ACUTENESS
ACU'TENESS, noun1. 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...
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Webster's Dictionary 1828
American Dictionary of the English Language, Noah Webster, 1828.
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ACUTIATOR
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 instrum...
AD
AD. A Latin preposition, signifying to. It is probably from Heb. Ch. Syr. Sam. Eth. and Ar. To come near, to approach; from which root we may also deduce at. In composition, the...
ADAGE
AD'AGE, noun [Latin adagium, or adagio]A proverb; an old saying, which has obtained credit by long use; a wise observation handed down from antiquity.
ADAGIO
ADA'GIO, noun [Latin otium; Eng. ease.]In music, a slow movement. As an adverb, slowly, leisurely, and with grace. When repeated, adagioadagio it directs the movement to be very...
ADAM
AD'AM, noun In Heb., Man; primarily, the name of the human species, mankind; appropriately, the first Man, the progenitor of the human race. The word signifies form, shape, or s...
ADAMANT
AD'AMANT, noun [Gr.; Latin adamas; a word of Celtic origin.]A very hard or impenetrable stone; a name given to the diamond and other substances of extreme hardness. The name has...
ADAMANTEAN
ADAMANTE'AN, adjective Hard as adamant.
ADAMANTINE
ADAMANT'INE, adjective Made of adamant; having the qualities of adamant; that cannot be broken, dissolved, or penetrated, as adamantine bonds, or chains.Adamantine Spar, a genus...
ADAMIC
AD'AMIC, adjective Pertaining to Adam. adamic earth, is the term given to common red clay, so called by means of a mistaken opinion that Adam means red earth.
ADAMITES
AD'AMITES, in Church history, a sect of visionaries, who pretended to establish a state of innocence, and like Adam, went naked. They abhorred marriage, holding it to be the eff...
ADAMITIC
ADAMIT'IC, Like the Adamites.
ADANSONIA
ADANSO'NIA, noun Ethiopian sour gourd, monkey's bread, of African calabash-tree. It is a tree of one species, called baobab, a native of Africa, and the largest of the vegetable...
ADAPT
ADAPT' verb transitive [Latin ad. and apto, to fit; Gr.]To make suitable; to fit or suit; as, to adapt an instrument to its uses; we have provision adapted to our wants. It is a...
ADAPTABLE
ADAPT'ABLE, adjective That may be adapted.
ADAPTATION
ADAPTA'TION, noun The act of making suitable, or the state of being suitable, or fit; fitness.
ADAPTED
ADAPT'ED, participle passive Suited; made suitable; fitted.
ADAPTER
ADAPT'ER. See adopter.
ADAPTING
ADAPT'ING, participle present tense Suiting; making fit.
ADAPTION
ADAP'TION, noun Adaptation; the act of fitting [Little used, and hardly legitimate.]
ADAPTNESS
ADAPT'NESS, noun A state of being fitted. [Not used.]
ADAR
A'DAR, noun a Hebrew month, answering to the latter part of February, and the beginning of March, the 12th of the sacred and 6th of the civil year; so named to become glorious, ...
ADARCE
ADAR'CE, noun [Gr.]A saltish concretion on reeds and grass in marshy grounds in Galatia. It is lax and porous, like bastard spunge, and used to clear the skin in leprosy, tetter...
ADARCON
ADAR'CON, noun In Jewish antiquity, a gold coin worth about three dollars and a third, or about fifteen shillings sterling.
ADARME
ADAR'ME, noun A Spanish weight, the sixteenth of an ounce. The Spanish ounce is seven per cent. Lighter than that of Paris.
ADATIS
AD'ATIS, noun A muslin or species of cotton cloth from India. It is fine and clear; the piece is ten French ells long, and three quarters wide.
ADAUNT
AD'AUNT, verb transitive To subdue. [Not used. See Daunt.]