n. Abuse. [ Obs. ] Whately (1634). [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ OF. acoragier; à (L. ad) + corage. See Courage. ] To encourage. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ F. aciérage, fr. acier steel. ] The process of coating the surface of a metal plate (as a stereotype plate) with steellike iron by means of voltaic electricity; steeling. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Acres collectively; as, the acreage of a farm or a country. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ F. adage, fr. L. adagium; ad + the root of L. aio I say. ] An old saying, which has obtained credit by long use; a proverb. [ 1913 Webster ]

Letting “I dare not” wait upon “I would, ”
Like the poor cat i' the adage. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

Syn. -- Axiom; maxim; aphorism; proverb; saying; saw; apothegm. See Axiom. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Cf. Ajutage. ] Adjustment. [ R. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Same as Ajutage. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ OE. avantage, avauntage, F. avantage, fr. avant before. See Advance, and cf. Vantage. ] 1. Any condition, circumstance, opportunity, or means, particularly favorable to success, or to any desired end; benefit; as, the enemy had the advantage of a more elevated position. [ 1913 Webster ]

Give me advantage of some brief discourse. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

The advantages of a close alliance. Macaulay. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Superiority; mastery; -- with of or over. [ 1913 Webster ]

Lest Satan should get an advantage of us. 2 Cor. ii. 11. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Superiority of state, or that which gives it; benefit; gain; profit; as, the advantage of a good constitution. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. Interest of money; increase; overplus (as the thirteenth in the baker's dozen). [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

And with advantage means to pay thy love. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. (Tennis) The first point scored after deuce. [ PJC ]

Advantage ground, vantage ground. [ R. ] Clarendon. --
To have the advantage of (any one), to have a personal knowledge of one who does not have a reciprocal knowledge. “You have the advantage of me; I don't remember ever to have had the honor.” Sheridan. --
To take advantage of, to profit by; (often used in a bad sense) to overreach, to outwit. [ 1913 Webster ]

Syn. -- Advantage, Advantageous, Benefit, Beneficial. We speak of a thing as a benefit, or as beneficial, when it is simply productive of good; as, the benefits of early discipline; the beneficial effects of adversity. We speak of a thing as an advantage, or as advantageous, when it affords us the means of getting forward, and places us on a “vantage ground” for further effort. Hence, there is a difference between the benefits and the advantages of early education; between a beneficial and an advantageous investment of money. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Advantaged p. pr. & vb. n. Advantaging ] [ F. avantager, fr. avantage. See Advance. ] To give an advantage to; to further; to promote; to benefit; to profit. [ 1913 Webster ]

The truth is, the archbishop's own stiffness and averseness to comply with the court designs, advantaged his adversaries against him. Fuller. [ 1913 Webster ]

What is a man advantaged, if he gain the whole world, and lose himself, or be cast away? Luke ix. 25. [ 1913 Webster ]

To advantage one's self of, to avail one's self of. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Advantageous. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ F. avantageux, fr. avantage. ] Being of advantage; conferring advantage; gainful; profitable; useful; beneficial; as, an advantageous position; trade is advantageous to a nation. [ 1913 Webster ]

Advabtageous comparison with any other country. Prescott. [ 1913 Webster ]

You see . . . of what use a good reputation is, and how swift and advantageous a harbinger it is, wherever one goes. Chesterfield. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. Profitably; with advantage. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Profitableness. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Aftergrass. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The impression of a vivid sensation retained by the retina of the eye after the cause has been removed; also extended to impressions left of tones, smells, etc. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ OF. aage, eage, F. âge, fr. L. aetas through a supposed LL. aetaticum. L. aetas is contracted fr. aevitas, fr. aevum lifetime, age; akin to E. aye ever. Cf. Each. ] 1. The whole duration of a being, whether animal, vegetable, or other kind; lifetime. [ 1913 Webster ]

Mine age is as nothing before thee. Ps. xxxix. 5. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. That part of the duration of a being or a thing which is between its beginning and any given time; as, what is the present age of a man, or of the earth? [ 1913 Webster ]

3. The latter part of life; an advanced period of life; seniority; state of being old. [ 1913 Webster ]

Nor wrong mine age with this indignity. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. One of the stages of life; as, the age of infancy, of youth, etc. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. Mature age; especially, the time of life at which one attains full personal rights and capacities; as, to come of age; he (or she) is of age. Abbott. In the United States, both males and females are of age when twenty-one years old. Some rights, such as that of voting in elections, are conferred earlier. [ 1913 Webster +PJC ]

6. The time of life at which some particular power or capacity is understood to become vested; as, the age of consent; the age of discretion. Abbott. [ 1913 Webster ]

7. A particular period of time in history, as distinguished from others; as, the golden age, the age of Pericles. “The spirit of the age.” Prescott. [ 1913 Webster ]

Truth, in some age or other, will find her witness. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

Archeological ages are designated as three: The Stone age (the early and the later stone age, called paleolithic and neolithic), the Bronze age, and the Iron age. During the Age of Stone man is supposed to have employed stone for weapons and implements. [ 1913 Webster ]

See Augustan, Brazen, Golden, Heroic, Middle. [ 1913 Webster ]

8. A great period in the history of the Earth. [ 1913 Webster ]

The geologic ages are as follows: 1. The Archæan, including the time when was no life and the time of the earliest and simplest forms of life. 2. The age of Invertebrates, or the Silurian, when the life on the globe consisted distinctively of invertebrates. 3. The age of Fishes, or the Devonian, when fishes were the dominant race. 4. The age of Coal Plants, or Acrogens, or the Carboniferous age. 5. The Mesozoic or Secondary age, or age of Reptiles, when reptiles prevailed in great numbers and of vast size. 6. The Tertiary age, or age of Mammals, when the mammalia, or quadrupeds, abounded, and were the dominant race. 7. The Quaternary age, or age of Man, or the modern era. Dana. [ 1913 Webster ]

9. A century; the period of one hundred years. [ 1913 Webster ]

Fleury . . . apologizes for these five ages. Hallam. [ 1913 Webster ]

10. The people who live at a particular period; hence, a generation. “Ages yet unborn.” Pope. [ 1913 Webster ]

The way which the age follows. J. H. Newman. [ 1913 Webster ]

Lo! where the stage, the poor, degraded stage,
Holds its warped mirror to a gaping age. C. Sprague. [ 1913 Webster ]

11. A long time. [ Colloq. ] “He made minutes an age.” Tennyson. [ 1913 Webster ]

12. (poker) the right belonging to the player to the left of the dealer to pass the first round in betting, and then to come in last or stay out; also, the player holding this position; the eldest hand. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

Age of a tide, the time from the origin of a tide in the South Pacific Ocean to its arrival at a given place. --
Moon's age, the time that has elapsed since the last preceding conjunction of the sun and moon. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ Age is used to form the first part of many compounds; as, agelasting, age-adorning, age-worn, age-enfeebled, agelong. [ 1913 Webster ]

Syn. -- Time; period; generation; date; era; epoch. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. [ imp. & p. p. Aged p. pr. & vb. n. Aging ] To grow aged; to become old; to show marks of age; as, he grew fat as he aged. [ 1913 Webster ]

They live one hundred and thirty years, and never age for all that. Holland. [ 1913 Webster ]

I am aging; that is, I have a whitish, or rather a light-colored, hair here and there. Landor. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. To cause to grow old; to impart the characteristics of age to; as, grief ages us. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. 1. Old; having lived long; having lived almost to or beyond the usual time allotted to that species of being; as, an aged man; an aged oak. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Belonging to old age. “Aged cramps.” Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. def>Having a certain age; at the age of; having lived; as, a man aged forty years. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. In the manner of an aged person. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The quality of being aged; oldness. [ 1913 Webster ]

Custom without truth is but agedness of error. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

adj. 1. having lived for a relatively long (or a specified) time; not young; -- used especially of persons. Opposite of young.
Syn. -- aging, senescent, old. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. same as aging.
Syn. -- ripening, aging, mellowing [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. 1. 1 discrimination against middle-aged and elderly people.
Syn. -- agism [ WordNet 1.5 ]

prop. n. A genus of birds including the red-winged blackbirds.
Syn. -- genus Agelaius. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

a. Without old age limits of duration; as, fountains of ageless youth. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. lasting through all time; unending; as, The agelong struggle for freedom.
Syn. -- unending [ WordNet 1.5 ]

adv. & prep. See Again. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n.; pl. Agencies [ agentia, fr. L. agens, agentis: cf. F. agence. See Agent. ] 1. The faculty of acting or of exerting power; the state of being in action; action; instrumentality. [ 1913 Webster ]

The superintendence and agency of Providence in the natural world. Woodward. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. The office of an agent, or factor; the relation between a principal and his agent; business of one intrusted with the concerns of another. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. The place of business of an agent. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. An organization or business that provides some service, primarily for other organizations; as, an advertising agency. [ PJC ]

5. An administrative division of a government; as, a state welfare agency; a motor vehicle agency; the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA); the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). [ PJC ]

Syn. -- Action; operation; efficiency; management. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. See Agendum. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. a temporally organized plan for matters to be attended to.
Syn. -- docket, schedule [ WordNet 1.5 +PJC ]

2. A list of matters to be discussed (as at a meeting).
Syn. -- agendum, docket, order of business [ WordNet 1.5 ]

3. A motive or set of goals; as, to have one's own agenda; especially, a secret motive; also called hidden agenda; as, some of the news commentators themselves have an agenda.
Syn. -- goal, hidden motive, secret motive, hidden agenda. [ PJC ]

‖n.; pl. Agenda [ L., neut. of the gerundive of agere to act. ] 1. Something to be done; in the pl., a memorandum book; also, a list of items to be considered. See agenda. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A church service; a ritual or liturgy. [ In this sense, usually Agenda. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ See Agensis. ] (Physiol.) Characterized by sterility; infecund. [ 1913 Webster ]

‖n. [ Gr. 'a priv. + &unr_; birth. ] (Physiol.) Any imperfect development of the body, or any anomaly of organization. [ 1913 Webster ]

‖n. [ Gr. 'a priv. + &unr_; an engendering. ] (Physiol.) Impotence; sterility. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. agens, agentis, p. pr. of agere to act; akin to Gr. &unr_; to lead, Icel. aka to drive, Skr. aj. √2. ] Acting; -- opposed to patient, or sustaining, action. [ Archaic ] “The body agent.” Bacon. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. One who exerts power, or has the power to act; an actor. [ 1913 Webster ]

Heaven made us agents, free to good or ill. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. One who acts for, or in the place of, another, by authority from him; one intrusted with the business of another; a substitute; a deputy; a factor. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. An active power or cause; that which has the power to produce an effect, such as a physical, chemical, or medicinal agent; as, heat is a powerful agent. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. (Biochem., Med.) a chemical substance having biological effects; a drug. [ PJC ]

a. Of or pertaining to an agent or an agency. Fitzed. Hall. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Agency. Beau. & Fl. [ 1913 Webster ]

adj. 1. 1 of very long duration
Syn. -- ancient [ WordNet 1.5 ]

4. having reached a desired or final condition as a result of standing for a period of time; -- of wines, whiskey, fruit, or cheeses. As a result of having been aged, the product may be said to be mature or ripe (vs. green).
Syn. -- ripened [ WordNet 1.5 ]

‖prop. n. [ NL., fr. Gr. 'agh`raton a sort of plant; 'a priv. + gh`ras old age. ] (Bot.) A genus of plants, one species of which (Ageratum Mexicanum) has lavender-blue flowers in dense clusters. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ F. agiotage, fr. agioter to practice stockjobbing, fr. agio. ] Exchange business; also, stockjobbing; the maneuvers of speculators to raise or lower the price of stocks or public funds. [ 1913 Webster ]

Vanity and agiotage are to a Parisian the oxygen and hydrogen of life. Landor. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ F. ajutage, for ajoutage, fr. ajouter to add, LL. adjuxtare, fr. L. ad + juxta near to, nigh. Cf. Adjutage, Adjustage, Adjust. ] A tube through which water is discharged; an efflux tube; as, the ajutage of a fountain. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Cf. OF. aliénage. ] 1. The state or legal condition of being an alien. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ The disabilities of alienage are removable by naturalization or by special license from the State of residence, and in some of the United States by declaration of intention of naturalization. Kent. Wharton. [ 1913 Webster ]

Estates forfeitable on account of alienage. Story. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. The state of being alienated or transferred to another. Brougham. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ F. aloyage. ] The act or art of alloying metals; also, the combination or alloy. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ F. almageste, LL. almageste, Ar. al-majistī, fr. Gr. &unr_; (sc. &unr_;), the greatest composition. ] The celebrated work of Ptolemy of Alexandria, which contains nearly all that is known of the astronomical observations and theories of the ancients. The name was extended to other similar works. [ 1913 Webster ]

n., [ OF. alnage, aulnage, F. aunage, fr. OF. alne ell, of Ger. origin: cf. OHG. elina, Goth. aleina, cubit. See Ell. ] (O. Eng. Law) Measurement (of cloth) by the ell; also, a duty for such measurement. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ See Alnage. ] A measure by the ell; formerly a sworn officer in England, whose duty was to inspect and measure woolen cloth, and fix upon it a seal. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Cf. OF. auterage, autelage. ] 1. The offerings made upon the altar, or to a church. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. The profit which accrues to the priest, by reason of the altar, from the small tithes. Shipley. [ 1913 Webster ]

‖n. pl. [ L. (usually in pl.); pref. ambi-, amb- + agere to drive: cf. F. ambage. ] A circuit; a winding. Hence: Circuitous way or proceeding; quibble; circumlocution; indirect mode of speech. [ 1913 Webster ]

After many ambages, perspicuously define what this melancholy is. Burton. [ 1913 Webster ]