Accused – Actionable

Accused

ACCU'SED, participle passive Charged with a crime, by a legal process; charged with an offense; blamed.

Accuser

ACCU'SER, noun One who accuses or blames; an officer who prefers an accusation against another for some offense, in the name of the government, before a tribunal that has cognizance of the offense.

Accusing

ACCU'SING, participle present tense Charging with a crime; blaming.

Accustom

ACCUS'TOM, verb transitive

To make familiar by use; to form a habit by practice; to habituate or inure; as to accustom one's self to a spare diet.

ACCUS'TOM, verb intransitive

1. To be wont, or habituated to do anything. [Little used.]

2. To cohabit. [Not used.]

ACCUS'TOM, noun Custom. [Not used.]

Accustomable

ACCUS'TOMABLE, adjective Of long custom; habitual; customary. [Little used.]

Accustomably

ACCUS'TOMABLY, adverb According to custom or habit. [Little used.]

Accustomance

ACCUS'TOMANCE, noun custom; habitual use or practice. [Not used.]

Accustomarily

ACCUS'TOMARILY, adverb According to custom or common practice. [See Customarily.] [Little used.]

Accustomary

ACCUS'TOMARY, adjective Usual; customary [See Customary.] [Little used.]

Accustomed

ACCUS'TOMED, participle passive

1. Being familiar by use; habituated; inured.

2. adjective Usual; often practiced; as in their accustomed manner.

Accustoming

ACCUS'TOMING, participle present tense Making familiar by practice; inuring.

Ace

ACE, noun [Latin as, a unit or pound; G. ass.]

1. A unit; a single point on a card or die; or the card or die so marked.

2. A very small quantity; a particle; an atom; a trifle; as a creditor will not abate an ace of his demand.

Aceetate

ACE'ETATE, noun [See Acid.] In chimistry, a neutral salt formed by the union of the acetic acid, or radical vinegar, with any salifiable base, as with earths, metals, and alkalies; as the acetate of alumine, of lime, or of copper.

Aceldama

ACEL'DAMA, noun

A field said to have laid south of Jerusalem, the same as the potters field, purchased with the bribe which Judas took for betraying his master, and therefore called the field of blood. It was appropriated to the interment of strangers.

Acephalous

ACEPH'ALOUS, adjective [Gr. a priv., a head.]

Without a head, headless. In history, the term Acephali, or Acephalites was given to several sects who refused to follow some noted leader, and to such bishops as were exempt from the jurisdiction and discipline of their patriarch. It was also given to certain levelers who acknowledged no head in the reign of Henry 1st. It was also applied to the Blemmyes, a pretended nation of Africa, and to other tribes in the East, whom ancient naturalists represented as having no head; their eyes and mouth being placed in other parts. Modern discoveries have dissipated these fictions. In English Laws, men who held lands of no particular lord, and clergymen who were under no bishop.

Acephalus

ACEPH'ALUS, noun an obsolete name of the taenia or tape worm, which was formerly supposed to have no head; an error now exploded. the term is also used to express a verse defective in the beginning.

Acerb

ACERB', adjective [Latin acerbus; G. herbe, harsh, sour, tart, bitter, rough, whence herbst autumn, herbstzeit, harvest time. See Harvest.]

Sour, bitter, and harsh to the taste; sour, with astringency or roughness; a quality of unripe fruits.

Acerbity

ACERB'ITY, noun

1. A sourness, with roughness, or astringency.

2. Figuratively, harshness or severity of temper in man.

Aceric

ACER'IC, adjective [Latin acer, a maple tree.]

Pertaining to the maple; obtained from the maple, as aceric acid.

Acerous

AC'EROUS, adjective [Latin acerosus, chaffy, from acus, chaff or a point.]

1. In botany, chaffy; resembling chaff.

2. An acerous or acerose leaf is one which is linear and permanent, in form of a needle, as in pine.

Acescency

ACES'CENCY, noun [Latin acescens, turning sour, from acesco. See Acid.]

A turning sour by spontaneous decomposition; a state of becoming sour, tart, or acid, and hence a being moderately sour.

Acescent

ACES'CENT, adjective Turning sour; becoming tart or acid by spontaneous decomposition. Hence slightly sour; but the latter sense is usually expressed by acidulous or subacid.

Aceste

ACES'TE, noun In entomology, a species of papilio or butterfly, with subdentated wings, found in India.

Acestis

ACES'TIS, noun A factitious sort of chrysocolla, made of Cyprian verdigris, urine, and niter.

Acetabulum

ACETAB'ULUM, noun [Latin from acetum, vinegar. See Acid.] Among the Romans a vinegar cruse or like vessel, and a measure of about one eighth of a pint.

1. In anatomy, the cavity of a bone for receiving the protuberant end of another bone, and therefore forming the articulation called enarthrosis. It is used especially for the cavity of the os innominatum, which receives the head of the thigh bone.

2. In botany, the trivial name of a species of peziza, the cup peziza; so called from its resemblance to a cup.

3. A glandular substance found in the placenta of some animals.

4. It is sometimes used in the sense of Cotyledon.

5. A species of lichen.

Acetary

AC'ETARY, noun [See Acid.] an acid pulpy substance in certain fruits, as the pear, inclosed in a congeries of small calculous bodies, towards the base of the fruit.

Acetated

AC'ETATED, adjective [See Acid.] Combined with acetic acid, or radical vinegar.

Acetic

ACE'TIC, adjective [See Acid.] A term used to denote a particular acid, acetic acid, the concentrated acid of vinegar, or radical vinegar. It may be obtained by exposing common vinegar to frost - the water freezing leaves the acetic acid, in a state of purity.

Acetification

ACETIFICA'TION, noun The act of making acetous or sour; or the operation of making vinegar.

Acetify

ACE'TIFY, verb transitive To convert into acid or vinegar.

Acetite

AC'ETITE, noun [See Acid.] Neutral salt formed by the acetous acid, with a salifiable base; as the acetite of copper, aluminous acetite

Acetometer

ACETOM'ETER, noun [Latin acetum, vinegar, and measure.]

An instrument for ascertaining the strength of vinegar.

Acetous

ACE'TOUS, adjective [See Acid.[ Sour; like or having the nature of vinegar. acetous acid is the term used by chimists for distilled vinegar. This acid, in union with different bases, forms salts called acetites.

Acetum

ACE'TUM, noun [Latin See Acid.] Vinegar, a sour liquor, obtained from vegetables dissolved in boiling water, and from fermented and spirituous liquors, by exposing them to heat and air.

This is called the acid or acetous fermentation

Ache

ACHE, verb intransitive ake. [Gr. to ache or be in pain. The primary sense is to be pressed. Perhaps the oriental to press.]

1. To suffer pain; to have or be in pain, or in continued pain; as, the head aches.

2. To suffer grief, or extreme grief; to be distressed; as the heart aches.

ACHE, noun ake. Pain, or continued pain, in opposition to sudden twinges, or spasmodic pain. it denotes a more moderate degree of pain than pang, anguish, and torture.

Achean

ACHE'AN, adjective Pertaining to Achaia in Greece, and a celebrated league or confederacy established there. This State lay on the gulf of Corinth, with Peloponnesus.

Acherner

ACHERN'ER, noun A star of the first magnitude in the southern extremity of the constellation Eridanus.

Acherset

ACH'ERSET, noun An ancient measure of corn, supposed to be about eight bushels.

Achievable

ACHIE'VABLE, adjective [See Achieve.] That may be performed.

Achievance

ACHIE'VANCE, noun Performance.

Achieve

ACHIE'VE, verb transitive

1. To perform, or execute; to accomplish; to finish, or carry on to a final close. It is appropriately used for the effect of efforts made by the hand or bodily exertion, as deeds achieved by valor.

2. To gain or obtain, as the result of exertion.

Show all the spoils by valiant Kings achieved.

Achieved

ACHIE'VED, participle passive Performed; obtained; accomplished.

Achievement

ACHIE'VEMENT, noun

1. The performance of an action.

2. A great or heroic deed; something accomplished by valor, or boldness.

3. An obtaining by exertion.

4. An escutcheon or ensigns armorial, granted for the performance of a great or honorable action.

Achiever

ACHIE'VER, noun One who accomplishes a purpose, or obtains an object by his exertions.

Achieving

ACHIE'VING, participle present tense Performing; executing; gaining.

Aching

A'CHING, participle present tense Being in pain; suffering distress.

A'CHING, noun Pain; continued pain or distress.

Achiote

A'CHIOTE, noun The anotta, a tree, and a drug used for dyeing red. The bard of the tree makes good cordage, and the wood is used to excite fire by friction. [See Anotta.]

Achor

A'CHOR, noun [Gr., sordes capitis.]

1. The scald head, a disease forming scaly eruptions, supposed to be a critical evacuation of acrimonious humors; a species of herpes.

2. In mythology, the God of flies, said to have been worshipped by the Cyreneans, to avoid being vexed by those insects.

Achromatic

ACHROMAT'IC, adjective [Gr. priv. and color.]

Destitute of color. achromatic telescopes are formed of a combination of lenses, which separate the variously color rays of light to equal angles of divergence, at different angles of refraction of the mean ray. In this case, the rays being made to refract towards contrary parts, the whole ray is caused to deviate from its course, without being separated into colors, and the optical aberration arising from the various colors of light, is prevented. This telescope is an invention of Dolland.

Acicular

ACIC'ULAR, adjective [Latin acicula, Priscian, a needle, from Gr., Latin a point. See Acid.]

In the shape of a needle; having sharp points like needles.

An acicular prism is when the crystals are slender and straight.

Acicularly

ACIC'ULARLY, adverb In the manner of needles, or prickles.

Acid

AC'ID, adjective [Latin acidus. See Edge.]

Sour, sharp or biting to the taste, having the taste of vinegar, as acid fruits or liquors.

AC'ID, noun In chimistry, acids are a class of substances, so denominated from their taste, or the sensation of sourness which they produce on the tongue. But the name is now given to several substances, which have not this characteristic in an eminent degree. The properties, by which they are distinguished, are these:

1. When taken into the mouth, they occasion the taste of sourness. They are corrosive, unless diluted with water; and some of them are caustic.

2. They change certain vegetable blue colors to red, and restore blue colors which have been turned green, or red colors which have been turned blue by an alkali.

3. Most of them unite with water in all proportions, with a condensation of volume and evolution of heat; and many of them have so strong an attraction for water, as not to appear in the solid state.

4. They have a stronger affinity for alkalies, than these have for any other substance; and in combining them, most of them produce effervescence.

5. They unite with earths, alkalies and metallic oxyds, forming interesting compounds, usually called salts.

6. With few exceptions, they are volatilized or decomposed by a moderate heat.

The old chimists divided acids into animal, vegetable, and mineral - a division now deemed inaccurate. They are also divided into oxygen acids, hydrogen acids, and acids destitute of these acidifiers. Another division is into acids with simple radicals, acids with double radicals, acids with triple radicals, acids with unknown radicals, compound acids, dubious acids, and acids destitute of oxygen.

Acidiferous

ACIDIF'EROUS, adjective [Acid and Latin fero.] Containing acids, or an acid.

Acidiferous minerals are such as consist of an earth combined with an acid; as carbonate of lime, aluminite, etc.

Acidifiable

ACID'IFIABLE, adjective [From Acidify.]

Capable of being converted into an acid, by union with an acidifying principle, without decomposition.

Acidification

ACIDIFICA'TION, noun The act or process of acidifying or changing into an acid.

Acidified

ACID'IFIED, participle passive Made acid; converted into an acid.

Acidifier

ACID'IFIER, noun That which by combination forms an acid, as oxygen and hydrogen.

Acidify

ACID'IFY, verb transitive [Acid and Latin facio.]

To make acid; but appropriately to convert into an acid, chimically so called, by combination with any substance.

Acidifying

ACID'IFYING, participle present tense Making acid; converting into an acid; having power to change into an acid. Oxygen is called the acidifying principle or element.

Acidimeter

ACIDIM'ETER, noun [Acid and Gr. measure.]

An instrument for ascertaining the strength of acids.

Acidity

ACID'ITY, noun The quality of being sour; sourness; tartness; sharpness to the taste.

Acidness

AC'IDNESS, noun The quality of being sour; acidity.

Acidulate

ACID'ULATE, verb transitive [Latin acidulus, slightly sour;

To tinge with an acid; to make acid in a moderate degree.

Acidulated

ACID'ULATED, participle passive Tinged with an acid; made slightly sour.

Acidulating

ACID'ULATING, participle present tense Tinging with an acid.

Acidule

AC'IDULE, noun In chimistry, a compound base is supersaturated

Acidulous

ACID'ULOUS, adjective [Latin acidulus. See Acid.]

Slightly sour; sub-acid, or having an excess of acid; as acidulous sulphate.

Acidulum

ACID'ULUM, with acid; as, tartareous acidulum; oxalic acidulum

Acinaciform

ACINAC'IFORM, adjective [Latin acinaces, a cimeter, Gr. and Latin forma, form.]

In botany, formed like, or resembling a cimeter.

Aciniform

AC'INIFORM, adjective [Latin acinus, a grape stone, and forma, shape.]

Having the form of grapes; being in clusters like grapes. The uvea or posterior lamen of the iris in the eye, is called the aciniform tunic. Anatomists apply the term to many glands of a similar formation.

Acinose

AC'INOSE, adjective [From Latin acinus. See Aciniform.]

Acinous

AC'INOUS,

Consisting of minute granular concretions; used in mineralogy.

Acinus

AC'INUS, noun [Latin] In botany, one of the small grains, which compose the fruit of the blackberry, etc.

Acipenser

AC'IPENSER, adjective In ichthyology, a genus of fishes, of the order of chondropterygii, having an obtuse head; the mouth under the head, retractile and without teeth. To this genus belong the sturgeon, sterlet, huso, etc.

Acitli

ACIT'LI, noun A name of the water hare, or great crested grebe or diver.

Acknowledge

ACKNOWL'EDGE, verb transitive Aknol'edge, [ad and knowledge. See Know.]

1. To own, avow or admit to be true, by a declaration of assent; as to acknowledge the being of a God.

2. To own or notice with particular regard.

In all thy ways acknowledge God. Proverbs 3:6. Isaiah 33:13.

3. To own or confess, as implying a consciousness of guilt.

I acknowledge my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. Psalms 51:3 and 32.

4. To own with assent; to admit or receive with approbation.

He that acknowledgeth the son, hath the father also. 1 John 2:23. 2 Timothy 2:12.

5. To own with gratitude; to own as a benefit; as, to acknowledge a favor, or the receipt of a gift.

Thy his gifts acknowledged not.

6. To own or admit to belong to; as, to acknowledge a son.

7. To receive with respect.

All that see them shall acknowledge that they are the seed which the Lord hath blessed. Isaiah 61:9. 1 Corinthians 16:18.

8. To own, avow or assent to an act in a legal form, to give it validity; as, to acknowledge a deed before competent authority.

Acknowledged

ACKNOWL'EDGED, participle passive Owned; confessed; noticed with regard or gratitude; received with approbation; owned before authority.

Acknowledging

ACKNOWL'EDGING, participle present tense Owning; confessing; approving; grateful; but the latter sense is a gallicism, not to be used.

Acknowledgment

ACKNOWL'EDGMENT, noun

1. The act of owning; confession; as, the acknowledgment of a fault.

2. The owning, with approbation, or in the true character; as the acknowledgment of a God, or of a public minister.

3. Concession; admission of the truth; as, of a fact, position, or principle.

4. The owning of a benefit received, accompanied with gratitude; and hence it combines the ideas of an expression of thanks. Hence, it is used also for something given or done in return for a favor.

5. A declaration or avowal of one's own act, to give it legal validity; as the acknowledgment of a deed before a proper officer.

Acknowledgment-money, in some parts of England, is a sum paid by tenants, on the death of their landlord, as an acknowledgment of their new lords.

Acme

AC'ME, noun Ac'my [Gr.]

The top or highest point. It is used to denote the maturity or perfection of an animal. Among physicians, the crisis of a disease, or its utmost violence. Old medical writers divided the progress of a disease into four periods, the arche, or beginning, the anabasis, or increase, the acme or utmost violence, and the paracme, or decline. But acme can hardly be considered as a legitimate English word.

Acne

AC'NE, noun Ac'ny. [Gr.]

A small hard pimple or tubercle on the face.

Acnestis

ACNESTIS, noun [Gr. a priv. to rub or gnaw.]

That part of the spine in quadrupeds which extends from the metaphrenon, between the shoulder blades, to the loins; which the animal cannot reach to scratch.

Aco

AC'O, noun A Mediterranean fish, called also sarachus.

Acolin

AC'OLIN, noun a bird of the partridge kind in Cuba. Its breast and belly are white; its back and tail of a dusky yellow brown.

Acolyte

AC'OLYTE,

In the ancient church, one of the subordinate officers, who lighted the lamps, prepared the elements of the sacraments, attended the bishops, etc. An officer of the like character is still employed in the Romish Church.

Aconite

AC'ONITE, noun [Latin aconitum; Gr.]

The herb wolf's bane, or monks-hood, a poisonous plant; and in poetry, used for poison in general.

Acontias

ACON'TIAS, noun [Gr. a dart.]

1. A species of serpent, called dart-snake, or jaculum, from its manner of darting on its prey. This serpent is about three feet in length; of a light gray color with black spots, resembling eyes; the belly perfectly white. It is a native of Africa and the Mediterranean isles; is the swiftest of its kind, and coils itself upon a tree, from which it darts upon its prey.

2. A comet or meteor resembling the serpent.

Acop

ACOP' adverb [a and cope.] At the top.

Acorn

A'CORN, noun

1. The seed or fruit of the oak; an oval nut which grows in a rough permanent cup.

The first settlers of Boston were reduced to the necessity of feeding on clams, muscles, ground nuts, and acorns.

2. In marine language, a small ornamental piece of wood, of a conical shape, fixed on the point of the spindle above the vane, on the mast head, to keep the vane from being blown off.

3. In natural history, the Lepas, a genus of shells of several species found on the British coast. The shell is multivalvular, unequal, and fixed by a stem; the valves are parallel and perpendicular, but they do not open, so that the animal performs its functions by an aperture on the top. These shells are always fixed to some solid body.

Acorned

A'CORNED, adjective Furnished or loaded with acorns.

Acorus

A'CORUS, noun [Latin from Gr..]

1. Aromatic Calamus, sweet flag, or sweet rush.

2. In natural history, blue coral, which grows in the form of a tree, on a rocky bottom, in some parts of the African seas. it is brought from the Camarones and Benin.

3. In medicine, this name is sometimes given to the great galangal.

Acotyledon

ACOTYL'EDON, noun [Gr. a priv. a hollow.]

In botany, a plant whose seeds have no side lobes, or cotyledons.

Acotyledonous

ACOTYLED'ONOUS, adjective Having no side lobes.

Acoustic

ACOUS'TIC, adjective [Gr. to hear.]

Pertaining to the ears, to the sense of hearing, or to the doctrine of sounds.

Acoustic duct, in anatomy, the meatus auditorius, or external passage of the ear.

Acoustic vessels, in ancient theaters, were brazen tubes or vessels, shaped like ab bell, used to propel the voice of the actors, so as to render them audible to a great distance; in some theaters at the distance of 400 feet.

Acoustic instrument, or auricular tube, called in popular language, a speaking trumpet.

Acoustics, or acousmatics, was a name given to such of the disciples of Pythagoras, as had not completed their five years probation.

Acoustics

ACOUS'TICS, noun

1. The science of sounds, teaching their cause, nature and phenomena. This science is, by some writers, divided into diacoustics, which explains the properties of sounds coming directly from the sonorous body to the ear; and catacoustics, which treats of reflected sounds. But the distinction is considered of little real utility.

2. In medicine, this term is sometimes used for remedies for deafness, or imperfect hearing.

Acquaint

ACQUA'INT, verb transitive [Eng. can, and ken; which see.]

1. To make known; to make fully or intimately known; to make familiar.

A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. Isaiah 53:3.

2. To inform; to communicate notice to; as a friend in the country acquaints me with his success. Of before the object, as to acquaint a man of this design, has been used, but is obsolete or improper.

3. To acquaint one's self, is to gain an intimate or particular knowledge of.

Acquaint now thyself with him and be at peace. Job 22:21.

Acquaintance

ACQUAI'NTANCE, noun

1. Familiar knowledge; a state of being acquainted, or of having intimate or more than slight or superficial knowledge; as, I know the man, but have no acquaintance with him. Sometimes it denotes a more slight knowledge.

2. A person or persons well known; usually persons we have been accustomed to see and converse with; sometimes, persons more slightly known.

Lover and friend has thou put far from me and mine acquaintance into darkness. Psalms 88:8.

My acquaintance are estranged from me. Job 19:13.

Acquaintances, in the plural is used, as applied to individual persons known; but more generally, acquaintance is used for one or more.

Acquaintant, in a like sense, is not used.

Acquainted

ACQUA'INTED, participle passive Known; familiarly known; informed; having personal knowledge.

Acquainting

ACQUA'INTING, participle present tense Making known to; giving notice, or information to.

Acquest

ACQUEST', noun [Latin acquisitus, acquiro.]

1. Acquisition; the thing gained.

2. Conquest; a place acquired by force.

Acquiesce

ACQUIESCE, verb intransitive acquiess'. [Latin acquiesco, of ad and quiesco, to be quiet; quies, rest.]

1. To rest satisfied, or apparently satisfied, or to rest without opposition and discontent; usually implying previous opposition, uneasiness, or dislike, but ultimate compliance, or submission; as, to acquiesce in the dispensations of providence.

2. To assent to, upon conviction; as, to acquiesce in an opinion; that is, to rest satisfied of its correctness, or propriety.

ACQUIESCEd in, in a passive sense, complied with; submitted to, without opposition; as, a measure has been acquiesced in.

Acquiescence

ACQUIES'CENCE, noun A quiet assent; a silent submission, or submission with apparent content; distinguished from avowed consent on the one hand, and on the other, from opposition or open discontent; as, an acquiescence in the decisions of a court, or in the allotments of providence.

Acquiescent

ACQUIES'CENT, adjective Resting satisfied; easy; submitting; disposed to submit.

Acquiescing

ACQUIES'CING, participle present tense Quietly submitting; resting content.

Acquirable

ACQUI'RABLE, adjective That may be acquired.

Acquire

ACQUI'RE, verb transitive [Latin acquiro, ad and quaero to seek, that is to follow, to press, to urge; acquiro signifies to pursue to the end or object; Heb. to seek, to make towards, to follow. The Latin quaesivi, unless contracted, is probably from a different root. See class Gr. and Gs.]

To gain, by any means, something which is in a degree permanent, or which becomes vested or inherent in the possessor; as, to acquire a title, estate, learning, habits, skill, dominion, etc. Plants acquire a green color from the solar rays. a mere temporary possession is not expressed by acquire but by gain, obtain, procure, as to obtain [not acquire] a book on loan.

Descent is the title whereby a man, on the death of his ancestor, acquires his estate, by right of representation, as his heir at law.

Acquired

ACQUI'RED, participle passive Gained, obtained, or received from art, labor, or other means, in distinction from those things which are bestowed by nature. Thus we say, abilities, natural and acquired It implies title, or some permanence of possession.

Acquirement

ACQUI'REMENT, noun The act of acquiring, or that which is acquired; attainment. It is used in opposition to natural gifts; as, eloquence, and skill in music and painting, are acquirement; genius, the gift of nature. it denotes especially personal attainments, in opposition to material or external things gained, Which are more usually called acquisitions; but this distinction is not always abserved.

Acquirer

ACQUI'RER, noun A person who acquires.

Acquiring

ACQUI'RING, participle present tense Gaining by labor or other means, something that has a degree of permanence in the possessor.

Acquiry

ACQUI'RY, noun Acquirement. [Not used.]

Acquisite

AC'QUISITE, adjective s as z. Gained. [Not used.]

Acquisition

ACQUISI'TION, noun [Latin acquisitio, from acquisitus, acquaesivi, which are given as the part. and preterit tense of acquiro; but quaesivi is probably from a different root.]

1. The act of acquiring; as, a man takes pleasure inthe acquisition of property, as well as in the prosession.

2. The thing acquired, or gained; as, learning is an acquisition It is used for intellectual attainments, as well as for external things, property, or dominion; and in a good sense, denoting something estimable.

Acquisitive

ACQUIS'ITIVE, adjective that is acquired; acquired; [but improper.]

Acquisitively

ACQUIS'ITIVELY, adverb Noting acquirement, with to or for following.

Acquist

ACQUIST', noun See Acquest. [Not used.]

Acquit

ACQUIT', verb transitive [Latin cedo.]

To set free; to release or discharge from an obligation, accusation, guilt, censure, suspicion, or whatever lies upon a person as a charge or duty; as, the jury acquitted the prisoner; we acquit a man of evil intentions. It is followed by of before the object; to acquit from is obsolete. In a reciprocal sense, as, the soldier acquitted himself well in battle, the word has a like sense, implying the discharge of a duty or obligation. Hence its use in expressing excellence in performance; as the orator acquitted himself well, that is, in a manner that his situation and public expectation demanded.

Acquitment

ACQUIT'MENT, noun The act of acquitting, or state of being acquitted. [This word is superseded by acquittal.]

Acquittal

ACQUIT'TAL, noun A judicial setting free, or deliverance from the charge of an offense; as, by verdict of a jury, or sentence of a court.

The acquittal of a principal operates as an acquittal of the accessories.

Acquittance

ACQUIT'TANCE, noun

1. A discharge or release from a debt.

2. The writing, which is evidence of a discharge; a receipt in full, which bars a further demand.

Acquitted

ACQUIT'TED, participle passive Set free, or judicially discharge from an accusation; released from a debt, duty, obligation, charge, or suspicion of guilt.

Acquitting

ACQUIT'TING, participle present tense Setting free from accusation; releasing from a charge, obligation, or suspicion of guilt.

Acrase

ACRA'SE, v.t.

1. To make crazy; to infatuate. [Not in use.] [See Crazy.]

2. To impair; to destroy. [Not in use.]

Acrasy

AC'RASY, noun [Gr. from a priv. constitution or temperament.]

In medical authors, an excess or predominancy of one quality above another, in mixture, or in the human constitution.

Acraze

ACRA'ZE,

1. To make crazy; to infatuate. [Not in use.] [See Crazy.]

2. To impair; to destroy. [Not in use.]

Acre

ACRE, noun a'ker. [Gr; Lat. ager. In these languages, the word retains its primitive sense, an open, plowed, or sowed field. In Eng. it retained its original signification, that of any open field, until it was limited to a definite quantity by statutes 31. Ed. 35 Ed 1.24. H.8]

1. A quantity of land, containing 160 square rods or perches or 4840 square yards. This is the English statute acre The acre of Scotland contains 6150 2-5 square yards. The French arpent is nearly equal to the Scottish acre about a fifth larger than the English. The Roman juger was 3200 square yards.

2. In the Mogul's dominions, acre is the same as lack, or 100, 00 rupees, equal to 12, 500 sterling, or $55, 500..

ACRE-fight, a sort of duel in the open field, formerly fought by English and Scotch combatants on their frontiers.

ACRE-tax, a tax on land in England, at a certain sum for each acre called also acre-shot.

Acred

A'CRED, adjective Possessing acres or landed property.

Acrid

AC'RID, adjective [Latin accr.]

Sharp; pungent; bitter; sharp or biting to the taste; acrimonious; as acrid salts.

Acridness

AC'RIDNESS, noun A sharp, bitter, pungent quality.

Acrimonious

ACRIMO'NIOUS, adjective

1. Sharp; bitter; corrosive; abounding with acrimony.

2. Figuratively, sharpness or severity of temper; bitterness of expression proceeding from anger, ill-nature, or petulance.

Acrimoniously

ACRIMO'NIOUSLY, adverb With sharpness or bitterness.

Acrisy

AC'RISY, noun [Gr. a priv., judgment.]

A state or condition of which no right judgment can be formed; that of which no choice is made; matter in dispute; injudiciousness. [Little used.]

Acritude

AC'RITUDE, noun [See Acrid.]

An acrid quality; bitterness to the taste; biting heat.

Acroamatic

ACROAMAT'IC, adjective [Gr. to hear.]

Abstruse; pertaining to deep learning; an epithet applied to the secret doctrines of Aristotle.

Acroatic

ACROAT'IC, adjective [Gr.]

Abstruse; pertaining to deep learning; and opposed to exoteric. Aristotle's lectures were of two kinds, acroatic acroamatic, or esoteric, which were delivered to a class of select disciples, who had been previously instructed in the elements of learning; and exoteric, which were delivered in public. The former respected being, God, and nature; the principal subjects of the latter were logic, rhetoric, and policy. The abstruse lectures were called acroatics.

Acroceraunian

ACROCERAU'NIAN, adjective [Gr. a summit, and thunder.]

An epithet applied to certain mountains between Epirus and Illyricum, in the 41st degree of latitude. They project into the Adriatic, and are so termed from being often struck with lightning.

Acromion

ACRO'MION, noun [Gr. highest, and shoulder.]

In anatomy, that part of the spine of the scapula, which receives the extreme part of the clavicle.

Acronic

ACRON'IC, adjective [Gr. extreme and night.]

Acronical

ACRON'ICAL,

In astronomy, a term applied to the rising of a star at sun set, or its setting at sun rise. This rising or setting is called acronical The word is opposed to cosmical.

Acronically

ACRON'ICALLY, adverb In an acronical manner; at the rising or setting of the sun.

Acrospire

AC'ROSPIRE, noun [Gr. highest, a spire, or spiral line.]

A shoot, or sprout of a seed; the plume, or plumule, so called from its spiral form.

Acrospired

AC'ROSPIRED, adjective having a sprout, or having sprouted at both ends.

Across

ACROSS', preposition akraus'. [a and cross. See Cross.]

1. From side to side, opposed to along, which is in the direction of the length; athwart; quite over; as, a bridge is laid across a river.

2. Intersecting; passing over at any angle; as a line passing across another.

Acrostic

ACROS'TIC, noun [Gr extremity or beginning, order, or verse.]

A composition in verse, in which the first letter of the lines, taken in order, form the name of a person, kingdom, city, etc., which is the subject of the composition, or some title or motto.

ACROS'TIC, adjective That relates to, or contains an acrostic

Acrostically

ACROS'TICALLY, adverb In the manner of an acrostic.

Acroteleutic

ACROTELEU'TIC, noun [Gr. extreme, and end.]

Among ecclesiastical writers, an appellation given to any thing added to the end of a psalm, or hymn; as a doxology.

Acroter

AC'ROTER, noun [Gr. a summit.]

In architecture, a small pedestal, usually with out a base, anciently placed at the two extremes, or in the middle of pediments or frontispieces, serving to support the statues, etc. It also signifies the figures placed as ornaments on the tops of churches, and the sharp pinnacles that stand in ranges about flat buildings with rails and balusters. Anciently the word signified the extremities of the body, as the head, hands, and feet.

Acrothymion

ACROTHYM'ION, noun [Gr. extreme, and thyme.]

Among physicians, a species of wart, with a narrow basis and broad top, having the color of thyme. It is call Thymus.

Act

ACT, verb intransitive [Gr., Lat. to urge, drive, lead, bring, do, perform, or in general to move, to exert force.]

1. To exert power; as, the stomach acts upon food; the will acts upon the body in producing motion.

2. To be in action or motion; to move

He hangs between in doubt to act or rest.

3. To behave, demean, or conduct, as in morals, private duties, or public offices; as, we know not why a minister has acted in this manner. But in this sense, it is most frequent in popular language; as, how the man acts or has acted.

To act up to, is to equal in action; to fulfil or perform a correspondent action; as he has acted up to his engagement or his advantages.

ACT, verb transitive

1. To perform; to represent a character on the state.

ACT well your part, there all the honor lies.

2. To feign or counterfeit. obsolete

With acted fear the villain thus pursued.

3. To put in motion; to actuate; to regulate movements.

Most people in the world are acted by levity.

[In this latter sense, obsolete and superseded by actuate, which see.]

ACT, noun

1. The exertion of power; the effect, of which power exerted is the cause; as, the act of giving or receiving. In this sense it denotes an operation of the mind. Thus, to discern is an act of the understanding; to judge is an act of the will

2. That which is done; a deed exploit, or achievement, whether good or ill.

And his miracles and his acts which he did in the midst of Egypt. Deuteronomy 11:3.

3. Action; performance; production of effects; as, an act of charity. But this sense is closely allied to the foregoing.

4. A state of reality or real existence, as opposed to a possibility.

The seeds of plants are not at first in act but in possibility, what they afterwards grow to be.

5. In general, act denotes action completed; but preceded by in, it denotes incomplete action.

She was taken in the very act John 8:4.

In act is used also to signify incipient action, or a state of preparation to exert power; as, 'In act to strike, ' a poetical use.

6. A part or division of a play, to be performed without interruption; after which the action is suspended to give respite to the performers. Acts are divided into smaller portions, called scenes.

7. The result of public deliberation, or the decision of a prince, legislative body, council court of justice, or magistrate; a decree, edict, law, judgment, resolve, award, determination; as an act of parliament, or of congress. The term is also transferred to the book, record, or writing, containing the laws and determinations. Also, any instrument in writing to verify facts.

In the sense of agency, or power to produce effects, as in the passage cited by Johnson, from Shakespeare, the use is improper.

To try the vigor of them and apply Allayments to their act

ACT, in English Universities, is a thesis maintained in public, by a candidate for a degree, or to show the proficiency of a student. At Oxford, the time when masters and doctors complete their degrees is also called the act which is held with great solemnity. At Cambridge, as in the United States, it is called commencement.

ACT of faith, auto da fe, in Catholic countries, is a solemn day held by the Inquisition, for the punishment of heretics, and the absolution of accused persons found innocent; or it is the sentence of the Inquisition.

ACTs of the Apostles, the title of a book in the New Testament, containing a history of the transactions of the Apostles.

ACTa Diurna, among the Romans, a sort of Gazette, containing an authorized account of transactions in Rome, nearly similar to our newspapers.

ACTa populi, or acta publica, the Roman registers of assemblies, trials, executions, buildings, births, marriages, and deaths of illustrious persons, etc.

ACTa Senatus, minutes of what passed in the Roman senate, called also commentarii, commentaries.

Acted

ACT'ED, participle passive Done; performed; represented on the stage.

Actian

AC'TIAN, adjective Relating to Actium, a town and promontory of Epirus, as actian games, which were instituted by Augustus, to celebrate his navel victory over Anthony, near that town, Sep. 2, B.C. 31. They were celebrated every five years. Hence, actian years, reckoned from that era.

Acting

ACT'ING, participle present tense Doing; performing; behaving; representing the character of another.

ACT'ING, noun Action; act of performing a part of a play.

Actinolite

AC'TINOLITE, noun [Gr. a ray, a stone.]

A mineral, called, by Werner, strahlstein, ray-stone, nearly allied to hornblend. It occurs in prismatic crystals, which are long, and incomplete, and sometimes extremely minute and even fibrous. Its prevailing color is green of different shades, or shaded with yellow or brown. There are several varieties, as the common, the massive, the acicular, the glassy, and the fibrous.

Actinolite is crystalized, asbestiform, and glassy.

Actinolitic

ACTINOLIT'IC, adjective Like or pertaining to actinolite.

Action

AC'TION, noun [Latin actio. See Act.]

1. Literally, a driving; hence, the state of acting or moving; exertion of power or force, as when one body acts on another; or action is the effect of power exerted on one body by another; motion produced. Hence, action is opposed to rest. action when produced by one body on another, is mechanical; when produced by the will of living being, spontaneous or voluntary.

[See Def. 3.]

2. An act or thing done; a deed.

The Lord is a God of knowledge, and by him are actions weighed. 1 Samuel 2:3.

3. In mechanics, agency; operation; driving impulse; effort of one body upon another; as, the action of wind upon a ship's sails. Also the effect of such action

4. In ethics, the external signs or expression of the sentiments of a moral agent; conduct; behavior; demeanor; that is, motion or movement, with respect to a rule or propriety.

5. In poetry, a series of events, called also the subject or fable; this is of two kinds; the principal action which is more strictly the fable, and the incidental action or episode.

6. In oratory, gesture or gesticulation; the external deportment of the speaker, or the accommodation of his attitude, voice, gestures, and countenance to the subject, or to the thoughts and feelings of the mind.

7. In physiology, the motions or functions of the body, vital, animal and natural; vital and involuntary, as the action of the heart and lungs; animal, as muscular, and all voluntary motions; natural, as manducation, deglutition, and digestion.

8. In law, literally, an urging for right; a suit or process, by which a demand is made of a right; a claim made before a tribunal. Actions are real, personal or mixed; real, or feudal, when the demandant claims a title to real estate; personal when a man demands a debt, personal duty, or damages in lieu of it, or satisfaction for an injury to person or property; and mixed, when real estate is demanded, with damages for a wrong sustained. Actions are also civil or penal; civil, when instituted solely in behalf of private persons, to recover debts or damages; penal, when instituted to recover a penalty, imposed by way of punishment. The word is also used for a right of action; as, the law gives an action for every claim.

A chose in action is a right to a thing, in opposition to the possession. A bond or note is a chose in action and gives the owner a right to prosecute his claim to the money, as he has an absolute property in a right, as well as in a thing, in possession.

9. In some countries of Europe, action is a share in the capital stock of a company, or in the public funds, equivalent to our term share; and consequently, in a more general sense, to stocks. The word is also used for movable effects.

10. In painting and sculpture, the attitude or position of the several parts of the body, by which they seem to be actuated by passions; as, the arm extended, to represent the act of giving or receiving.

11. Battle; fight; engagement between troops in war, whether on land or water, or by a greater or smaller number of combatants. This and the 8th definition exhibit the literal meaning of action - a driving or urging.

Quantity of action in physics, the product of the mass of a body by the space it runs through and its velocity.

In many cases action and act are synonymous; but some distinction between them is observable. action seems to have more relation to the power that acts, and its operation and process of acting; and act, more relation to the effect or operation complete. action is also more generally used for ordinary transactions; and act, for such as are remarkable, or dignified; as, all our actions should be regulated by prudence; a prince is distinguished by acts of heroism or humanity.

Action taking, in Shakespeare, is used for litigious.

Actionable

AC'TIONABLE, adjective That will bear a suit, or for which an action at law may be sustained; as, to call a man a thief is actionable