n. 1. the size of a book whose pages are made by folding a sheet of paper three times to form eight leaves.
Syn. -- octavo, eightvo [ WordNet 1.5 ]

A.

‖n. [ F. abattre to beat down + voix voice. ] The sounding-board over a pulpit or rostrum. [ 1913 Webster ]

‖n. [ F., a watering place. ] (Masonry) The joint or interstice between stones, to be filled with mortar. Gwilt. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. acclivis and acclivus. ] Sloping upward; rising as a hillside; -- opposed to declivous. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Full of heaps. [ R. ] Bailey. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ OF. advocatie, LL. advocatia. See Advocate. ] The act of pleading for or supporting; work of advocating; intercession. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ OE. avocat, avocet, OF. avocat, fr. L. advocatus, one summoned or called to another; properly the p. p. of advocare to call to, call to one's aid; ad + vocare to call. See Advowee, Avowee, Vocal. ] 1. One who pleads the cause of another. Specifically: One who pleads the cause of another before a tribunal or judicial court; a counselor. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ In the English and American Law, advocate is the same as “counsel, ” “counselor, ” or “barrister.” In the civil and ecclesiastical courts, the term signifies the same as “counsel” at the common law. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. One who defends, vindicates, or espouses any cause by argument; a pleader; as, an advocate of free trade, an advocate of truth. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Christ, considered as an intercessor. [ 1913 Webster ]

We have an Advocate with the Father. 1 John ii. 1. [ 1913 Webster ]

Faculty of advocates (Scot.), the Scottish bar in Edinburgh. --
Lord advocate (Scot.), the public prosecutor of crimes, and principal crown lawyer. --
Judge advocate. See under Judge. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Advocated p. pr. & vb. n. Advocating ] [ See Advocate, n., Advoke, Avow. ] To plead in favor of; to defend by argument, before a tribunal or the public; to support, vindicate, or recommend publicly. [ 1913 Webster ]

To advocate the cause of thy client. Bp. Sanderson (1624). [ 1913 Webster ]

This is the only thing distinct and sensible, that has been advocated. Burke. [ 1913 Webster ]

Eminent orators were engaged to advocate his cause. Mitford. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. To act as advocate. [ Obs. ] Fuller. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Office or duty of an advocate. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ L. advocatio: cf. OF. avocation. See Advowson. ] 1. The act of advocating or pleading; plea; advocacy. [ Archaic ] [ 1913 Webster ]

The holy Jesus . . . sits in heaven in a perpetual advocation for us. Jer. Taylor. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Advowson. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

The donations or advocations of church livings. Sanderson. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Scots Law) The process of removing a cause from an inferior court to the supreme court. Bell. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Of or pertaining to an advocate. [ R. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ L. advocare. See Advocate. ] To summon; to call. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Queen Katharine had privately prevailed with the pope to advoke the cause to Rome. Fuller. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ L. advolvere, advolutum, to roll to. ] A rolling toward something. [ R. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ OF. avoutre, avoltre, fr. L. adulter. Cf. Adulterer. ] An adulterer. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. An adulteress. [ Obs. ] Bacon. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ OE. avowe, F. avoué, fr. L. advocatus. See Advocate, Avowee, Avoyer. ] One who has an advowson. Cowell. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ OE. avoweisoun, OF. avoëson, fr. L. advocatio. Cf. Advocation. ] (Eng. Law) The right of presenting to a vacant benefice or living in the church. [ Originally, the relation of a patron (advocatus) or protector of a benefice, and thus privileged to nominate or present to it. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ The benefices of the Church of England are in every case subjects of presentation. They are nearly 12, 000 in number; the advowson of more than half of them belongs to private persons, and of the remainder to the crown, bishops, deans and chapters, universities, and colleges. Amer. Cyc. [ 1913 Webster ]

{ } n. [ OE. avoutrie, avouterie, advoutrie, OF. avoutrie, avulterie, fr. L. adulterium. Cf. Adultery. ] Adultery. [ Obs. ] Bacon. [ 1913 Webster ]

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

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

adj. prenom. 1. both plant- and flesh-eating; -- said of animals. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

a. [ L. altivolans. See Volant. ] Flying high. [ Obs. ] Blount. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Alto-rilievo. [ 1913 Webster ]

‖n.; pl. Alto-rilievos [ It. ] (Sculp.) High relief; sculptured work in which the figures project more than half their thickness; as, this figure is an alto-rilievo or in alto-rilievo. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ When the figure stands only half out, it is called mezzo-rilievo, demi-rilievo, or medium relief; when its projection is less than one half, basso-rilievo, bas-relief, or low relief. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. ambo both + laevus left. ] Left-handed on both sides; clumsy; -- opposed to ambidexter. [ R. ] Sir T. Browne. [ 1913 Webster ]

prop. n. (Geography) The capital city of Madagascar. Population (2000) = 1, 000, 000. [ PJC ]

[ Aphis + L. vorare to devour. ] (Zool.) Devouring aphides; aphidophagous. [ 1913 Webster ]

adj. 1. feeding on bees; bee-eating. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. [ F. archivolte, fr. It. archivolto; pref. archi- + volto vault, arch. See Vault. ] (Arch.) (a) The architectural member surrounding the curved opening of an arch, corresponding to the architrave in the case of a square opening. (b) More commonly, the molding or other ornaments with which the wall face of the voussoirs of an arch is charged. [ 1913 Webster ]

‖ [ F., lit., to the seeing again. ] Good-by until we meet again. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

a. [ L. aurum gold + vorare to devour. ] Gold-devouring. [ R. ] H. Walpole. [ 1913 Webster ]

‖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 ]