v. t. To absterge; to cleanse; to purge away. [ Obs. ] Sir T. Browne. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ F. abstersion. See Absterge. ] Act of wiping clean; a cleansing; a purging. [ 1913 Webster ]

The task of ablution and abstersion being performed. Sir W. Scott. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ Cf. F. abstersif. See Absterge. ] Cleansing; purging. Bacon. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Something cleansing. [ 1913 Webster ]

The strong abstersive of some heroic magistrate. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The quality of being abstersive. Fuller. [ 1913 Webster ]

‖n. pl. [ L. adversaria (sc. scripta), neut. pl. of adversarius. ] A miscellaneous collection of notes, remarks, or selections; a commonplace book; also, commentaries or notes. [ 1913 Webster ]

These parchments are supposed to have been St. Paul's adversaria. Bp. Bull. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Hostile. [ R. ] Southey. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. 1. Opposed; opposite; adverse; antagonistic. [ Archaic ] Bp. King. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Law) Having an opposing party; not unopposed; as, an adversary suit. [ 1913 Webster ]

n.; pl. Adversaries [ OE. adversarie, direct fr. the Latin, and adversaire, fr. OF. adversier, aversier, fr. L. adversarius (a.) turned toward, (n.) an adversary. See Adverse. ] One who is turned against another or others with a design to oppose or resist them; a member of an opposing or hostile party; an opponent; an antagonist; an enemy; a foe. [ 1913 Webster ]

His ancient knot of dangerous adversaries. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

Agree with thine adversary quickly. Matt. v. 25. [ 1913 Webster ]

It may be thought that to vindicate the permanency of truth is to dispute without an adversary. Beattie. [ 1913 Webster ]

The Adversary, The Satan, or the Devil. [ 1913 Webster ]

Syn. -- Adversary, Enemy, Opponent, Antagonist. Enemy is the only one of these words which necessarily implies a state of personal hostility. Men may be adversaries, antagonists, or opponents to each other in certain respects, and yet have no feelings of general animosity. An adversary may be simply one who is placed for a time in a hostile position, as in a lawsuit, an argument, in chess playing, or at fence. An opponent is one who is ranged against another (perhaps passively) on the opposing side; as a political opponent, an opponent in debate. An antagonist is one who struggles against another with active effort, either in a literal fight or in verbal debate. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. adversativus, fr. adversari. ] Expressing contrariety, opposition, or antithesis; as, an adversative conjunction (but, however, yet, etc. ); an adversative force. -- Ad*ver"sa*tive*ly, adv. [1913 Webster]

n. An adversative word. Harris. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ OE. advers, OF. avers, advers, fr. L. adversus, p. p. advertere to turn to. See Advert. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

1. Acting against, or in a contrary direction; opposed; contrary; opposite; conflicting; as, adverse winds; an adverse party; a spirit adverse to distinctions of caste. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Opposite. “Calpe's adverse height.” Byron. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. In hostile opposition to; unfavorable; unpropitious; contrary to one's wishes; unfortunate; calamitous; afflictive; hurtful; as, adverse fates, adverse circumstances, things adverse. [ 1913 Webster ]

Happy were it for us all if we bore prosperity as well and wisely as we endure an adverse fortune. Southey. [ 1913 Webster ]

Adverse possession (Law), a possession of real property avowedly contrary to some claim of title in another person. Abbott. [ 1913 Webster ]

Syn. -- Averse; reluctant; unwilling. See Averse. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ L. adversari: cf. OF. averser. ] To oppose; to resist. [ Obs. ] Gower. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. In an adverse manner; inimically; unfortunately; contrariwise. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The quality or state of being adverse; opposition. [ 1913 Webster ]

{ a. [ L. adversus opposite + folium leaf. ] (Bot.) Having opposite leaves, as plants which have the leaves so arranged on the stem. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ L. adversio ] A turning towards; attention. [ Obs. ] Dr. H. More. [ 1913 Webster ]

n.; pl. Adversities [ OE. adversite, F. adversité, fr. L. adversitas. ] 1. Opposition; contrariety. [ Obs. ] Wyclif. [ 1913 Webster ]

Adversity is not without comforts and hopes. Bacon. [ 1913 Webster ]

Syn. -- Affliction; distress; misery; disaster; trouble; suffering; trial. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The office of an adviser. [ R. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Psychol.) A sensation or sense impression following the removal of a stimulus producing a primary sensation, and reproducing the primary sensation in positive, negative, or complementary form. The aftersensation may be continuous with the primary sensation or follow it after an interval. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

n. (Zool.) The hypoptilum. [ 1913 Webster ]

adj. 1. having an aftershaft (a small feather at the base of some feathers) [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. 1. same as Alexander[ wn1 ]; Smyrnium olusatrum.
Syn. -- Alexander, black lovage, horse parsley, Smyrnium olusatrum [ WordNet 1.5 ]

prop. n. (Geography) The capital city of Algeria. Population (2000) = unk. [ PJC ]

n. [ OE. alisaundre, OF. alissandere, fr. Alexander or Alexandria. ] (Bot) A name given to two species of the genus Smyrnium, formerly cultivated and used as celery now is; -- called also horse parsely. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The office of an almoner. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. a balanced disposition intermediate between extroversion and introversion. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

adj. 1. (Psychol.) intermediate between introversive and extroversive. Contrasted to introversive and extroversive. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. [ A corruption of and, per se and, i. e., & by itself makes and. ] A word used to describe the character &unr_;, &unr_;, or &. Halliwell. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. an anchorman or anchorwoman.. The anchorperson usually begins the broadcast, discusses certain topics, and introduces new topics, which may be discussed by other reprorters, especially when the report is recorded or broadcast from a location other than the main broadcast studio.
Syn. -- anchor, anchorman, anchorwoman. [ WordNet 1.5 +PJC ]

n. The faculty of perceiving; a percipient. [ Obs. ] Dr. H. More. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ L. animadversio, fr. animadvertere: cf. F. animadversion. See Animadvert. ] 1. The act or power of perceiving or taking notice; direct or simple perception. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

The soul is the sole percipient which hath animadversion and sense, properly so called. Glanvill. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Monition; warning. [ Obs. ] Clarendon. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Remarks by way of criticism and usually of censure; adverse criticism; reproof; blame. [ 1913 Webster ]

He dismissed their commissioners with severe and sharp animadversions. Clarendon. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. Judicial cognizance of an offense; chastisement; punishment. [ Archaic ] “Divine animadversions.” Wesley. [ 1913 Webster ]

Syn. -- Stricture; criticism; censure; reproof; blame; comment. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Having the power of perceiving; percipient. [ Archaic ] Glanvill. [ 1913 Webster ]

I do not mean there is a certain number of ideas glaring and shining to the animadversive faculty. Coleridge. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. Annually. [ R. ] Bp. Hall. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. anniversarius; annus year + vertere, versum, to turn: cf. F. anniversaire. ] Returning with the year, at a stated time; annual; yearly; as, an anniversary feast. [ 1913 Webster ]

Anniversary day (R. C. Ch.). See Anniversary, n., 2. --
Anniversary week, that week in the year in which the annual meetings of religious and benevolent societies are held in Boston and New York. [ Eastern U. S. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n.; pl. Anniversaries [ Cf. F. anniversaire. ] 1. The annual return of the day on which any notable event took place, or is wont to be celebrated; as, the anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (R. C. Ch.) The day on which Mass is said yearly for the soul of a deceased person; the commemoration of some sacred event, as the dedication of a church or the consecration of a pope. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. The celebration which takes place on an anniversary day. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ L. anni versus the turning of a year. ] Anniversary. [ Obs. ] Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Pref. ante- + L. vertere, versum, to turn. ] (Med.) A displacement of an organ, esp. of the uterus, in such manner that its whole axis is directed further forward than usual. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The art or skill of an archer. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Aspersed p. pr. & vb. n. Aspersing. ] [ L. aspersus, p. p. of aspergere to scatter, sprinkle; ad + spargere to strew. See Sparse. ] 1. To sprinkle, as water or dust, upon anybody or anything, or to besprinkle any one with a liquid or with dust. Heywood. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To bespatter with foul reports or false and injurious charges; to tarnish in point of reputation or good name; to slander or calumniate; as, to asperse a poet or his writings; to asperse a man's character. [ 1913 Webster ]

With blackest crimes aspersed. Cowper. [ 1913 Webster ]

Syn. -- To slander; defame; detract from; calumniate; vilify. -- To Asperse, Defame, Slander, Calumniate. These words have in common the idea of falsely assailing the character of another. To asperse is figuratively to cast upon a character hitherto unsullied the imputation of blemishes or faults which render it offensive or loathsome. To defame is to detract from a man's honor and reputation by charges calculated to load him with infamy. Slander (etymologically the same as scandal) and calumniate, from the Latin, have in common the sense of circulating reports to a man's injury from unworthy or malicious motives. Men asperse their neighbors by malignant insinuations; they defame by advancing charges to blacken or sully their fair fame; they slander or calumniate by spreading injurious reports which are false, or by magnifying slight faults into serious errors or crimes. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. 1. (Her.) Having an indefinite number of small charges scattered or strewed over the surface. Cussans. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Bespattered; slandered; calumniated. Motley. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. One who asperses; especially, one who vilifies another. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ L. aspersio, fr. aspergere: cf. F. aspersion. ] 1. A sprinkling, as with water or dust, in a literal sense. [ 1913 Webster ]

Behold an immersion, not and aspersion. Jer. Taylor. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. The spreading of calumniations reports or charges which tarnish reputation, like the bespattering of a body with foul water; calumny. [ 1913 Webster ]

Every candid critic would be ashamed to cast wholesale aspersions on the entire body of professional teachers. Grote. [ 1913 Webster ]

Who would by base aspersions blot thy virtue. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Tending to asperse; defamatory; slanderous. -- As*pers"ive*ly, adv. [1913 Webster]

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

‖n.; pl. Aspersoria [ LL. See Asperse. ] 1. The stoup, basin, or other vessel for holy water in Roman Catholic churches. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A brush for sprinkling holy water; an aspergill. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ L. aversatio, fr. aversari to turn away, v. intens. of avertere. See Avert. ] A turning from with dislike; aversion. [ Obs.or Archaic ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Some men have a natural aversation to some vices or virtues, and a natural affection to others. Jer. Taylor. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. aversus, p. p. of avertere. See Avert. ] 1. Turned away or backward. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

The tracks averse a lying notice gave,
And led the searcher backward from the cave. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Having a repugnance or opposition of mind; disliking; disinclined; unwilling; reluctant. [ 1913 Webster ]

Averse alike to flatter, or offend. Pope. [ 1913 Webster ]

Men who were averse to the life of camps. Macaulay. [ 1913 Webster ]

Pass by securely as men averse from war. Micah ii. 8. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ The prevailing usage now is to employ to after averse and its derivatives rather than from, as was formerly the usage. In this the word is in agreement with its kindred terms, hatred, dislike, dissimilar, contrary, repugnant, etc., expressing a relation or an affection of the mind to an object. [ 1913 Webster ]

Syn. -- Averse, Reluctant, Adverse. Averse expresses an habitual, though not of necessity a very strong, dislike; as, averse to active pursuits; averse to study. Reluctant, a term of the of the will, implies an internal struggle as to making some sacrifice of interest or feeling; as, reluctant to yield; reluctant to make the necessary arrangements; a reluctant will or consent. Adverse denotes active opposition or hostility; as, adverse interests; adverse feelings, plans, or movements; the adverse party. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. & i. To turn away. [ Obs. ] B. Jonson. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. 1. Backward; in a backward direction; as, emitted aversely. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. With repugnance or aversion; unwillingly. [ 1913 Webster ]