a. [ From Abdera, a town in Thrace, of which place Democritus, the Laughing Philosopher, was a native. ] Given to laughter; inclined to foolish or incessant merriment. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ L. abecedarius. A word from the first four letters of the alphabet. ] 1. One who is learning the alphabet; hence, a tyro. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. One engaged in teaching the alphabet. Wood. [ 1913 Webster ]

{ } a. Pertaining to, or formed by, the letters of the alphabet; alphabetic; hence, rudimentary. [ 1913 Webster ]

Abecedarian psalms,
hymns, etc., compositions in which (like the 119th psalm in Hebrew) distinct portions or verses commence with successive letters of the alphabet. Hook. [ 1913 Webster ]

{ } n. (Eccl. Hist.) One of a sect in Africa (4th century), mentioned by St. Augustine, who states that they married, but lived in continence, after the manner, as they pretended, of Abel. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Of the nature of wormwood. “Absinthian bitterness.” T. Randolph. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Of or pertaining to Abyssinia. [ 1913 Webster ]

Abyssinian gold, an alloy of 90.74 parts of copper and 8.33 parts of zink. Ure. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. A native of Abyssinia. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A member of the Abyssinian Church. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A member of an academy, university, or college. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ F. académicien. See Academy. ] 1. A member of an academy, or society for promoting science, art, or literature, as of the French Academy, or the Royal Academy of arts. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A collegian. [ R. ] Chesterfield. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. the position or state of being a member of an honorary academy. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

a. Of or pertaining to Acadia, or Nova Scotia. “Acadian farmers.” Longfellow. -- n. A native of Acadie. [ 1913 Webster ]

Acadian epoch (Geol.), an epoch at the beginning of the American paleozoic time, and including the oldest American rocks known to be fossiliferous. See Geology. --
Acadian owl (Zool.), a small North American owl (Nyctule Acadica); the saw-whet. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. (Zool.) Belonging to the order of fishes having spinose fins, as the perch. -- n. A spiny-finned fish. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ From the city Accad. See Gen. x. 10. ] Pertaining to a race supposed to have lived in Babylonia before the Assyrian conquest. [ 1913 Webster ]

-- Ac*ca"di*an, n., Ac"cad n. Sayce. [ 1913 Webster ]

{ a. [ L. Achaeus, Achaius; Gr. &unr_;. ] Of or pertaining to Achaia in Greece; also, Grecian. -- n. A native of Achaia; a Greek. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. One versed in acoustics. Tyndall. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. acroceraunius, fr. Gr. &unr_; high, n. pl. &unr_; heights + &unr_; thunderbolt. ] Of or pertaining to the high mountain range of “thunder-smitten” peaks (now Kimara), between Epirus and Macedonia. Shelley. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. any sea anemone or related animal.
Syn. -- actinia, actiniarian [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. 1. any sea anemone or related animal.
Syn. -- actinia, actinian [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. 1. a type of parasite of worms. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. [ Formed fr. L. adesse to be present; ad + esse to be. ] (Eccl. Hist.) One who held the real presence of Christ's body in the eucharist, but not by transubstantiation. [ 1913 Webster ]

‖n. [ L., fr. Gr. 'adi`anton, maidenhair; 'a priv. + diai`nein to wet. ] (Bot.) A genus of ferns, the leaves of which shed water; maidenhair. Also, the black maidenhair, a species of spleenwort. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. Hadrianus. ] Pertaining to the Adriatic Sea; as, Adrian billows. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. a city in Northwest Turkey; a Thracian town that was rebuilt and renamed by the Roman emperor Hadrian.
Syn. -- Edirne, Adrianopolis [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. 1. a city in Northwest Turkey; a Thracian town that was rebuilt and renamed by the Roman emperor Hadrian.
Syn. -- Edirne, Adrianople [ WordNet 1.5 ]

a. [ L. Aeolius, Gr. &unr_;. ] 1. Of or pertaining to Æolia or Æolis, in Asia Minor, colonized by the Greeks, or to its inhabitants; æolic; as, the Æolian dialect. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Pertaining to Æolus, the mythic god of the winds; aërial. [ 1913 Webster ]

Viewless forms the æolian organ play. Campbell. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Relating to or caused by wind; as, aeolian erosion. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

Æolian attachment, a contrivance often attached to a pianoforte, which prolongs the vibrations, increases the volume of sound, etc., by forcing a stream of air upon the strings. Moore. --
Æolian harp,
Æolian lyre, a musical instrument consisting of a box, on or in which are stretched strings, on which the wind acts to produce the notes; -- usually placed at an open window. Moore. --
Æolian mode (Mus.), one of the ancient Greek and early ecclesiastical modes. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. 1 a member of one of the four divisions of the prehistoric Greeks.
Syn. -- Eolian [ WordNet 1.5 ]

a. [ Gr. &unr_;. ] Eternal; everlasting; lasting for an indefinitely long time; immortal; not subject to death. Opposite of mortal. “Æonian hills.” Tennyson.
Syn. -- eonian [ 1913 Webster + WordNet 1.5 ]

2. of or pertaining to an eon. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

a. Pertaining to Æsculapius or to the healing art; medical; medicinal. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. Aesopius, from Gr. &unr_;, fr. the famous Greek fabulist Æsop ] Of or pertaining to Æsop, or in his manner. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ OE. afiaunce trust, confidence, OF. afiance, fr. afier to trust, fr. LL. affidare to trust; ad + fidare to trust, fr. L. fides faith. See Faith, and cf. Affidavit, Affy, Confidence. ] 1. Plighted faith; marriage contract or promise. [ archaic ] [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Trust; reliance; faith; confidence. [ archaic ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Such feelings promptly yielded to his habitual affiance in the divine love. Sir J. Stephen. [ 1913 Webster ]

Lancelot, my Lancelot, thou in whom I have
Most joy and most affiance. Tennyson. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. affianced p. pr. & vb. n. affiancing ] [ Cf. OF. afiancier, fr. afiance. ] 1. To betroth; to pledge one's faith to for marriage, or solemnly promise (one's self or another) in marriage. [ 1913 Webster ]

To me, sad maid, he was affianced. Spenser. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To assure by promise. [ Obs. ] Pope. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. One who makes a contract of marriage between two persons. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ From p. pr. of OF. afier, LL. affidare. See Affidavit. ] (Law) One who makes an affidavit. [ U. S. ] Burrill. [ 1913 Webster ]

Syn. -- Deponent. See Deponent. [ 1913 Webster ]

adj. 1. of or relating to the nations of Africa and Asia or their peoples. Afro-Asian population [ WordNet 1.5 ]

a. [ L. agrarius, fr. ager field. ] 1. Pertaining to fields, or lands, or their tenure; esp., relating to an equal or equitable division of lands; as, the agrarian laws of Rome, which distributed the conquered and other public lands among citizens. [ 1913 Webster ]

His Grace's landed possessions are irresistibly inviting to an agrarian experiment. Burke. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Bot.) Wild; -- said of plants growing in the fields. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. One in favor of an equal division of landed property. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. An agrarian law. [ R. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

An equal agrarian is perpetual law. Harrington. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. An equal or equitable division of landed property; the principles or acts of those who favor a redistribution of land. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. To distribute according to, or to imbue with, the principles of agrarianism. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A native or resident of Alabama.
Syn. -- Alabaman [ WordNet 1.5 ]

a. Alabastrine. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Of or pertaining to Albania, a province of Turkey. -- n. A native of Albania. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Of or pertaining to the Albigenses. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. a member of the people inhabiting the Aleutian Islands.
Syn. -- Aleut [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. 1. an archipelago in the North Pacific extending southwest from Alaska.
Syn. -- Aleutian Islands. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

{ } a. [ Said to be from the Russ. aleut a bold rock. ] Of or pertaining to a chain of islands between Alaska and Kamtchatka; also, designating these islands. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. 1. Of or pertaining to Alexandria in Egypt; as, the Alexandrian library. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Applied to a kind of heroic verse. See Alexandrine, n. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Of or pertaining to Algeria. -- n. A native of Algeria. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. 1. Var. of Algonquian. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

2. (Geol.) Pertaining to or designating a period or era recognized by the United States Geological Survey and some other authorities, between the Archæan and the Paleozoic, from both of which it is generally separated in the record by unconformities. Algonkian rocks are both sedimentary and igneous. Although fossils are rare, life certainly existed in this period. -- n. The Algonkian period or era, or system or group of systems. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

a. Pertaining to or designating the most extensive of the linguistic families of North American Indians, their territory formerly including practically all of Canada east of the 115th meridian and south of Hudson's Bay and the part of the United States east of the Mississippi and north of Tennessee and Virginia, with the exception of the territory occupied by the northern Iroquoian tribes. There are nearly 100, 000 Indians of the Algonquian tribes, of which the strongest are the Ojibwas (Chippewas), Ottawas, Crees, Algonquins, Micmacs, and Blackfeet. -- n. An Algonquian Indian. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

a. Also . (Biogeography) Pertaining to or designating the humid division of the Transition zone extending across the northern United States from New England to eastern Dakota, and including also most of Pennsylvania and the mountainous region as far south as northern Georgia. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]