

Bless, Lord, his substance, and accept the work of his hands. Deuteronomy 33:11.

He made an offer which was accepted.

Observe the difference between receive and accept

He received an appointment or the offer of a commission, but he did not accept it.

2. To regard with partiality; to value or esteem.

It is not good to accept the person of the wicked. Proverbs 18:5. 2 Corinthians 8:12.

In theology, acceptance with God implies forgiveness of sins and reception into his favor.

3. To consent or agree to; to receive as terms of a contract; as, to accept a treaty; often followed by of.

ACCEPT of the terms.

4. To understand; to have a particular idea of; to receive in a particular sense.

How is this phrase to be accepted?

5. In commerce, to agree or promise to pay, as a bill of exchange. [See Acceptance.]

ACCEPT'ABLE, adjective

1. That may be received with pleasure; hence pleasing to a receiver; gratifying; as an acceptable present.

2. Agreeable or pleasing in person; as, a man makes himself acceptable by his services or civilities.

ACCEPT'ABLENESS, noun the quality of being agreeable to a ACCEPTABIL'ITY, receiver, or to a person with whom one has intercourse. [The latter word is little used, or not at all.]

ACCEPT'ABLY, adverb In a manner to please, or give satisfaction.

Let us have grace whereby we may serve God acceptably

Hebrews 12:28.

ACCEPT'ANCE, noun

1. A receiving with approbation or satisfaction; favorable reception; as work done to acceptance

They shall come up with acceptance on my altar. Isaiah 60:7.

2. the receiving of a bill of exchange or order, in such a manner, as to bind the acceptor to make payment. This must be by express words; and to charge the drawer with costs, in case of non payment, the acceptance must be in writing, under across, or on the back of the bill.

3. An agreeing to terms or proposals in commerce, by which a bargain is concluded and the parties bound.

Page 41

4. An agreeing to the act or contact of another, by some act which binds the person in law; as, a bishop's taking rent reserved on a lease made by his predecessor, is an acceptance of the terms of the lease and binds the party.

5. In mercantile language, a bill of exchange accepted; as a merchant receives another's acceptance in payment.

6. Formerly, the sense is which a word is understood. obsolete

[See Acceptation.]

ACCEPTA'TION, noun

1. Kind reception; a receiving with favor or approbation.

This is a saying worthy of all acceptation 1 Timothy 1:15.

2. A state of being acceptable; favorable regard.

Some things are of great dignity and acceptation with God

But in this sense acceptableness is more generally used.

3. the meaning or sense in which a word or expression is understood, or generally received; as a term is to be used according to its usual acceptation

4. Reception in general. obsolete

ACCEPT'ED, participle passive Kindly received; regarded; agreed to; understood; received as a bill of exchange.

ACCEPT'ER, OR ACCEPT'OR, noun A person who accepts; the person who receives a bill of exchange so as to bind himself to pay it. [See Acceptance.]

ACCEPT'ING, participle present tense Receiving favorably; agreeing to; understanding.

ACCEP'TION, noun The received sense of a word. [Not now used.]

ACCEPT'IVE, adjective Ready to accept. [Not used.]

ACCEPT'ER, OR ACCEPT'OR, noun A person who accepts; the person who receives a bill of exchange so as to bind himself to pay it. [See Acceptance.]

ACCESS', noun [Latin accessus, from accedo. See Accede.]

1. A coming to; near approach; admittance; admission, as to gain access to a prince.

2. Approach, or the way by which a thing may be approached; as, the access is by a neck of land.

3. Means of approach; liberty to approach; implying previous obstacles.

By whom also we have access by faith. Romans 5:2.

4. Admission to sexual intercourse.

During coverture, access of the husband shall be presumed, unless the contrary be shown.

5. Addition; increase by something added; as an access of territory; but in this sense accession is more generally used.

6. The return of a fit or paroxysm of disease, or fever. In this sense accession is generally used.

ACCESSARILY, See ACCESSORILY.

ACCESSARINESS, See ACCESSORINESS

ACCESSARY, See ACCESSORY.

ACCESSIBIL'ITY, noun The quality of being approachable; or of admitting access.

ACCESS'IBLE, adjective

1. That may be approached or reached; approachable; applied to things; as an accessible town or mountain.

2. Easy of approach, affable, used of persons.

ACCESS'ION, noun [Latin accessio.]

1. A coming to; an acceding to and joining; as a king's accession to a confederacy.

2. Increase by something added; that which is added; augmentation; as an accession of wealth or territory.

3. In law, a mode of acquiring property, by which the owner of a corporeal substance, which receives an addition by growth, or by labor, has a right to the thing added or the improvement; provided the thing is not changed into a different species. Thus the owner of a cow becomes the owner of her calf.

4. The act of arriving at a throne, an office, or dignity.

5. That which is added.

The only accession which the Roman Empire received, was the province of Britain.

6. The invasion of a fit of a periodical disease, or fever. It differs from exacerbation. accession implies a total previous intermission, as of a fever; exacerbation implies only a previous remission or abatement of violence.

ACCESS'IONAL, adjective Additional

ACCESSO'RIAL, adjective Pertaining to an accessory; as accessorial agency, accessorial guilt.

AC'CESSORILY, adverb [See Accessory.] In the manner of an accessory; by subordinate means, or in a secondary character; not as principal, but as a subordinate agent.

AC'CESSORINESS, noun The state of being accessory, or of being or acting in a secondary character.

AC'CESSORY, adjective [Latin Accessorius, from accessus, accedo. See Accede. This word is accented on the first syllable on account of the derivatives, which require a secondary accent on the third; but the natural accent of accessory is on the second syllable, and thus it is often pronounced by good speakers.]

1. Acceding; contributing; aiding in producing some effect, or acting in subordination to the principal agent. Usually, in a bad sense, as John was accessory to the felony.

2. Aiding in certain acts or effects in a secondary manner, as accessory sounds in music.

AC'CESSORY, noun

1. In law, one who is guilty of a felony, not by committing the offense in person or as principal, but by advising or commanding another to commit the crime, or by concealing the offender. There may be accessories in all felonies, but not in treason. An accessory before the fact, is one who counsels or commands another to commit a felony, and is not present when the act is executed; after the fact, when one receives and conceals the offender.

2. That which accedes or belongs to something else, as its principal.

Accessory nerves, in anatomy, a pair of nerves, which arising from the medulla in the vertebers of the neck, ascend and enter the skull; then passing out with the par vagum, are distributed into the muscles of the neck and shoulders.

Accessory, among painters, an epithet given to parts of a history-piece which are merely ornamental, as vases, armor, etc.

AC'CIDENCE, noun [See Accident.] A small book containing the rudiments of grammar.

AC'CIDENT, noun [Latin accidens, falling, from ad and cado, to fall. See Case and Cadence. Class Gd.]

1. A coming or falling; an event that takes place without one's foresight or expectation; an event which proceeds from an unknown cause, or is an unusual effect of a known cause, and therefore not expected; chance; casualty; contingency.

2. That which takes place or begins to exist without an efficient intelligent cause and without design.

All of them, in his opinion, owe their being, to fate, accident or the blind action of stupid matter.

3. In logic, a property, or quality of a being which is not essential to it, as whiteness in paper. Also all qualities are called accidents, in opposition to substance, as sweetness, softness, and things not essential to a body, as clothes.

4. In grammar, something belonging to a word, but not essential to it, as gender, number, inflection.

5. In heraldry, a point or mark, not essential to a coat of arms.

ACCIDENT'AL, adjective

1. Happening by chance, or rather unexpectedly; casual; fortuitous, taking place not according to the usual course of things; opposed to that which is constant, regular, or intended, as an accidental visit.

2. Non-essential; not necessarily belonging to; as songs are accidental to a play.

Accidental colors, are those which depend upon the affections of the eye, in distinction from those which belong to the light itself.

Accidental point, in perspective, is that point in the horizontal line, where the projections of two lines parallel to each other, meet the perspective plane.

ACCIDENT'ALLY, adverb By chance; casually; fortuitously; not essentially.

ACCIDENT'ALNESS, noun The quality of being casual. [Little used.]

ACCIDEN'TIARY, adjective Pertaining to the accidence. [Not used.]

ACCIP'ITER, noun [Latin ad and capio, to seize.]

1. A name given to a fish, the milvus or lucerna, a species of Trigla.

2. In ornithology, the name of the order of rapacious fowls.

The accipiters have a hooked bill, the superior mandible, near the base, being extended on each side beyond the inferior. The genera are the vultur, the falco, or hawk, and the strix, or owl.

ACCIP'ITRINE, adjective Seizing; rapacious; as the accipitrine order of fowls.

ACCI'TE verb transitive [Latin adand cito, to cite.] To call; to cite; to summon. [Not used.]

ACCLA'IM verb transitive [L acclamo, ad and clamo, to cry out. See Claim, Clamor.] To applaud. [Little used.

ACCLA'IM, noun A shout of joy; acclamation.

ACCLAMA'TION, noun [Latin acclamatio. See acclaim.]

A shout of applause uttered by a multitude. Anciently, acclamation was a form of words, uttered with vehemence, somewhat resembling a song, sometimes accompanied with applauses which were given by the hands. Acclamations were ecclesiastical, military, nuptial, senatorial, synodical, theatrical, _e; They were musical and rythmical; and bestowed for joy, respect, and even reproach, and often accompanied with words, repeated, five, twenty, and even sixty and eighty times. In the later ages of Rome, acclamations were performed by a chorus of music instructed for the purpose.

In modern times, acclamations are expressed by huzzas; by clapping of hands; and often by repeating vivat rex, vivat respublica, long live the king or republish, or other words expressive of joy and good wishes.

ACCLAM'ATORY, adjective Expressing joy or applause by shouts, or clapping of hands.

ACCLI'MATED, adjective Habituated to a foreign climate, or a climate not native; so far accustomed to a foreign climate as not to be peculiarly liable to its endemical diseases.

ACCLIV'ITY, noun [Latin acclivus, acclivis, ascending, from ad and clivus, an ascent.

A slope or inclination of the earth as the side of a hill, considered as ascending, in opposition to declivity, or a side descending. Rising ground; ascent; the talus of a rampart.

ACCLI'VOUS, adjective Rising, as a hill with a slope.

ACCLOY', To fill; to stuff; to fill to satiety. [Not used.] [See Clay.]

ACCOIL', [See Coil.]

AC'COLA, noun A delicate fish eaten at Malta.

ACCOLA'DE, noun [Latin ad and collum, neck.]

A ceremony formerly used in conferring knighthood; but whether an embrace or a blow, seems not to be settled.

ACCOM'MODABLE, adjective [See Accommodate.]

That may be fitted, made suitable, or made to agree. [Little used.]

ACCOM'MODATE, verb transitive [Latin accommodo, to apply or suit, from ad and commodo, to profit or help; of con, with, and modus, measure, proportion, limit, or manner. See Mode.]

1. To fit, adapt, or make suitable; as, to accommodate ourselves to circumstances; to accommodate the choice of subjects to the occasions.

2. To supply with or furnish; followed by with; as, to accommodate a man with apartments.

3. To supply with conveniences, as to accommodate a friend.

4. To reconcile things which are at variance; to adjust; as to accommodate differences.

5. To show fitness or agreement; to apply; as, to accommodate prophecy to events.

6. To lend - a commercial sense.

In an intransitive sense, to agree, to be conformable to, as used by Boyle.

ACCOM'MODATE, adjective suitable; fit; adapted; as means accommodate to the end.

ACCOM'MODATED, participle passive fitted; adjusted; adapted; applied; also furnished with conveniences.

We are well accommodated with lodgings.

ACCOM'MODATELY, adverb Suitable; fitly. [Little used.]

ACCOM'MODATENESS, noun fitness. [Little used.]

ACCOM'MODATING, participle present tense Adapting; making suitable; reconciling; furnishing with conveniences; applying.

ACCOM'MODATING, adjective Adapting one's self to; obliging; yielding to the desires of others; disposed to comply, and to oblige another; as an accommodating man.

ACCOMMODA'TION, noun

1. Fitness; adaptation; followed by to.

The organization of the body with accommodation to its functions.

2. Adjustment of differences; reconciliation; as of parties in dispute.

3. Provision of conveniences.

4. In plural; conveniences; things furnished for use; chiefly applied to lodgings.

5. In mercantile language, accommodation is used for a loan of money; which is often a great convenience. An accommodation note, in the language of bank directors, is one drawn and offered for discount, for the purpose of borrowing its amount, in opposition to a note, which the owner has received in payment for goods.

In England, accommodation bill, is one given instead of a loan of money.

6. It is also used of a note lent merely to accommodate the borrower.

7. In theology, accommodation is the application of one thing to another by analogy, as of the words of a prophecy to a future event.

Many of those quotations were probably intended as nothing more than accommodations.

8. In marine language, an accommodation ladder is a light ladder hung over the side of a ship at the gangway.

ACCOM'MODATOR, noun One that accommodates; one that adjusts.

ACCOM'PANABLE, adjective [See Accompany.] sociable. [Not used.]

ACCOM'PANIED, participle passive Attended; joined with in society.

ACCOM'PANIMENT, noun Something that attends as a circumstance, or which is added by way of ornament to the principal thing, or for the sake of symmetry. Thus instruments of music attending the voice; small objects in painting; dogs, guns and game in a hunting piece; warlike instruments with the portrait of a military character, are accompaniments.

ACCOM'PANIST, noun The performer in music who takes the accompanying part.

ACCOM'PANY, verb transitive [See Company.]

1. To go with or attend as a companion or associate on a journey, walk, etc.; as a man accompanies his friend to church, or on a tour.

2. To be with as connected; to attend; as pain accompanies disease.

ACCOM'PANY, verb intransitive

1. To attend; to be an associate; as to accompany with others. obsolete

2. To cohabit.

3. In music, to perform the accompanying part in a composition.

ACCOM'PANYING, participle present tense Attending; going with as a companion.

ACCOM'PLICE, noun [Latin complicatus, folded together, of con, with, and plico, to fold. See Complex and Pledge.] An associate in a crime; a partner or partaker in guilt. It was formerly used in a good sense for a co-operator, but this sense is wholly obsolete. It is followed by with before a person; as A was an accomplice with B in the murder of C. Dryden uses it with to before a thing.

ACCOM'PLISH, verb transitive [Latin compleo, to complete. See Complete.]

1. To complete; to finish entirely.

That He would accomplish seventy years in the desolation of Jerusalem. Daniel 9:2

2. To execute; as to accomplish a vow, wrath or fury. Leviticus 22:21 and 20.

3. To gain; to obtain or effect by successful exertions; as to accomplish a purpose. Proverbs 13:19.

4. To fulfil or bring to pass; as, to accomplish a prophecy.

This that is written must yet be accomplished in me. Luke 22:37.

5. To furnish with qualities which serve to render the mind or body complete, as with valuable endowments and elegant manners.

ACCOM'PLISHED, participle passive

1. Finished; completed; fulfilled; executed; effected.

2. adjective Well endowed with good qualities and manners; complete in acquirements; having a finished education.

3. Fashionable.

ACCOM'PLISHER, noun One who accomplishes.

ACCOM'PLISHING, participle present tense finishing; completing; fulfilling; executing; effecting; furnishing with valuable qualities.

ACCOM'PLISHMENT, noun

1. Completion; fulfillment; entire performance; as the accomplishment of a prophecy.

2. The act of carrying into effect, or obtaining an object designed; attainment; as the accomplishment of our desires or ends.

3. Acquirement; that which constitutes excellence of mind, or elegance of manners, acquired by education.

ACCORD', noun The Lat. has concors, concordo.

1. Agreement; harmony of minds; consent or concurrence of opinions or wills.

They all continued with one accord in prayer. Acts 1:14.

2. Concert; harmony of sounds; the union of different sounds, which is agreeable to the ear; agreement in pitch and tone; as the accord of notes; but in this sense, it is more usual to employ concord or chord.

3. Agreement; just correspondence of things; as the accord of light and shade in painting.

4. Will; voluntary or spontaneous motion; used of the will of persons, or the natural motion of other bodies, and preceded by own.

Being more forward of his own accord 2 Corinthians 8:17.

That which groweth of its own accord thou shall not reap. Leviticus 25:5.

5. Adjustment of a difference; reconciliation.

The mediator of an accord

6. In law, an agreement between parties in controversy, by which satisfaction for an injury is stipulated, and which, when executed, bars a suit.

7. Permission, leave.

ACCORD', verb transitive

1. To make to agree, or correspond; to adjust one thing to another.

Her hands accorded the lute's music to the voice.

2. To being to an agreement; to settle, adjust or compose; as to accord suits or controversies.

ACCORD, verb intransitive

1. To agree; to be in correspondence.

My heart accordeth with my tongue.

2. To agree in pitch and tone.

ACCORD'ABLE, adjective Agreeable, consonant.

ACCORD'ANT, adjective Corresponding; consonant; agreeable.

ACCORD'ED, participle passive Make to agree; adjusted.

ACCORD'ER, noun One that aids, or favors. [Little used.]

ACCORD'ING, participle present tense

1. Agreeing; harmonizing.

Th' according music of a well mixt state.

2. Suitable; agreeable; in accordance with.

In these senses, the word agrees with or refers to a sentence.

Our zeal should be according to knowledge.

Noble is the fame that is built on candor and ingenuity, according to those beautiful lines of Sir John Denham.

Here the whole preceding parts of the sentence are to accord, i.e. agree with, correspond with, or be suitable to, what follows. according here, has its true participial sense, agreeing, and is always followed by to. It is never a preposition.

ACCORD'INGLY, adverb Agreeably; suitably; in a manner conformable to.

Those who live in faith and good works, will be rewarded accordingly

ACCORP'ORATE, verb transitive To unite; [Not in use.] [See Incorporate.]

ACCOST', verb transitive

1. To approach; to draw near; to come side by side, or face to face. [Not in use.]

2. To speak first to; to address.

ACCOST', verb intransitive to adjoin. [Not in use.]

ACCOST'ABLE, adjective Ease of access; familiar.

ACCOST'ED, participle passive Address; first spoken to. In heraldry, being side by side.

ACCOST'ING, participle present tense Addressing by first speaking to.

ACCOUCHEUR, noun accoshare. A man who assists women in childbirth.

ACCOUNT', noun

1. A sum stated on paper; a registry of a debt or credit; of debts and credits, or charges; an entry in a book or on paper of things bought or sold, of payments, services etc., including the names of the parties to the transaction, date, and price or value of the thing.

ACCOUNT signifies a single entry or charge, or a statement of a number of particular debts and credits, in a book or on a separate paper; and in the plural, is used for the books containing such entries.

2. A computation of debts and credits, or a general statement of particular sums; as, the account stands thus; let him exhibit his account

3. A computation or mode of reckoning; applied to other things, than money or trade; as the Julian account of time.

4. Narrative; relation; statement of facts; recital of particular transactions and events, verbal or written; as an account of the revolution in France. Hence,

5. An assignment of reasons; explanation by a recital of particular transactions, given by a person in an employment, or to a superior, often implying responsibility.

Give an account of thy stewardship. Luke 16:2.

Without responsibility or obligation.

He giveth not account of his matters. Job 33:13.

6. Reason or consideration, as a motive; as on all accounts, on every account

7. Value; importance; estimation; that is, such a state of persons or things, as renders them worthy of more or less estimation; as men of account of him. Psalms 144:3.

8. Profit; advantage; that is, a result or production worthy of estimation. To find our account in a pursuit; to turn to account

9. Regard; behalf; sake; a sense deduced from charges on book; as on account of public affairs.

Put that to mine account Phile 18.

To make account that is, to have a pervious opinion or expectation, is a sense now obsolete.

A writ of account in law, is a writ which the plaintiff brings demanding that the defendant should render his just account or show good cause to the contrary; call also an action of account

ACCOUNT', verb transitive

1. To deem, judge, consider, think, or hold in opinion.

I and my son Solomon shall be accounted offenders. 1 Kings 1:21.

2. To account of, to hold in esteem; to value.

Let a man so account of us as of ministers of Christ. 1 Corinthians 4:1.

3. To reckon, or compute; as, the motion of the sun whereby years are accounted - also to assign as a debt; as, a project accounted to his service; but these uses are antiquated.

ACCOUNT', verb intransitive

1. To render an account or relation of particulars. An officer must account with or to the Treasurer for money received.

2. To give reasons; to assign the causes; to explain; with for; as, idleness accounts for poverty.

3. To render reasons; to answer for in a responsible character.

We must account for all the talents entrusted to us.

ACCOUNTABIL'ITY, noun

1. The state of being liable to answer for one's conduct; liability to give account, and to receive reward or punishment for actions.

The awful idea of accountability

2. Liability to the payment of money or of damages; responsibility for a trust.

ACCOUNT'ABLE, adjective

1. Liable to be called to account; answerable to a superior.

Every man is accountable to God for his conduct.

2. Subject to pay, or make good, in case of loss. A sheriff is accountable as bailiff and receiver of goods.

Accountable for, that may be explained. [Not elegant.]

ACCOUNT'ABLENESS, noun Liableness to answer or to give account; the state of being answerable, or liable to the payment of money or damages.

ACCOUNT'ANT, noun One skilled in mercantile accounts; more generally, a person who keeps accounts; an officer in a public office who has charge of the accounts. In Great Britain, an officer in the court of chancery, who receives money and pays it to the bank, is call accountant-general.

ACCOUNT'BOOK, noun A book in which accounts are kept.

ACCOUNT'ED, participle passive Esteemed; deemed; considered; regarded; valued.

Accounted for, explained.

ACCOUNT'ING, participle present tense Deeming; esteeming; reckoning; rendering an account.

Accounting for, rendering an account; assigning the reasons; unfolding the causes.

ACCOUNT'ING, noun The act of reckoning or adjusting accounts.

ACCOUPLE, verb transitive accup'ple. To couple; to join or link together. [See Couple.]

ACCOUPLEMENT, noun accup'plement. A coupling, a connecting in pairs; junction. [Little used.]

ACCOUR'AGE, verb transitive accur'age. [See Courage.] To encourage. [Not used.]

ACCOURT, verb transitive [See Court.] To entertain with courtesy. [Not used.]

ACCOUTER, verb transitive acoot'er

In a general sense, to dress; to equip, but appropriately, to array in a military dress; to put on, or to furnish with a military dress and arms; to equip the body for military service.

ACCOUT'ERED, participle passive Dressed in arms; equipped.

ACCOUT'ERING, participle present tense Equipping with military habiliments.

ACCOUT'ERMENTS, noun plural

1. Dress; equipage; furniture for the body; appropriately, military dress and arms; equipage for military service.

2. In common usage, an old or unusual dress.

ACCOY', verb transitive To render quiet or diffident; to soothe; to caress. [Obs.]

ACCRED'IT, verb transitive [Latin ad and credo, to believe, or give faith to. See Credit.]

To give credit, authority, or reputation; to accredit an envoy, is to receive him in his public character, and give him credit and rank accordingly.

ACCREDITA'TION, noun That which gives title to credit. [Little used.]

ACCRED'ITED, participle passive Allowed; received with reputation; authorized in a public character.

ACCRED'ITING, participle present tense Giving authority or reputation.

ACCRES'CENT, adjective [See Accretion.] Increasing.

ACCRE'TION, noun [Lat. accretio, increase; accres'co, to increase, literally, to grow to; ad and cresco; Eng. accrue; See Increase, Accrue, Grow.]

1. A growing to; an increase by natural growth; applied to the increase of organic bodies by the accession of parts.

Plants have an accretion but no alimentation.

2. In the civil law, the adhering of property to something else, by which the owner of one thing becomes possessed of a right to another; as, when a legacy is left to two persons, and one of them dies before the testator, the legacy devolves to the survivor by right of accretion

ACCRE'TIVE, adjective Increasing by growth; growing; adding to be growth; as the accretive motion of plants.

ACCROACH, verb intransitive

1. To hook, or draw to, as with a hook; but in this sense not used.

2. To encroach; to draw away from another. Hence in old laws to assume the exercise of royal prerogatives.

The noun accroachment, an encroachment, or attempt to exercise royal power, is rarely or never used. [See Encroach.]

ACCRUE, verb intransitive accru'. [Latin accresco, cresco.]

Literally, to grow to; hence to arise, proceed or come; to be added, as increase, profit or damage; as, a profit accrues to government from the coinage of copper; a loss accrues from the coinage of gold and silver.

ACCRUE, noun accru'. Something that accedes to, or follows the property of another. obsolete

ACCRU'ING, participle present tense Growing to; arising; coming; being added.

ACCRU'MENT, noun Addition; increase. [Little used.]

ACCUBA'TION, noun [Latin accubatio, a reclingin, from ad and cubo, to lie down. See Cube.]

A lying or reclining on a couch, as the ancients at their meals. The manner was to recline on low beds or couches with the head resting on a pillow or on the elbow. Two or three men lay on one bed, the feet of one extended behind the back of another. This practice was not permitted among soldiers, children and servants; nor was it known, until luxury had corrupted manners.

ACCUMB', verb intransitive [Latin accumbo; ad and cubo.] To recline as at table. [Not used.]

ACCUM'BENCY, noun State of being accumbent or reclining.

ACCUM'BENT, adjective [Latin accumbens, accumbo, from cubo. See Accubation.] Leaning or reclining, as the ancients at their meals.

ACCU'MULATE, verb transitive [Latin accumulo, ad and cumulo, to heap; cumulus a heap.]

1. To heap up; to pile; to amass; as, to accumulate earth or stones.

2. To collect or bring together; as to accumulate causes of misery; to accumulate wealth.

ACCU'MULATE, verb intransitive To grow to a great size, number or quantity; to increase greatly; as public evils accumulate

ACCU'MULATE, adjective Collected into a mass, or quantity.

ACCU'MULATED, participle passive Collected into a heap or great quantity.

ACCU'MULATING, participle present tense Heaping up; amassing; increasing greatly.

ACCUMULA'TION, noun

1. The act of accumulating; the state of being accumulated; an amassing; a collecting together; as an accumulation of earth or of evils.

2. In law, the concurrence of several titles to the same thing, or of several circumstances to the same proof.

3. In Universities, an accumulation of degrees, is the taking of several together, or at smaller intervals than usual, or than is allowed by the rules.

ACCU'MULATIVE, adjective That accumulates; heaping up; accumulating.

ACCU'MULATOR, noun One that accumulates, gathers, or amasses.

AC'CURACY, noun [Latin accuratio, from accurare, to take care of; ad and curare, to take care; cura, care. See Care.]

1. Exactness; exact conformity to truth; or to a rule or model; freedom from mistake; nicety; correctness; precision which results from care. The accuracy of ideas or opinions is conformity to truth. The value of testimony depends on its accuracy; copies of legal instruments should be taken with accuracy

2. Closeness; tightness; as a tube sealed with accuracy

AC'CURATE, adjective [Latin accuratus.]

1. In exact conformity to truth, or to a standard or rule, or to a model; free from failure, error, or defect; as an accurate account; accurate measure; an accurate expression.

2. Determinate; precisely fixed; as, one body may not have a very accurate influence on another.

3. Close; perfectly tight; as an accurate sealing or luting.

AC'CURATELY, adverb

1. Exactly; in an accurate manner; with precision; without error or defect; as a writing accurately copied.

2. Closely; so as to be perfectly tight; as a vial accurately stopped.

AC'CURATENESS, noun Accuracy; exactness; nicety; precision.

ACCURSE, verb transitive accurs', [ Ac for ad and curse.] To devote to destruction; to imprecate misery or evil upon. [This verb is rarely used. See Curse.]

ACCURS'ED, participle passive or adjective

1. Doomed to destruction or misery:

The city shall be accursed. Joshua 6:17

2. Separated from the faithful; cast out of the church; excommunicated.

I could wish myself accursed from Christ.

3. Worthy of the curse; detestable; execrable.

Keep from the accursed thing. Joshua 6:18.

Hence,

4. Wicked; malignant in the extreme.

ACCU'SABLE, adjective That may be accused; chargeable with a crime; blamable; liable to censure; followed by of.

ACCU'SANT, noun One who accuses.

ACCUSA'TION, noun

1. The act of charging with a crime or offense; the act of accusing of any wrong or injustice.

2. The charge of an offense or crime; or the declaration containing the charge.

They set over his head his accusation Matthew 27:37.

ACCU'SATIVE, adjective A term given to a case of nouns, in Grammars, on which the action of a verb terminates or falls; called in English Grammar the objective case.

ACCU'SATIVELY, adverb

1. In an accusative manner.

2. In relation to the accusative case in Grammar.

ACCU'SATORY, adjective Accusing; containing an accusation; as an accusatory libel.

ACCU'SE, verb transitive [Latin accuso, to blame or accuse; ad and causor, to blame, or accuse; causa, blame, suit, or process, cause. See Cause.]

1. To charge with, or declare to have committed a crime, either by plaint, or complaint, information, indictment, or impeachment; to charge with an offense against the laws, judicially or by a public process; as, to accuse one of a high crime or misdemeanor.

2. To charge with a fault; to blame.

Their thoughts, in the meanwhile, accusing or excusing one another. Romans 2:15.

It is followed by of before the subject of accusation; the use of for after this verb is illegitimate.

ACCU'SED, participle passive Charged with a crime, by a legal process; charged with an offense; blamed.

ACCU'SER, noun One who accuses or blames; an officer who prefers an accusation against another for some offense, in the name of the government, before a tribunal that has cognizance of the offense.

ACCU'SING, participle present tense Charging with a crime; blaming.

ACCUS'TOM, verb transitive

To make familiar by use; to form a habit by practice; to habituate or inure; as to accustom one's self to a spare diet.

ACCUS'TOM, verb intransitive

1. To be wont, or habituated to do anything. [Little used.]

2. To cohabit. [Not used.]

ACCUS'TOM, noun Custom. [Not used.]

ACCUS'TOMABLE, adjective Of long custom; habitual; customary. [Little used.]

ACCUS'TOMABLY, adverb According to custom or habit. [Little used.]

ACCUS'TOMANCE, noun custom; habitual use or practice. [Not used.]

ACCUS'TOMARILY, adverb According to custom or common practice. [See Customarily.] [Little used.]

ACCUS'TOMARY, adjective Usual; customary [See Customary.] [Little used.]

ACCUS'TOMED, participle passive

1. Being familiar by use; habituated; inured.

2. adjective Usual; often practiced; as in their accustomed manner.

ACCUS'TOMING, participle present tense Making familiar by practice; inuring.

ACE, noun [Latin as, a unit or pound; G. ass.]

1. A unit; a single point on a card or die; or the card or die so marked.

2. A very small quantity; a particle; an atom; a trifle; as a creditor will not abate an ace of his demand.

ACE'ETATE, noun [See Acid.] In chimistry, a neutral salt formed by the union of the acetic acid, or radical vinegar, with any salifiable base, as with earths, metals, and alkalies; as the acetate of alumine, of lime, or of copper.

ACEL'DAMA, noun

A field said to have laid south of Jerusalem, the same as the potters field, purchased with the bribe which Judas took for betraying his master, and therefore called the field of blood. It was appropriated to the interment of strangers.

ACEPH'ALOUS, adjective [Gr. a priv., a head.]

Without a head, headless. In history, the term Acephali, or Acephalites was given to several sects who refused to follow some noted leader, and to such bishops as were exempt from the jurisdiction and discipline of their patriarch. It was also given to certain levelers who acknowledged no head in the reign of Henry 1st. It was also applied to the Blemmyes, a pretended nation of Africa, and to other tribes in the East, whom ancient naturalists represented as having no head; their eyes and mouth being placed in other parts. Modern discoveries have dissipated these fictions. In English Laws, men who held lands of no particular lord, and clergymen who were under no bishop.

ACEPH'ALUS, noun an obsolete name of the taenia or tape worm, which was formerly supposed to have no head; an error now exploded. the term is also used to express a verse defective in the beginning.

ACERB', adjective [Latin acerbus; G. herbe, harsh, sour, tart, bitter, rough, whence herbst autumn, herbstzeit, harvest time. See Harvest.]

Sour, bitter, and harsh to the taste; sour, with astringency or roughness; a quality of unripe fruits.

ACERB'ITY, noun

1. A sourness, with roughness, or astringency.

2. Figuratively, harshness or severity of temper in man.

ACER'IC, adjective [Latin acer, a maple tree.]

Pertaining to the maple; obtained from the maple, as aceric acid.

AC'EROUS, adjective [Latin acerosus, chaffy, from acus, chaff or a point.]

1. In botany, chaffy; resembling chaff.

2. An acerous or acerose leaf is one which is linear and permanent, in form of a needle, as in pine.

ACES'CENCY, noun [Latin acescens, turning sour, from acesco. See Acid.]

A turning sour by spontaneous decomposition; a state of becoming sour, tart, or acid, and hence a being moderately sour.

ACES'CENT, adjective Turning sour; becoming tart or acid by spontaneous decomposition. Hence slightly sour; but the latter sense is usually expressed by acidulous or subacid.

ACES'TE, noun In entomology, a species of papilio or butterfly, with subdentated wings, found in India.

ACES'TIS, noun A factitious sort of chrysocolla, made of Cyprian verdigris, urine, and niter.

ACETAB'ULUM, noun [Latin from acetum, vinegar. See Acid.] Among the Romans a vinegar cruse or like vessel, and a measure of about one eighth of a pint.

1. In anatomy, the cavity of a bone for receiving the protuberant end of another bone, and therefore forming the articulation called enarthrosis. It is used especially for the cavity of the os innominatum, which receives the head of the thigh bone.

2. In botany, the trivial name of a species of peziza, the cup peziza; so called from its resemblance to a cup.

3. A glandular substance found in the placenta of some animals.

4. It is sometimes used in the sense of Cotyledon.

5. A species of lichen.

AC'ETARY, noun [See Acid.] an acid pulpy substance in certain fruits, as the pear, inclosed in a congeries of small calculous bodies, towards the base of the fruit.

AC'ETATED, adjective [See Acid.] Combined with acetic acid, or radical vinegar.

ACE'TIC, adjective [See Acid.] A term used to denote a particular acid, acetic acid, the concentrated acid of vinegar, or radical vinegar. It may be obtained by exposing common vinegar to frost - the water freezing leaves the acetic acid, in a state of purity.

ACETIFICA'TION, noun The act of making acetous or sour; or the operation of making vinegar.

ACE'TIFY, verb transitive To convert into acid or vinegar.

AC'ETITE, noun [See Acid.] Neutral salt formed by the acetous acid, with a salifiable base; as the acetite of copper, aluminous acetite

ACETOM'ETER, noun [Latin acetum, vinegar, and measure.]

An instrument for ascertaining the strength of vinegar.

ACE'TOUS, adjective [See Acid.[ Sour; like or having the nature of vinegar. acetous acid is the term used by chimists for distilled vinegar. This acid, in union with different bases, forms salts called acetites.

ACE'TUM, noun [Latin See Acid.] Vinegar, a sour liquor, obtained from vegetables dissolved in boiling water, and from fermented and spirituous liquors, by exposing them to heat and air.

This is called the acid or acetous fermentation

ACHE, verb intransitive ake. [Gr. to ache or be in pain. The primary sense is to be pressed. Perhaps the oriental to press.]

1. To suffer pain; to have or be in pain, or in continued pain; as, the head aches.

2. To suffer grief, or extreme grief; to be distressed; as the heart aches.

ACHE, noun ake. Pain, or continued pain, in opposition to sudden twinges, or spasmodic pain. it denotes a more moderate degree of pain than pang, anguish, and torture.

ACHE'AN, adjective Pertaining to Achaia in Greece, and a celebrated league or confederacy established there. This State lay on the gulf of Corinth, with Peloponnesus.

ACHERN'ER, noun A star of the first magnitude in the southern extremity of the constellation Eridanus.

ACH'ERSET, noun An ancient measure of corn, supposed to be about eight bushels.

ACHIE'VABLE, adjective [See Achieve.] That may be performed.

ACHIE'VANCE, noun Performance.

ACHIE'VE, verb transitive

1. To perform, or execute; to accomplish; to finish, or carry on to a final close. It is appropriately used for the effect of efforts made by the hand or bodily exertion, as deeds achieved by valor.

2. To gain or obtain, as the result of exertion.

Show all the spoils by valiant Kings achieved.

ACHIE'VED, participle passive Performed; obtained; accomplished.

ACHIE'VEMENT, noun

1. The performance of an action.

2. A great or heroic deed; something accomplished by valor, or boldness.

3. An obtaining by exertion.

4. An escutcheon or ensigns armorial, granted for the performance of a great or honorable action.

ACHIE'VER, noun One who accomplishes a purpose, or obtains an object by his exertions.

ACHIE'VING, participle present tense Performing; executing; gaining.

A'CHING, participle present tense Being in pain; suffering distress.

A'CHING, noun Pain; continued pain or distress.

A'CHIOTE, noun The anotta, a tree, and a drug used for dyeing red. The bard of the tree makes good cordage, and the wood is used to excite fire by friction. [See Anotta.]

A'CHOR, noun [Gr., sordes capitis.]

1. The scald head, a disease forming scaly eruptions, supposed to be a critical evacuation of acrimonious humors; a species of herpes.

2. In mythology, the God of flies, said to have been worshipped by the Cyreneans, to avoid being vexed by those insects.

ACHROMAT'IC, adjective [Gr. priv. and color.]

Destitute of color. achromatic telescopes are formed of a combination of lenses, which separate the variously color rays of light to equal angles of divergence, at different angles of refraction of the mean ray. In this case, the rays being made to refract towards contrary parts, the whole ray is caused to deviate from its course, without being separated into colors, and the optical aberration arising from the various colors of light, is prevented. This telescope is an invention of Dolland.

ACIC'ULAR, adjective [Latin acicula, Priscian, a needle, from Gr., Latin a point. See Acid.]

In the shape of a needle; having sharp points like needles.

An acicular prism is when the crystals are slender and straight.

ACIC'ULARLY, adverb In the manner of needles, or prickles.

AC'ID, adjective [Latin acidus. See Edge.]

Sour, sharp or biting to the taste, having the taste of vinegar, as acid fruits or liquors.

AC'ID, noun In chimistry, acids are a class of substances, so denominated from their taste, or the sensation of sourness which they produce on the tongue. But the name is now given to several substances, which have not this characteristic in an eminent degree. The properties, by which they are distinguished, are these:

1. When taken into the mouth, they occasion the taste of sourness. They are corrosive, unless diluted with water; and some of them are caustic.

2. They change certain vegetable blue colors to red, and restore blue colors which have been turned green, or red colors which have been turned blue by an alkali.

3. Most of them unite with water in all proportions, with a condensation of volume and evolution of heat; and many of them have so strong an attraction for water, as not to appear in the solid state.

4. They have a stronger affinity for alkalies, than these have for any other substance; and in combining them, most of them produce effervescence.

5. They unite with earths, alkalies and metallic oxyds, forming interesting compounds, usually called salts.

6. With few exceptions, they are volatilized or decomposed by a moderate heat.

The old chimists divided acids into animal, vegetable, and mineral - a division now deemed inaccurate. They are also divided into oxygen acids, hydrogen acids, and acids destitute of these acidifiers. Another division is into acids with simple radicals, acids with double radicals, acids with triple radicals, acids with unknown radicals, compound acids, dubious acids, and acids destitute of oxygen.

ACIDIF'EROUS, adjective [Acid and Latin fero.] Containing acids, or an acid.

Acidiferous minerals are such as consist of an earth combined with an acid; as carbonate of lime, aluminite, etc.

ACID'IFIABLE, adjective [From Acidify.]

Capable of being converted into an acid, by union with an acidifying principle, without decomposition.

ACIDIFICA'TION, noun The act or process of acidifying or changing into an acid.

ACID'IFIED, participle passive Made acid; converted into an acid.

ACID'IFIER, noun That which by combination forms an acid, as oxygen and hydrogen.

ACID'IFY, verb transitive [Acid and Latin facio.]

To make acid; but appropriately to convert into an acid, chimically so called, by combination with any substance.

ACID'IFYING, participle present tense Making acid; converting into an acid; having power to change into an acid. Oxygen is called the acidifying principle or element.

ACIDIM'ETER, noun [Acid and Gr. measure.]

An instrument for ascertaining the strength of acids.

ACID'ITY, noun The quality of being sour; sourness; tartness; sharpness to the taste.

AC'IDNESS, noun The quality of being sour; acidity.

ACID'ULATE, verb transitive [Latin acidulus, slightly sour;

To tinge with an acid; to make acid in a moderate degree.

ACID'ULATED, participle passive Tinged with an acid; made slightly sour.

ACID'ULATING, participle present tense Tinging with an acid.

AC'IDULE, noun In chimistry, a compound base is supersaturated

ACID'ULOUS, adjective [Latin acidulus. See Acid.]

Slightly sour; sub-acid, or having an excess of acid; as acidulous sulphate.

ACID'ULUM, with acid; as, tartareous acidulum; oxalic acidulum

ACINAC'IFORM, adjective [Latin acinaces, a cimeter, Gr. and Latin forma, form.]

In botany, formed like, or resembling a cimeter.

AC'INIFORM, adjective [Latin acinus, a grape stone, and forma, shape.]

Having the form of grapes; being in clusters like grapes. The uvea or posterior lamen of the iris in the eye, is called the aciniform tunic. Anatomists apply the term to many glands of a similar formation.

AC'INOSE, adjective [From Latin acinus. See Aciniform.]

AC'INOUS,

Consisting of minute granular concretions; used in mineralogy.

AC'INUS, noun [Latin] In botany, one of the small grains, which compose the fruit of the blackberry, etc.

AC'IPENSER, adjective In ichthyology, a genus of fishes, of the order of chondropterygii, having an obtuse head; the mouth under the head, retractile and without teeth. To this genus belong the sturgeon, sterlet, huso, etc.

ACIT'LI, noun A name of the water hare, or great crested grebe or diver.

ACKNOWL'EDGE, verb transitive Aknol'edge, [ad and knowledge. See Know.]

1. To own, avow or admit to be true, by a declaration of assent; as to acknowledge the being of a God.

2. To own or notice with particular regard.

In all thy ways acknowledge God. Proverbs 3:6. Isaiah 33:13.

3. To own or confess, as implying a consciousness of guilt.

I acknowledge my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. Psalms 51:3 and 32.

4. To own with assent; to admit or receive with approbation.

He that acknowledgeth the son, hath the father also. 1 John 2:23. 2 Timothy 2:12.

5. To own with gratitude; to own as a benefit; as, to acknowledge a favor, or the receipt of a gift.

Thy his gifts acknowledged not.

6. To own or admit to belong to; as, to acknowledge a son.

7. To receive with respect.

All that see them shall acknowledge that they are the seed which the Lord hath blessed. Isaiah 61:9. 1 Corinthians 16:18.

8. To own, avow or assent to an act in a legal form, to give it validity; as, to acknowledge a deed before competent authority.

ACKNOWL'EDGED, participle passive Owned; confessed; noticed with regard or gratitude; received with approbation; owned before authority.

ACKNOWL'EDGING, participle present tense Owning; confessing; approving; grateful; but the latter sense is a gallicism, not to be used.

ACKNOWL'EDGMENT, noun

1. The act of owning; confession; as, the acknowledgment of a fault.

2. The owning, with approbation, or in the true character; as the acknowledgment of a God, or of a public minister.

3. Concession; admission of the truth; as, of a fact, position, or principle.

4. The owning of a benefit received, accompanied with gratitude; and hence it combines the ideas of an expression of thanks. Hence, it is used also for something given or done in return for a favor.

5. A declaration or avowal of one's own act, to give it legal validity; as the acknowledgment of a deed before a proper officer.

Acknowledgment-money, in some parts of England, is a sum paid by tenants, on the death of their landlord, as an acknowledgment of their new lords.

AC'ME, noun Ac'my [Gr.]

The top or highest point. It is used to denote the maturity or perfection of an animal. Among physicians, the crisis of a disease, or its utmost violence. Old medical writers divided the progress of a disease into four periods, the arche, or beginning, the anabasis, or increase, the acme or utmost violence, and the paracme, or decline. But acme can hardly be considered as a legitimate English word.

AC'NE, noun Ac'ny. [Gr.]

A small hard pimple or tubercle on the face.

ACNESTIS, noun [Gr. a priv. to rub or gnaw.]

That part of the spine in quadrupeds which extends from the metaphrenon, between the shoulder blades, to the loins; which the animal cannot reach to scratch.

AC'O, noun A Mediterranean fish, called also sarachus.

AC'OLIN, noun a bird of the partridge kind in Cuba. Its breast and belly are white; its back and tail of a dusky yellow brown.

AC'OLYTE,

In the ancient church, one of the subordinate officers, who lighted the lamps, prepared the elements of the sacraments, attended the bishops, etc. An officer of the like character is still employed in the Romish Church.

AC'ONITE, noun [Latin aconitum; Gr.]

The herb wolf's bane, or monks-hood, a poisonous plant; and in poetry, used for poison in general.

ACON'TIAS, noun [Gr. a dart.]

1. A species of serpent, called dart-snake, or jaculum, from its manner of darting on its prey. This serpent is about three feet in length; of a light gray color with black spots, resembling eyes; the belly perfectly white. It is a native of Africa and the Mediterranean isles; is the swiftest of its kind, and coils itself upon a tree, from which it darts upon its prey.

2. A comet or meteor resembling the serpent.

ACOP' adverb [a and cope.] At the top.

A'CORN, noun

1. The seed or fruit of the oak; an oval nut which grows in a rough permanent cup.

The first settlers of Boston were reduced to the necessity of feeding on clams, muscles, ground nuts, and acorns.

2. In marine language, a small ornamental piece of wood, of a conical shape, fixed on the point of the spindle above the vane, on the mast head, to keep the vane from being blown off.

3. In natural history, the Lepas, a genus of shells of several species found on the British coast. The shell is multivalvular, unequal, and fixed by a stem; the valves are parallel and perpendicular, but they do not open, so that the animal performs its functions by an aperture on the top. These shells are always fixed to some solid body.

A'CORNED, adjective Furnished or loaded with acorns.

A'CORUS, noun [Latin from Gr..]

1. Aromatic Calamus, sweet flag, or sweet rush.

2. In natural history, blue coral, which grows in the form of a tree, on a rocky bottom, in some parts of the African seas. it is brought from the Camarones and Benin.

3. In medicine, this name is sometimes given to the great galangal.

ACOTYL'EDON, noun [Gr. a priv. a hollow.]

In botany, a plant whose seeds have no side lobes, or cotyledons.

ACOTYLED'ONOUS, adjective Having no side lobes.

ACOUS'TIC, adjective [Gr. to hear.]

Pertaining to the ears, to the sense of hearing, or to the doctrine of sounds.

Acoustic duct, in anatomy, the meatus auditorius, or external passage of the ear.

Acoustic vessels, in ancient theaters, were brazen tubes or vessels, shaped like ab bell, used to propel the voice of the actors, so as to render them audible to a great distance; in some theaters at the distance of 400 feet.

Acoustic instrument, or auricular tube, called in popular language, a speaking trumpet.

Acoustics, or acousmatics, was a name given to such of the disciples of Pythagoras, as had not completed their five years probation.

ACOUS'TICS, noun

1. The science of sounds, teaching their cause, nature and phenomena. This science is, by some writers, divided into diacoustics, which explains the properties of sounds coming directly from the sonorous body to the ear; and catacoustics, which treats of reflected sounds. But the distinction is considered of little real utility.

2. In medicine, this term is sometimes used for remedies for deafness, or imperfect hearing.

ACQUA'INT, verb transitive [Eng. can, and ken; which see.]

1. To make known; to make fully or intimately known; to make familiar.

A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. Isaiah 53:3.

2. To inform; to communicate notice to; as a friend in the country acquaints me with his success. Of before the object, as to acquaint a man of this design, has been used, but is obsolete or improper.

3. To acquaint one's self, is to gain an intimate or particular knowledge of.

Acquaint now thyself with him and be at peace. Job 22:21.

ACQUAI'NTANCE, noun

1. Familiar knowledge; a state of being acquainted, or of having intimate or more than slight or superficial knowledge; as, I know the man, but have no acquaintance with him. Sometimes it denotes a more slight knowledge.

2. A person or persons well known; usually persons we have been accustomed to see and converse with; sometimes, persons more slightly known.

Lover and friend has thou put far from me and mine acquaintance into darkness. Psalms 88:8.

My acquaintance are estranged from me. Job 19:13.

Acquaintances, in the plural is used, as applied to individual persons known; but more generally, acquaintance is used for one or more.

Acquaintant, in a like sense, is not used.

ACQUA'INTED, participle passive Known; familiarly known; informed; having personal knowledge.

ACQUA'INTING, participle present tense Making known to; giving notice, or information to.

ACQUEST', noun [Latin acquisitus, acquiro.]

1. Acquisition; the thing gained.

2. Conquest; a place acquired by force.

ACQUIESCE, verb intransitive acquiess'. [Latin acquiesco, of ad and quiesco, to be quiet; quies, rest.]

1. To rest satisfied, or apparently satisfied, or to rest without opposition and discontent; usually implying previous opposition, uneasiness, or dislike, but ultimate compliance, or submission; as, to acquiesce in the dispensations of providence.

2. To assent to, upon conviction; as, to acquiesce in an opinion; that is, to rest satisfied of its correctness, or propriety.

ACQUIESCEd in, in a passive sense, complied with; submitted to, without opposition; as, a measure has been acquiesced in.

ACQUIES'CENCE, noun A quiet assent; a silent submission, or submission with apparent content; distinguished from avowed consent on the one hand, and on the other, from opposition or open discontent; as, an acquiescence in the decisions of a court, or in the allotments of providence.

ACQUIES'CENT, adjective Resting satisfied; easy; submitting; disposed to submit.

ACQUIES'CING, participle present tense Quietly submitting; resting content.

ACQUI'RABLE, adjective That may be acquired.

ACQUI'RE, verb transitive [Latin acquiro, ad and quaero to seek, that is to follow, to press, to urge; acquiro signifies to pursue to the end or object; Heb. to seek, to make towards, to follow. The Latin quaesivi, unless contracted, is probably from a different root. See class Gr. and Gs.]

To gain, by any means, something which is in a degree permanent, or which becomes vested or inherent in the possessor; as, to acquire a title, estate, learning, habits, skill, dominion, etc. Plants acquire a green color from the solar rays. a mere temporary possession is not expressed by acquire but by gain, obtain, procure, as to obtain [not acquire] a book on loan.

Descent is the title whereby a man, on the death of his ancestor, acquires his estate, by right of representation, as his heir at law.

ACQUI'RED, participle passive Gained, obtained, or received from art, labor, or other means, in distinction from those things which are bestowed by nature. Thus we say, abilities, natural and acquired It implies title, or some permanence of possession.

ACQUI'REMENT, noun The act of acquiring, or that which is acquired; attainment. It is used in opposition to natural gifts; as, eloquence, and skill in music and painting, are acquirement; genius, the gift of nature. it denotes especially personal attainments, in opposition to material or external things gained, Which are more usually called acquisitions; but this distinction is not always abserved.

ACQUI'RER, noun A person who acquires.

ACQUI'RING, participle present tense Gaining by labor or other means, something that has a degree of permanence in the possessor.

ACQUI'RY, noun Acquirement. [Not used.]

AC'QUISITE, adjective s as z. Gained. [Not used.]

ACQUISI'TION, noun [Latin acquisitio, from acquisitus, acquaesivi, which are given as the part. and preterit tense of acquiro; but quaesivi is probably from a different root.]

1. The act of acquiring; as, a man takes pleasure inthe acquisition of property, as well as in the prosession.

2. The thing acquired, or gained; as, learning is an acquisition It is used for intellectual attainments, as well as for external things, property, or dominion; and in a good sense, denoting something estimable.

ACQUIS'ITIVE, adjective that is acquired; acquired; [but improper.]

ACQUIS'ITIVELY, adverb Noting acquirement, with to or for following.

ACQUIST', noun See Acquest. [Not used.]

ACQUIT', verb transitive [Latin cedo.]

To set free; to release or discharge from an obligation, accusation, guilt, censure, suspicion, or whatever lies upon a person as a charge or duty; as, the jury acquitted the prisoner; we acquit a man of evil intentions. It is followed by of before the object; to acquit from is obsolete. In a reciprocal sense, as, the soldier acquitted himself well in battle, the word has a like sense, implying the discharge of a duty or obligation. Hence its use in expressing excellence in performance; as the orator acquitted himself well, that is, in a manner that his situation and public expectation demanded.

ACQUIT'MENT, noun The act of acquitting, or state of being acquitted. [This word is superseded by acquittal.]

ACQUIT'TAL, noun A judicial setting free, or deliverance from the charge of an offense; as, by verdict of a jury, or sentence of a court.

The acquittal of a principal operates as an acquittal of the accessories.

ACQUIT'TANCE, noun

1. A discharge or release from a debt.

2. The writing, which is evidence of a discharge; a receipt in full, which bars a further demand.

ACQUIT'TED, participle passive Set free, or judicially discharge from an accusation; released from a debt, duty, obligation, charge, or suspicion of guilt.

ACQUIT'TING, participle present tense Setting free from accusation; releasing from a charge, obligation, or suspicion of guilt.

ACRA'SE, v.t.

1. To make crazy; to infatuate. [Not in use.] [See Crazy.]

2. To impair; to destroy. [Not in use.]

AC'RASY, noun [Gr. from a priv. constitution or temperament.]

In medical authors, an excess or predominancy of one quality above another, in mixture, or in the human constitution.

ACRA'ZE,

1. To make crazy; to infatuate. [Not in use.] [See Crazy.]

2. To impair; to destroy. [Not in use.]

ACRE, noun a'ker. [Gr; Lat. ager. In these languages, the word retains its primitive sense, an open, plowed, or sowed field. In Eng. it retained its original signification, that of any open field, until it was limited to a definite quantity by statutes 31. Ed. 35 Ed 1.24. H.8]

1. A quantity of land, containing 160 square rods or perches or 4840 square yards. This is the English statute acre The acre of Scotland contains 6150 2-5 square yards. The French arpent is nearly equal to the Scottish acre about a fifth larger than the English. The Roman juger was 3200 square yards.

2. In the Mogul's dominions, acre is the same as lack, or 100, 00 rupees, equal to 12, 500 sterling, or $55, 500..

ACRE-fight, a sort of duel in the open field, formerly fought by English and Scotch combatants on their frontiers.

ACRE-tax, a tax on land in England, at a certain sum for each acre called also acre-shot.

A'CRED, adjective Possessing acres or landed property.

AC'RID, adjective [Latin accr.]

Sharp; pungent; bitter; sharp or biting to the taste; acrimonious; as acrid salts.

AC'RIDNESS, noun A sharp, bitter, pungent quality.

ACRIMO'NIOUS, adjective

1. Sharp; bitter; corrosive; abounding with acrimony.

2. Figuratively, sharpness or severity of temper; bitterness of expression proceeding from anger, ill-nature, or petulance.

ACRIMO'NIOUSLY, adverb With sharpness or bitterness.

AC'RISY, noun [Gr. a priv., judgment.]

A state or condition of which no right judgment can be formed; that of which no choice is made; matter in dispute; injudiciousness. [Little used.]

AC'RITUDE, noun [See Acrid.]

An acrid quality; bitterness to the taste; biting heat.

ACROAMAT'IC, adjective [Gr. to hear.]

Abstruse; pertaining to deep learning; an epithet applied to the secret doctrines of Aristotle.

ACROAT'IC, adjective [Gr.]

Abstruse; pertaining to deep learning; and opposed to exoteric. Aristotle's lectures were of two kinds, acroatic acroamatic, or esoteric, which were delivered to a class of select disciples, who had been previously instructed in the elements of learning; and exoteric, which were delivered in public. The former respected being, God, and nature; the principal subjects of the latter were logic, rhetoric, and policy. The abstruse lectures were called acroatics.

ACROCERAU'NIAN, adjective [Gr. a summit, and thunder.]

An epithet applied to certain mountains between Epirus and Illyricum, in the 41st degree of latitude. They project into the Adriatic, and are so termed from being often struck with lightning.

ACRO'MION, noun [Gr. highest, and shoulder.]

In anatomy, that part of the spine of the scapula, which receives the extreme part of the clavicle.

ACRON'IC, adjective [Gr. extreme and night.]

ACRON'ICAL,

In astronomy, a term applied to the rising of a star at sun set, or its setting at sun rise. This rising or setting is called acronical The word is opposed to cosmical.

ACRON'ICALLY, adverb In an acronical manner; at the rising or setting of the sun.

AC'ROSPIRE, noun [Gr. highest, a spire, or spiral line.]

A shoot, or sprout of a seed; the plume, or plumule, so called from its spiral form.

AC'ROSPIRED, adjective having a sprout, or having sprouted at both ends.

ACROSS', preposition akraus'. [a and cross. See 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 across another.

ACROS'TIC, noun [Gr extremity or beginning, order, or verse.]

A composition in verse, in which the first letter of the lines, taken in order, form the name of a person, kingdom, city, etc., which is the subject of the composition, or some title or motto.

ACROS'TIC, adjective That relates to, or contains an acrostic

ACROS'TICALLY, adverb In the manner of an acrostic.

ACROTELEU'TIC, noun [Gr. extreme, and end.]

Among ecclesiastical writers, an appellation given to any thing added to the end of a psalm, or hymn; as a doxology.

AC'ROTER, noun [Gr. a summit.]

In architecture, a small pedestal, usually with out a base, anciently placed at the two extremes, or in the middle of pediments or frontispieces, serving to support the statues, etc. It also signifies the figures placed as ornaments on the tops of churches, and the sharp pinnacles that stand in ranges about flat buildings with rails and balusters. Anciently the word signified the extremities of the body, as the head, hands, and feet.

ACROTHYM'ION, noun [Gr. extreme, and thyme.]

Among physicians, a species of wart, with a narrow basis and broad top, having the color of thyme. It is call Thymus.

ACT, verb intransitive [Gr., Lat. to urge, drive, lead, bring, do, perform, or in general to move, to exert force.]

1. To exert power; as, the stomach acts upon food; the will acts upon the body in producing motion.

2. To be in action or motion; to move

He hangs between in doubt to act or rest.

3. To behave, demean, or conduct, as in morals, private duties, or public offices; as, we know not why a minister has acted in this manner. But in this sense, it is most frequent in popular language; as, how the man acts or has acted.

To act up to, is to equal in action; to fulfil or perform a correspondent action; as he has acted up to his engagement or his advantages.

ACT, verb transitive

1. To perform; to represent a character on the state.

ACT well your part, there all the honor lies.

2. To feign or counterfeit. obsolete

With acted fear the villain thus pursued.

3. To put in motion; to actuate; to regulate movements.

Most people in the world are acted by levity.

[In this latter sense, obsolete and superseded by actuate, which see.]

ACT, noun

1. The exertion of power; the effect, of which power exerted is the cause; as, the act of giving or receiving. In this sense it denotes an operation of the mind. Thus, to discern is an act of the understanding; to judge is an act of the will

2. That which is done; a deed exploit, or achievement, whether good or ill.

And his miracles and his acts which he did in the midst of Egypt. Deuteronomy 11:3.

3. Action; performance; production of effects; as, an act of charity. But this sense is closely allied to the foregoing.

4. A state of reality or real existence, as opposed to a possibility.

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

5. In general, act denotes action completed; but preceded by in, it denotes incomplete action.

She was taken in the very act John 8:4.

In act is used also to signify incipient action, or a state of preparation to exert power; as, 'In act to strike, ' a poetical use.

6. A part or division of a play, to be performed without interruption; after which the action is suspended to give respite to the performers. Acts are divided into smaller portions, called scenes.

7. The result of public deliberation, or the decision of a prince, legislative body, council court of justice, or magistrate; a decree, edict, law, judgment, resolve, award, determination; as an act of parliament, or of congress. The term is also transferred to the book, record, or writing, containing the laws and determinations. Also, any instrument in writing to verify facts.

In the sense of agency, or power to produce effects, as in the passage cited by Johnson, from Shakespeare, the use is improper.

To try the vigor of them and apply Allayments to their act

ACT, in English Universities, is a thesis maintained in public, by a candidate for a degree, or to show the proficiency of a student. At Oxford, the time when masters and doctors complete their degrees is also called the act which is held with great solemnity. At Cambridge, as in the United States, it is called commencement.

ACT of faith, auto da fe, in Catholic countries, is a solemn day held by the Inquisition, for the punishment of heretics, and the absolution of accused persons found innocent; or it is the sentence of the Inquisition.

ACTs of the Apostles, the title of a book in the New Testament, containing a history of the transactions of the Apostles.

ACTa Diurna, among the Romans, a sort of Gazette, containing an authorized account of transactions in Rome, nearly similar to our newspapers.

ACTa populi, or acta publica, the Roman registers of assemblies, trials, executions, buildings, births, marriages, and deaths of illustrious persons, etc.

ACTa Senatus, minutes of what passed in the Roman senate, called also commentarii, commentaries.

ACT'ED, participle passive Done; performed; represented on the stage.

AC'TIAN, adjective Relating to Actium, a town and promontory of Epirus, as actian games, which were instituted by Augustus, to celebrate his navel victory over Anthony, near that town, Sep. 2, B.C. 31. They were celebrated every five years. Hence, actian years, reckoned from that era.

ACT'ING, participle present tense Doing; performing; behaving; representing the character of another.

ACT'ING, noun Action; act of performing a part of a play.

AC'TINOLITE, noun [Gr. a ray, a stone.]

A mineral, called, by Werner, strahlstein, ray-stone, nearly allied to hornblend. It occurs in prismatic crystals, which are long, and incomplete, and sometimes extremely minute and even fibrous. Its prevailing color is green of different shades, or shaded with yellow or brown. There are several varieties, as the common, the massive, the acicular, the glassy, and the fibrous.

Actinolite is crystalized, asbestiform, and glassy.

ACTINOLIT'IC, adjective Like or pertaining to actinolite.

AC'TION, noun [Latin actio. See Act.]

1. Literally, a driving; hence, the state of acting or moving; exertion of power or force, as when one body acts on another; or action is the effect of power exerted on one body by another; motion produced. Hence, action is opposed to rest. action when produced by one body on another, is mechanical; when produced by the will of living being, spontaneous or voluntary.

[See Def. 3.]

2. An act or thing done; a deed.

The Lord is a God of knowledge, and by him are actions weighed. 1 Samuel 2:3.

3. In mechanics, agency; operation; driving impulse; effort of one body upon another; as, the action of wind upon a ship's sails. Also the effect of such action

4. In ethics, the external signs or expression of the sentiments of a moral agent; conduct; behavior; demeanor; that is, motion or movement, with respect to a rule or propriety.

5. In poetry, a series of events, called also the subject or fable; this is of two kinds; the principal action which is more strictly the fable, and the incidental action or episode.

6. In oratory, 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.

7. In physiology, the motions or functions of the body, vital, animal and natural; vital and involuntary, as the action of the heart and lungs; animal, as muscular, and all voluntary motions; natural, as manducation, deglutition, and digestion.

8. In law, literally, an urging for right; 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. The word is also used for a right of action; as, the law gives an action for every claim.

A chose in action is a right to a thing, in opposition to the possession. A bond or note is a chose in action and gives the owner a right to prosecute his claim to the money, as he has an absolute property in a right, as well as in a thing, in possession.

9. In some countries of Europe, action is a share in the capital stock of a company, or in the public funds, equivalent to our term share; and consequently, in a more general sense, to stocks. The word is also used for movable effects.

10. In painting and sculpture, the attitude or position of the several parts of the body, by which they seem to be actuated by passions; as, the arm extended, to represent the act of giving or receiving.

11. Battle; fight; engagement between troops in war, whether on land or water, or by a greater or smaller number of combatants. This and the 8th definition exhibit the literal meaning of action - a driving or urging.

Quantity of action in physics, the product of the mass of a body by the space it runs through and its velocity.

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.

Action taking, in Shakespeare, is used for litigious.

AC'TIONABLE, adjective That will bear a suit, or for which an action at law may be sustained; as, to call a man a thief is actionable

AC'TIONABLY, adverb In a manner that subjects to legal process.

AC'TIONARY or AC'TIONIST, noun In Europe, a proprietor of stock in a trading company; one who owns actions or shares of stock.

AC'TIONARY or AC'TIONIST, noun In Europe, a proprietor of stock in a trading company; one who owns actions or shares of stock.

ACT'IVE, adjective [Latin activus.]

1. That has the power or quality of acting; that contains the principle of action, independent of any visible external force; as, attraction is an active power: or it may be defined, that communicates action or motion, opposed to passive, that receives action; as, the active powers of the mind.

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 vigor and assiduity; opposed to dull, slow, or indolent; as an active officer. It is also opposed to sedentary, as an active life.

4. Requiring action or exertion; practical; operative; producing real effects; opposed to speculative; as, the active duties of life.

5. In grammar, active verbs are those which not only signify action, but have a noun or name following them, denoting the object of the action or impression; called also transitive, as they imply the passing of the action expressed by the verb to the object; as a professor instructs his pupils.

6. active capital, or wealth, is money, or property that may readily be converted into money, and used in commerce or other employment for profit.

7. active commerce, the commerce in which a nation carries its own productions and foreign commodities in its own ships, or which is prosecuted by its own citizens; as contradistinguished from passive commerce, in which the productions of one country are transported by the people of another country.

The commerce of Great Britain and of the United States is active; that of China is passive.

It may be the interest of foreign nations to deprive us, as far as possible, of an active commerce in our own bottoms.

ACT'IVELY, adverb in an active manner; by action; nimbly; briskly; also in an active signification, as a word is used actively

ACT'IVENESS, noun the quality of being active; the faculty of acting; nimbleness; quickness of motion; less used than activity.

ACTIV'ITY, noun The quality of being active; the active faculty; nimbleness; agility; also the habit of diligent and vigorous pursuit of business; as, a man of activity It is applied to persons or things.

Sphere of activity is the whole space in which the virtue, power, or influence of any object, is exerted.

To put in activity a French phrase, for putting in action or employment.

ACT'OR, noun

1. He that acts or performs; an active agent.

2. He that represents a character or acts a part in a play; a stage player.

3. Among civilians, an advocate or proctor in civil courts or causes.

ACT'RESS, noun A female who acts or performs, and especially, on the stage, or in a play.

ACT'UAL, adjective

1. Real or effective, or that exists truly and absolutely; as, actual heat, opposed to that, which is virtual or potential; actual cautery, or the burning by a red-hot iron, opposed to a cautery or caustic application, that may produce the same effect upon the body by a different process.

2. Existing in act; real; in opposition to speculative, or existing in theory only; as an actual crime.

3. In theology, actual sin is that which is committed by a person himself, opposed to original sin, or the corruption of nature supposed to be communicated from Adam.

4. That includes action.

Besides her walking and other actual performances. [Hardly legitimate.]

ACTUAL'ITY, noun Reality.

ACT'UALLY, adverb In fact; really; in truth.

ACT'UARY, noun [Latin actuarius.]

A register or clerk; a term of the civil law, and used originally in courts of civil law jurisdiction; but in Europe used for a clerk or register generally.

ACT'UATE, adjective Put in action. [Little used.]

ACT'UATE, verb transitive [from act.]

To put into action; to move or incite to action; as, men are actuated by motives, or passions. It seems to have been used formerly in the sense of invigorate, noting increase of action; but the use is not legitimate.

ACT'UATED, participle passive Put in action; incited to action.

ACT'UATING, participle present tense Putting in action; inciting to action.

ACTUA'TION, noun The state of being put in action; effectual operation.

ACT'US, noun Among the Romans, a measure in building equal to 120 Roman feet. In agriculture, the length of one furrow.

AC'UATE, verb transitive [Latin acuo, to sharpen. See Acid.]

To sharpen; to make pungent, or corrosive. [Little used.]

ACUBE'NE, noun A star of the fourth magnitude in the southern claw of Cancer.

ACUI'TION, noun [from Latin acuo, to sharpen.]

The sharpening of medicines to increase their effect.

ACU'LEATE, adjective [Latin aculeus, from acus, Gr. a point, and the diminutive. See Acid.]

1. In botany, having prickles, or sharp points; pointed; used chiefly to denote prickles fixed in the bark, in distinction from thorns, which grow from the wood.

2. In zoology, having a sting.

ACU'LEI, noun [Latin] In botany and zoology, prickles or spines.

AC'ULON, or AC'ULOS, noun [Gr. probably from ac, an oak.]

AC'ULON, or AC'ULOS, noun [Gr. probably from ac, an oak.]

The fruit or acorn of the ilex, or scarlet oak.

ACU'MEN, noun [Latin acumen from acus or acuo.]

A sharp point; and figuratively, quickness of perception, the faculty of nice discrimination.

ACU'MINATE, adjective [Latin acuminatus, from acumen.]

Ending in a sharp point; pointed.

ACU'MINATED, adjective Sharpened to a point.

ACUMINA'TION, noun A sharpening; termination in a sharp point.

ACUPUNC'TURE, noun [Latin acus, needle, and punctura, or punctus, a pricking.]

Among the Chinese, a surgical operation, performed by pricking the part affected with a needle, as in head-aches and lethargies.

A'CUS, noun [Latin]

1. The needle-fish, or gar-fish.

2. The ammodyte or sand eel.

3. The oblong cimex.

ACU'TE, adjective [Latin acutus, sharp-pointed; Heb.]

1. Sharp at the end; ending in a sharp point; opposed to blunt or obtuse. An acute angle in geometry, is one which is less than a right angle, or which subtends less than ninety degrees. An acute angled triangle is one whose three angles are all acute or less than ninety degrees each.

2. Figuratively, applied to mental powers; penetrating; having nice discernment; perceiving or using minute distinctions; opposed to dull or stupid; as an acute reasoner.

3. Applied to the senses; having nice or quick sensibility; susceptible of slight impressions; having power to feel or perceive small objects; as, a man of acute eyesight, hearing, or feeling.

4. An acute disease, is one which is attended with violent symptoms, and comes speedily to a crisis, as a pleurisy; opposed to chronic.

5. An acute disease, is one which is attended with violent symptoms, and comes speedily to a crisis, as a pleurisy; opposed to chronic.

6. In music, acute is applied to a tone which is sharp, or high; opposed to grave.

7. In botany, ending in an acute angle, as a leaf or perianth.

ACU'TELY, adverb Sharply; keenly; with nice discrimination.

ACU'TENESS, noun

1. Sharpness; but seldom used in this literal sense, as applied to material things.

2. Figuratively, the faculty of nice discernment or perception; applied to the senses, or the understanding. By an acuteness of feeling, we perceive small objects or slight impressions; by an acuteness of intellect, we discern nice distinctions.

3. Sharpness, or elevation of sound, in rhetoric or music.

4. Violence of a disease, which brings it speedily to a crisis.

ACUTIA'TOR, noun In the middle ages, a person whose office was to sharpen instruments. Before the invention of fire-arms, such officers attended armies, to sharpen their instruments.