n. 1. 1 an African fowl genus; both sexes are brightly colored.
Syn. -- Congo peafowl, Afropavo congensis [ WordNet 1.5 ]

‖n. [ Corrupted from the Mexican ahuacatl: cf. Sp. aguacate, F. aguacaté, avocat, G. avogadobaum. ] The pulpy fruit of Persea gratissima, a tree of tropical America. It is about the size and shape of a large pear; -- called also avocado pear, alligator pear, midshipman's butter. [ 1913 Webster ]

‖n. [ F. ] An advocate. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ L. avocatus, p. p. of avocare; a, ab + vocare to call. Cf. Avoke, and see Vocal, a. ] To call off or away; to withdraw; to transfer to another tribunal. [ Obs. or Archaic ] [ 1913 Webster ]

One who avocateth his mind from other occupations. Barrow. [ 1913 Webster ]

He, at last, . . . avocated the cause to Rome. Robertson. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ L. avocatio. ] 1. A calling away; a diversion. [ Obs. or Archaic ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Impulses to duty, and powerful avocations from sin. South. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. That which calls one away from one's regular employment or vocation. [ 1913 Webster ]

Heaven is his vocation, and therefore he counts earthly employments avocations. Fuller. [ 1913 Webster ]

By the secular cares and avocations which accompany marriage the clergy have been furnished with skill in common life. Atterbury. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ In this sense the word is applied to the smaller affairs of life, or occasional calls which summon a person to leave his ordinary or principal business. Avocation (in the singular) for vocation is usually avoided by good writers. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. pl. Pursuits; duties; affairs which occupy one's time; usual employment; vocation. [ 1913 Webster ]

There are professions, among the men, no more favorable to these studies than the common avocations of women. Richardson. [ 1913 Webster ]

In a few hours, above thirty thousand men left his standard, and returned to their ordinary avocations. Macaulay. [ 1913 Webster ]

An irregularity and instability of purpose, which makes them choose the wandering avocations of a shepherd, rather than the more fixed pursuits of agriculture. Buckle. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Calling off. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. That which calls aside; a dissuasive. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Avoided; p. pr. & vb. n. Avoiding. ] [ OF. esvuidier, es (L. ex) + vuidier, voidier, to empty. See Void, a. ] 1. To empty. [ Obs. ] Wyclif. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To emit or throw out; to void; as, to avoid excretions. [ Obs. ] Sir T. Browne. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To quit or evacuate; to withdraw from. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Six of us only stayed, and the rest avoided
the room. Bacon. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. To make void; to annul or vacate; to refute. [ 1913 Webster ]

How can these grants of the king's be avoided? Spenser. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. To keep away from; to keep clear of; to endeavor no to meet; to shun; to abstain from; as, to avoid the company of gamesters. [ 1913 Webster ]

What need a man forestall his date of grief.
And run to meet what he would most avoid ? Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

He carefully avoided every act which could goad them into open hostility. Macaulay. [ 1913 Webster ]

6. To get rid of. [ Obs. ] Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

7. (Pleading) To defeat or evade; to invalidate. Thus, in a replication, the plaintiff may deny the defendant's plea, or confess it, and avoid it by stating new matter. Blackstone. [ 1913 Webster ]

Syn. -- To escape; elude; evade; eschew. -- To Avoid, Shun. Avoid in its commonest sense means, to keep clear of, an extension of the meaning, to withdraw one's self from. It denotes care taken not to come near or in contact; as, to avoid certain persons or places. Shun is a stronger term, implying more prominently the idea of intention. The words may, however, in many cases be interchanged. [ 1913 Webster ]

No man can pray from his heart to be kept from temptation, if the take no care of himself to avoid it. Mason. [ 1913 Webster ]

So Chanticleer, who never saw a fox,
Yet shunned him as a sailor shuns the rocks. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. 1. To retire; to withdraw. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

David avoided out of his presence. 1 Sam. xviii. 11. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Law) To become void or vacant. [ Obs. ] Ayliffe. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. 1. Capable of being vacated; liable to be annulled or made invalid; voidable. [ 1913 Webster ]

The charters were not avoidable for the king's nonage. Hale. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Capable of being avoided, shunned, or escaped. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. The act of annulling; annulment. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. The act of becoming vacant, or the state of being vacant; -- specifically used for the state of a benefice becoming void by the death, deprivation, or resignation of the incumbent. [ 1913 Webster ]

Wolsey, . . . on every avoidance of St. Peter's chair, was sitting down therein, when suddenly some one or other clapped in before him. Fuller. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. A dismissing or a quitting; removal; withdrawal. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. The act of avoiding or shunning; keeping clear of. “The avoidance of pain.” Beattie. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. The courts by which anything is carried off. [ 1913 Webster ]

Avoidances and drainings of water. Bacon. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. The person who carries anything away, or the vessel in which things are carried away. Johnson. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. One who avoids, shuns, or escapes. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Unavoidable; inevitable. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. & a. [ OE. aver de peis, goods of weight, where peis is fr. OF. peis weight, F. poids, L. pensum. See Aver, n., and Poise, n. ] 1. Goods sold by weight. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Avoirdupois weight. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Weight; heaviness; as, a woman of much avoirdupois. [ Colloq. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Avoirdupois weight, a system of weights by which coarser commodities are weighed, such as hay, grain, butter, sugar, tea. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ The standard Avoirdupois pound of the United States is equivalent to the weight of 27.7015 cubic inches of distilled water at 62° Fahrenheit, the barometer being at 30 inches, and the water weighed in the air with brass weights. In this system of weights 16 drams make 1 ounce, 16 ounces 1 pound, 25 pounds 1 quarter, 4 quarters 1 hundred weight, and 20 hundred weight 1 ton. The above pound contains 7, 000 grains, or 453.54 grams, so that 1 pound avoirdupois is equivalent to 1 31-144 pounds troy. (See Troy weight.) Formerly, a hundred weight was reckoned at 112 pounds, the ton being 2, 240 pounds (sometimes called a long ton). [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ Cf. Avocate. ] To call from or back again. [ Obs. ] Bp. Burnet. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. [ L. avolare; a (ab) + volare to fly. ] To fly away; to escape; to exhale. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ LL. avolatio. ] The act of flying; flight; evaporation. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

{ } n. [ F. avocette: cf. It. avosetta, Sp. avoceta. ] (Zool.) A grallatorial bird, of the genus Recurvirostra; the scooper. The bill is long and bend upward toward the tip. The American species is Recurvirostra Americana. [ Written also avocette. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Same as Avocet. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Avouched (&unr_;); p. pr. & vb. n. Avouching. ] [ OF. avochier, LL. advocare to recognize the existence of a thing, to advocate, fr. L. advocare to call to; ad + vocare to call. Cf. Avow to declare, Advocate, and see Vouch, v. t. ] 1. To appeal to; to cite or claim as authority. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

They avouch many successions of authorities. Coke. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To maintain a just or true; to vouch for. [ 1913 Webster ]

We might be disposed to question its authenticity, it if were not avouched by the full evidence. Milman. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To declare or assert positively and as matter of fact; to affirm openly. [ 1913 Webster ]

If this which he avouches does appear. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

Such antiquities could have been avouched for the Irish. Spenser. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. To acknowledge deliberately; to admit; to confess; to sanction. [ 1913 Webster ]

Thou hast avouched the Lord this day to be thy God. Deut. xxvi. 17. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Evidence; declaration. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

The sensible and true avouch
Of mine own eyes. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Capable of being avouched. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. One who avouches. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The act of avouching; positive declaration. [ Obs. ] Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

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

n. [ OF. ] Adultery. [ Obs. ] Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Avowed (&unr_;); p. pr. & vb. n. Avowing. ] [ F. avouver, fr. L. advocare to call to (whence the meanings, to call upon as superior; recognize as lord, own, confess); ad + vocare to call. See Advocate, Avouch. ] 1. To declare openly, as something believed to be right; to own or acknowledge frankly; as, a man avows his principles or his crimes. [ 1913 Webster ]

Which I to be the of Israel's God
Avow, and challenge Dagon to the test. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Law) To acknowledge and justify, as an act done. See Avowry. Blackstone. [ 1913 Webster ]

Syn. -- To acknowledge; own; confess. See Confess. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Cf. F. aveu. ] Avowal. [ Obs. ] Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. & i. [ OF. avouer, fr. LL. votare to vow, fr. L. votun. See Vote, n. ] To bind, or to devote, by a vow. [ Obs. ] Wyclif. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A vow or determination. [ Archaic ] [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Capable of being avowed, or openly acknowledged, with confidence. Donne. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. An open declaration; frank acknowledgment; as, an avowal of such principles. Hume. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. Act of avowing; avowal. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Upholding; defense; vindication. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Can my avowance of king-murdering be collected from anything here written by me? Fuller. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Law) The defendant in replevin, who avows the distress of the goods, and justifies the taking. Cowell. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Openly acknowledged or declared; admitted. -- A*vow"ed*ly adv. [1913 Webster]

n. [ F. avoué. Cf. Advowee, Advocate, n. ] The person who has a right to present to a benefice; the patron; an advowee. See Advowson. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. One who avows or asserts. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ OE. avouerie protection, authority, OF. avouerie. See Avow to declare. ] 1. An advocate; a patron; a patron saint. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Let God alone be our avowry. Latimer. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. The act of the distrainer of goods, who, in an action of replevin, avows and justifies the taking in his own right. Blackstone. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ When an action of replevin is brought, the distrainer either makes avowry, that is, avours taking the distress in his own right, or the right of his wife, and states the reason if it, as for arrears of rent, damage done, or the like; or makes cognizance, that is, acknowledges the taking, but justifies in an another's right, as his bailiff or servant. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. Adultery. See Advoutry. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ F. ] A chief magistrate of a free imperial city or canton of Switzerland. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. any of various tropical American orchids with usually solitary fleshy leaves and showy white to green nocturnally fragrant blossoms solitary or in racemes of up to 7. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

interj. [ It. See Brave. ] Well done! excellent! an exclamation expressive of applause. [ 1913 Webster ]

n.; pl. Bravoes [ I. See Brave, a. ] A daring villain; a bandit; one who sets law at defiance; a professional assassin or murderer. [ 1913 Webster ]

Safe from detection, seize the unwary prey.
And stab, like bravoes, all who come this way. Churchill. [ 1913 Webster ]

‖ [ F. favori favorite. ] (Card Playing) In French games, a pair royal composed of 2 cards in the hand and the card turned. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

n. Cavo-rilievo. [ 1913 Webster ]

‖n. [ It. ] (Sculp.) Hollow relief; sculpture in relief within a sinking made for the purpose, so no part of it projects beyond the plain surface around. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. [ imp. & p. p. Cavorted; p. pr. & vb. n. Cavorting. ] To prance ostentatiously; -- said of a horse or his rider. [ Local slang, U. S. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. a fractional monetary unit of several countries such as El Salvador, St. Thomas and Principe, Brazil, Argentina, Bolivia, Colombia, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Peru, the Philippines, and Portugal. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

a. Concave or hollow on both sides; double concave. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. 1. Concave on one side and convex on the other, as an eggshell or a crescent. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Optics) Specifically, having such a combination of concave and convex sides as makes the focal axis the shortest line between them. See Illust. under Lens. [ 1913 Webster ]