Acanthaceous Ac"an·tha"ceous adjective 1. Armed with prickles, as a plant.

2. (Botany) Of, pertaining to, or resembling, the family of plants of which the acanthus is the type.

Acanthine A·can"thine adjective [ Latin acanthinus , Greek ..., thorny, from .... See Acanthus .] Of, pertaining to, or resembling, the plant acanthus.

Acanthocarpous A·can`tho·car"pous adjective [ Greek ... thorn + ... fruit.] (Botany) Having the fruit covered with spines.

Acanthocephala A·can`tho·ceph"a·la noun plural [ New Latin , from Greek ... a spine, thorn + ... head.] (Zoology) A group of intestinal worms, having the proboscis armed with recurved spines.

Acanthocephalous A·can`tho·ceph"a·lous adjective (Zoology) Having a spiny head, as one of the Acanthocephala.

Acanthophorous Ac`an·thoph"o·rous adjective [ Greek ..., from ... spine + ... to bear.] Spine-bearing. Gray.

Acanthopodious A·can`tho·po"di·ous adjective [ Greek ... thorn + ..., ..., foot.] (Botany) Having spinous petioles.

Acanthopteri Ac`an·thop"ter·i noun plural [ New Latin , from Greek ... thorn + ... wing, fin.] (Zoology) A group of teleostean fishes having spiny fins. See Acanthopterygii .

Acanthopterous Ac`an·thop"ter·ous adjective [ Greek ... spine + ... wing.] 1. (Zoology) Spiny- winged.

2. (Zoology) Acanthopterygious.

Acanthopterygian Ac`an·thop`ter·yg"i·an adjective (Zoology) Belonging to the order of fishes having spinose fins, as the perch. -- noun A spiny-finned fish.

Acanthopterygii Ac`an·thop`ter·yg"i·i noun plural [ New Latin , from Greek ... thorn + ... fin, dim. from ... wing.] (Zoology) An order of fishes having some of the rays of the dorsal, ventral, and anal fins unarticulated and spinelike, as the perch.

Acanthopterygious Ac`an·thop`ter·yg"i·ous adjective (Zoology) Having fins in which the rays are hard and spinelike; spiny-finned.

Acanthus A·can"thus noun ; plural English Acanthuses Latin Acanthi [ Latin , from Greek .... Confer Acantha .]

1. (Botany) A genus of herbaceous prickly plants, found in the south of Europe, Asia Minor, and India; bear's- breech.

2. (Architecture) An ornament resembling the foliage or leaves of the acanthus ( Acanthus spinosus ); -- used in the capitals of the Corinthian and Composite orders.

Acapsular A·cap"su·lar adjective [ Prefix a- not + capsular .] (Botany) Having no capsule.

Acardiac A·car"di·ac adjective [ Greek ...; 'a priv. + ... heart.] Without a heart; as, an acardiac fetus.

Acaridan A·car"i·dan noun [ See Acarus .] (Zoology) One of a group of arachnids, including the mites and ticks.

Acarina Ac`a·ri"na noun plural [ New Latin , from Greek ... a mite.] (Zoology) The group of Arachnida which includes the mites and ticks. Many species are parasitic, and cause diseases like the itch and mange.

Acarine Ac"a·rine adjective (Medicine) Of or caused by acari or mites; as, acarine diseases.

Acaroid Ac"a·roid adjective [ New Latin , acarus a mite + -oid .] (Zoology) Shaped like or resembling a mite.

Acarpellous Ac`ar·pel"lous adjective [ Prefix a- not + carpel .] (Botany) Having no carpels.

Acarpous A·car"pous adjective [ Greek ...; 'a priv. + ... fruit.] (Botany) Not producing fruit; unfruitful.

Acarus Ac"a·rus noun ; plural Acari [ New Latin , from Greek ... the cheese mite, tick.] (Zoology) A genus including many species of small mites.

Acatalectic A·cat`a·lec"tic adjective [ Latin acatalecticus , Greek ..., not defective at the end; 'a priv. + ... to cease.] (Pros.) Not defective; complete; as, an acatalectic verse. -- noun A verse which has the complete number of feet and syllables.

Acatalepsy A·cat"a·lep`sy noun [ Greek ...; 'a priv. + ... to seize, comprehend.] Incomprehensibility of things; the doctrine held by the ancient Skeptic philosophers, that human knowledge never amounts to certainty, but only to probability.

Acataleptic A·cat`a·lep"tic adjective [ Greek ....] Incapable of being comprehended; incomprehensible.

Acater A·ca"ter noun See Caterer . [ Obsolete]

Acates A·cates" noun plural See Cates . [ Obsolete]

Acaudate A·cau"date adjective [ Prefix a- not + caudate .] Tailless.

Acaulescent Ac`au·les"cent adjective [ Prefix a- not + caulescent .] (Botany) Having no stem or caulis, or only a very short one concealed in the ground. Gray.

Acauline A·cau"line adjective [ Prefix a- not + cauline .] (Botany) Same as Acaulescent .

Acaulose, Acaulous A·cau"lose, A·cau"lous adjective [ Greek ...; 'a priv. + ... stalk or Latin caulis stalk. See Cole .] (Botany) Same as Acaulescent .

Accadian Ac·ca"di·an adjective [ From the city Accad . See Gen. x. 10.] Pertaining to a race supposed to have lived in Babylonia before the Assyrian conquest.

-- Ac*ca"di*an , noun , Ac"cad noun Sayce.

Accede Ac·cede" intransitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Acceded ; present participle & verbal noun Acceding .] [ Latin accedere to approach, accede; ad + cedere to move, yield: confer French acc é dere . See Cede .]

1. To approach; to come forward; -- opposed to recede . [ Obsolete] T. Gale.

2. To enter upon an office or dignity; to attain.

Edward IV., who had acceded to the throne in the year 1461.
T. Warton.

If Frederick had acceded to the supreme power .
Morley.

3. To become a party by associating one's self with others; to give one's adhesion. Hence, to agree or assent to a proposal or a view; as, he acceded to my request.

The treaty of Hanover in 1725 . . . to which the Dutch afterwards acceded .
Chesterfield.

Syn. -- To agree; assent; consent; comply; acquiesce; concur.

Accedence Ac·ced"ence noun The act of acceding.

Acceder Ac·ced"er noun One who accedes.

Accelerando Ac·cel`er·an"do adjective [ Italian ] (Mus.) Gradually accelerating the movement.

Accelerate Ac·cel"er·ate transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Accelerated ; present participle & verbal noun Accelerating .] [ Latin acceleratus , past participle of accelerare ; ad + celerare to hasten; celer quick. See Celerity .] 1. To cause to move faster; to quicken the motion of; to add to the speed of; -- opposed to retard .

2. To quicken the natural or ordinary progression or process of; as, to accelerate the growth of a plant, the increase of wealth, etc.

3. To hasten, as the occurence of an event; as, to accelerate our departure.

Accelerated motion (Mech.) , motion with a continually increasing velocity. -- Accelerating force , the force which causes accelerated motion. Nichol.

Syn. -- To hasten; expedite; quicken; dispatch; forward; advance; further.

Acceleration Ac·cel`er·a"tion noun [ Latin acceleratio : confer French accélération .] The act of accelerating, or the state of being accelerated; increase of motion or action; as, a falling body moves toward the earth with an acceleration of velocity; -- opposed to retardation .

A period of social improvement, or of intellectual advancement, contains within itself a principle of acceleration .
I. Taylor.

(Astr. & Physics.) Acceleration of the moon , the increase of the moon's mean motion in its orbit, in consequence of which its period of revolution is now shorter than in ancient times. - - Acceleration and retardation of the tides . See Priming of the tides , under Priming . -- Diurnal acceleration of the fixed stars , the amount by which their apparent diurnal motion exceeds that of the sun, in consequence of which they daily come to the meridian of any place about three minutes fifty-six seconds of solar time earlier than on the day preceding. -- Acceleration of the planets , the increasing velocity of their motion, in proceeding from the apogee to the perigee of their orbits.

Accelerative Ac·cel"er·a·tive adjective Relating to acceleration; adding to velocity; quickening. Reid.

Accelerator Ac·cel"er·a`tor noun One who, or that which, accelerates. Also as an adj .; as, accelerator nerves.

Acceleratory Ac·cel"er·a·to·ry adjective Accelerative.

Accelerograph Ac·cel"er·o·graph noun [ Acceler ate + -graph .] (Mil.) An apparatus for studying the combustion of powder in guns, etc.

Accelerometer Ac·cel`er·om"e·ter noun [ Acceler ate + -meter .] An apparatus for measuring the velocity imparted by gunpowder.

Accend Ac·cend" transitive verb [ Latin accendere , accensum , to kindle; ad + candĕre to kindle (only in compounds); rel. to candēre to be white, to gleam. See Candle .] To set on fire; to kindle. [ Obsolete] Fotherby.

Accendibility Ac·cend`i·bil"i·ty noun Capacity of being kindled, or of becoming inflamed; inflammability.

Accendible Ac·cend"i·ble adjective Capable of being inflamed or kindled; combustible; inflammable. Ure.

Accension Ac·cen"sion noun The act of kindling or the state of being kindled; ignition. Locke.

Accensor Ac·cen"sor noun [ Late Latin , from past participle accensus . See Accend .] (R. C. Ch.) One of the functionaries who light and trim the tapers.

Accent Ac"cent` noun [ French accent , Latin accentus ; ad + cantus a singing, canere to sing. See Cant .] 1. A superior force of voice or of articulative effort upon some particular syllable of a word or a phrase, distinguishing it from the others.

» Many English words have two accents, the primary and the secondary ; the primary being uttered with a greater stress of voice than the secondary; as in as ′ pira \'b6 tion , where the chief stress is on the third syllable, and a slighter stress on the first. Some words, as an′tiap′o-plec\'b6tic , in- com′pre-hen′si-bil\'b6i-ty , have two secondary accents. See Guide to Pron., t=t= 30-46.

2. A mark or character used in writing, and serving to regulate the pronunciation; esp.: (a) a mark to indicate the nature and place of the spoken accent; (b) a mark to indicate the quality of sound of the vowel marked; as, the French accents .

» In the ancient Greek the acute accent (′) meant a raised tone or pitch, the grave ( ` ), the level tone or simply the negation of accent, the circumflex ( ~ or ^) a tone raised and then depressed. In works on elocution, the first is often used to denote the rising inflection of the voice; the second, the falling inflection; and the third (^), the compound or waving inflection. In dictionaries, spelling books, and the like, the acute accent is used to designate the syllable which receives the chief stress of voice.

3. Modulation of the voice in speaking; manner of speaking or pronouncing; peculiar or characteristic modification of the voice; tone; as, a foreign accent ; a French or a German accent . "Beguiled you in a plain accent ." Shak. "A perfect accent ." Thackeray.

The tender accent of a woman's cry.
Prior.

4. A word; a significant tone ; (pl.) expressions in general; speech.

Winds! on your wings to Heaven her accents bear,
Such words as Heaven alone is fit to hear.
Dryden.

5. (Pros.) Stress laid on certain syllables of a verse.

6. (Mus.) (a) A regularly recurring stress upon the tone to mark the beginning, and, more feebly, the third part of the measure. (b) A special emphasis of a tone, even in the weaker part of the measure. (c) The rhythmical accent , which marks phrases and sections of a period. (d) The expressive emphasis and shading of a passage. J. S. Dwight.

7. (Math.) (a) A mark placed at the right hand of a letter, and a little above it, to distinguish magnitudes of a similar kind expressed by the same letter, but differing in value, as y′, y″. (b) (Trigon.) A mark at the right hand of a number, indicating minutes of a degree, seconds, etc.; as, 12′27″, i. e. , twelve minutes twenty seven seconds. (c) (Engineering) A mark used to denote feet and inches; as, 6′ 10″ is six feet ten inches.

Accent Ac·cent" transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Accented ; present participle & verbal noun Accenting .] [ Old French accenter , French accentuer .]

1. To express the accent of (either by the voice or by a mark); to utter or to mark with accent.

2. To mark emphatically; to emphasize.

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