Assumptive As·sump"tive adjective [ Latin assumptivus , from assumptus , from assumere .] Assumed, or capable of being assumed; characterized by assumption; making unwarranted claims. -- As*sump"tive*ly , adverb

Assumptive arms (Her.) , originally, arms which a person had a right to assume, in consequence of an exploit; now, those assumed without sanction of the Heralds' College. Percy Smith.

Assurance As·sur"ance noun [ Middle English assuraunce , French assurance , from assurer . See Assure .] 1. The act of assuring; a declaration tending to inspire full confidence; that which is designed to give confidence.

Whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead.
Acts xvii. 31.

Assurances of support came pouring in daily.
Macaulay.

2. The state of being assured; firm persuasion; full confidence or trust; freedom from doubt; certainty.

Let us draw with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience.
Hebrew x. 22.

3. Firmness of mind; undoubting, steadiness; intrepidity; courage; confidence; self-reliance.

Brave men meet danger with assurance .
Knolles.

Conversation with the world will give them knowledge and assurance .
Locke.

4. Excess of boldness; impudence; audacity; as, his assurance is intolerable.

5. Betrothal; affiance. [ Obsolete] Sir P. Sidney.

6. Insurance; a contract for the payment of a sum on occasion of a certain event, as loss or death.

» Recently, assurance has been used, in England, in relation to life contingencies, and insurance in relation to other contingencies. It is called temporary assurance , in the time within which the contingent event must happen is limited. See Insurance .

7. (Law) Any written or other legal evidence of the conveyance of property; a conveyance; a deed.

» In England, the legal evidences of the conveyance of property are called the common assurances of the kingdom. Blackstone.

Assure As·sure transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Assured ; present participle & verbal noun Assuring .] [ Old French aseürer , French assurer , Late Latin assecurare ; Latin ad + securus secure, sure, certain. See Secure , Sure , and confer Insure .] 1. To make sure or certain; to render confident by a promise, declaration, or other evidence.

His promise that thy seed shall bruise our foe . . .
Assures me that the bitterness of death
Is past, and we shall live.
Milton.

2. To declare to, solemnly; to assert to (any one) with the design of inspiring belief or confidence.

I dare assure thee that no enemy
Shall ever take alive the noble Brutus.
Shak.

3. To confirm; to make certain or secure.

And it shall be assured to him.
Lev. xxvii. 19.

And hereby we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before him.
1 John iii. 19.

4. To affiance; to betroth. [ Obsolete] Shak.

5. (Law) To insure; to covenant to indemnify for loss, or to pay a specified sum at death. See Insure .

Syn. -- To declare; aver; avouch; vouch; assert; asseverate; protest; persuade; convince.

Assured As·sured" adjective Made sure; safe; insured; certain; indubitable; not doubting; bold to excess.

Assured As·sured" noun One whose life or property is insured.

Assuredly As·sur"ed·ly adverb Certainly; indubitably. "The siege assuredly I'll raise." Shak.

Assuredness As·sur"ed·ness noun The state of being assured; certainty; full confidence.

Assurer As·sur"er noun 1. One who assures. Specifically: One who insures against loss; an insurer or underwriter.

2. One who takes out a life assurance policy.

Assurgency As·sur"gen·cy noun Act of rising.

The . . . assurgency of the spirit through the body.
Coleridge.

Assurgent As·sur"gent adjective [ Latin assurgens , present participle of assurgere ; ad + surgere to rise.] Ascending ; (Botany) rising obliquely; curving upward. Gray.

Assuring As·sur"ing adjective That assures; tending to assure; giving confidence. -- As*sur"ing*ly , adverb

Asswage As·swage" v. See Assuage .

Assyrian As·syr"i·an adjective [ Latin Assyrius .] Of or pertaining to Assyria, or to its inhabitants. -- noun A native or an inhabitant of Assyria; the language of Assyria.

Assyriological As·syr`i·o·log"ic·al adjective Of or pertaining to Assyriology; as, Assyriological studies.

Assyriologist As·syr`i·ol"o·gist noun One versed in Assyriology; a student of Assyrian archæology.

Assyriology As·syr`i·ol"o·gy noun [ Assyria + -logy .] The science or study of the antiquities, language, etc., of ancient Assyria.

Assythment As·syth"ment noun [ From Old French aset , asez , orig. meaning enough . See Assets .] Indemnification for injury; satisfaction. [ Chiefly in Scots law]

Astacus As"ta·cus noun [ Latin astacus a crab, Greek ....] (Zoology) A genus of crustaceans, containing the crawfish of fresh-water lobster of Europe, and allied species of western North America. See Crawfish .

Astarboard A·star"board adverb (Nautical) Over to the starboard side; -- said of the tiller.

Astart A·start" transitive verb & i. Same as Astert . [ Obsolete]

Astarte As·tar"te noun [ Greek ... a Phœnician goddess.] (Zoology) A genus of bivalve mollusks, common on the coasts of America and Europe.

Astate A·state" noun Estate; state. [ Obsolete] Chaucer.

Astatic A·stat"ic adjective [ Prefix a- not + static .] (Magnetism) Having little or no tendency to take a fixed or definite position or direction: thus, a suspended magnetic needle, when rendered astatic , loses its polarity, or tendency to point in a given direction.

Astatic pair (Magnetism) , a pair of magnetic needles so mounted as to be nearly or quite astatic, as in some galvanometers.

Astatically A·stat"ic·al·ly adverb In an astatic manner.

Astaticism A·stat"i·cism noun The state of being astatic.

Astatize As"ta·tize intransitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Astatized ; present participle & verbal noun Astatizing .] (Magnetism) To render astatic.

Astatki As·tat"ki noun [ From Russian ostatki remnants, plural of ostatok .] A thick liquid residuum obtained in the distillation of Russian petroleum, much used as fuel.

Astay A·stay" adverb (Nautical) An anchor is said to be astay , when, in heaving it, an acute angle is formed between the cable and the surface of the water.

Asteism As"te·ism noun [ Greek ... refined and witty talk, from ... of the town, polite, witty, from ... city: confer French astéisme .] (Rhet.) Genteel irony; a polite and ingenious manner of deriding another.

Astel As"tel (ăs"tẽl) noun [ Middle English astelle piece of wood, Old French astele splinter, shaving, French attelle , astelle : confer Latin astula , dim. of assis board.] (Mining) An arch, or ceiling, of boards, placed over the men's heads in a mine.

Aster As"ter (ăs"tẽr) noun [ Latin aster aster, star, Greek 'asth`r star. See Star .] 1. (Botany) A genus of herbs with compound white or bluish flowers; starwort; Michaelmas daisy.

2. (Floriculture) A plant of the genus Callistephus . Many varieties (called China asters , German asters , etc.) are cultivated for their handsome compound flowers.

Aster As"ter noun (Biol.) A star- shaped figure of achromatic substance found chiefly in cells dividing by mitosis.

Asterias As·te"ri·as noun [ New Latin , from Greek ... starred, from 'asth`r star.] (Zoology) A genus of echinoderms.

» Formerly the group of this name included nearly all starfishes and ophiurans. Now it is restricted to a genus including the commonest shore starfishes.

Asteriated As·te"ri·a`ted adjective [ See Asterias .] Radiated, with diverging rays; as, asteriated sapphire.

Asteridian As`ter·id"i·an adjective (Zoology) Of or pertaining to the Asterioidea. -- noun A starfish; one of the Asterioidea.

Asterioidea As·te`ri·oid"e·a As`ter*id"e*a noun plural [ New Latin , from Greek 'asteri`as + -oid . See Asterias .] (Zoology) A class of Echinodermata including the true starfishes. The rays vary in number and always have ambulacral grooves below. The body is star-shaped or pentagonal.

Asterion As·te"ri·on noun [ Greek 'aste`rion starry.] (Anat.) The point on the side of the skull where the lambdoid, parieto-mastoid and occipito-mastoid sutures.

Asteriscus As`ter·is"cus noun [ Latin , an asterisk. See Asterisk .] (Anat.) The smaller of the two otoliths found in the inner ear of many fishes.

Asterisk As"ter·isk noun [ Latin asteriscus , Greek ..., dim. of 'asth`r star. See Aster .] The figure of a star, thus, ..., used in printing and writing as a reference to a passage or note in the margin, to supply the omission of letters or words, or to mark a word or phrase as having a special character.

Asterism As`ter·ism noun [ Greek ..., from 'asth`r star; confer French astérisme .] 1. (Astron.) (a) A constellation. [ Obsolete] (b) A small cluster of stars.

2. (Printing) (a) An asterisk, or mark of reference. [ R.] (b) Three asterisks placed in this manner, , to direct attention to a particular passage.

3. (Crystallog.) An optical property of some crystals which exhibit a star-shaped by reflected light, as star sapphire, or by transmitted light, as some mica.

Astern A·stern" adverb [ Prefix a- + stern .] (Nautical) 1. In or at the hinder part of a ship; toward the hinder part, or stern; backward; as, to go astern .

2. Behind a ship; in the rear. "A gale of wind right astern ." De Foe. "Left this strait astern ." Drake.

To bake astern , to go stern foremost. -- To be astern of the reckoning , to be behind the position given by the reckoning. -- To drop astern , to fall or be left behind. -- To go astern , to go backward, as from the action of currents or winds.

Asternal A·ster"nal adjective [ Prefix a- not + sternal .] (Anat.) Not sternal; -- said of ribs which do not join the sternum.

Asteroid As"ter·oid noun [ Greek ... starlike, starry; 'asth`r star + ... form: confer French astéroïde . See Aster .] A starlike body; esp. one of the numerous small planets whose orbits lie between those of Mars and Jupiter; -- called also planetoids and minor planets .

Asteroidal As`ter·oid"al adjective Of or pertaining to an asteroid, or to the asteroids.

Asterolepis As`te·rol"e·pis noun [ New Latin , from Greek 'asth`r star + ... scale.] (Paleon.) A genus of fishes, some of which were eighteen or twenty feet long, found in a fossil state in the Old Red Sandstone. Hugh Miller.

Asterope As·ter"o·pe noun [ Greek ..., lit., lightning.] 1. (Myth.) One of the Pleiades; -- called also Sterope .

2. (Astron.) A double star in the Pleiades (21 k and 22 l Pleiadum, of the 5.8 and 6.4 magnitude respectively), appearing as a single star of the 5.3 magnitude to the naked eye.

Asterophyllite As`ter·oph"yl·lite (ăs`tẽr*ŏf"ĭl*līt) noun [ Greek 'asth`r star + fy`llon leaf.] (Paleon.) A fossil plant from the coal formations of Europe and America, now regarded as the branchlets and foliage of calamites.

Astert A·stert transitive verb [ Prefix a- + start ; Middle English asterten , asturten .] To start up; to befall; to escape; to shun. [ Obsolete] Spenser.

Astert A·stert" intransitive verb To escape. [ Obsolete] Chaucer.

Asthenia, Astheny As`the·ni"a, As"the·ny noun [ New Latin asthenia , Greek 'asqe`nia ; 'a priv. + sqe`nos strength.] (Medicine) Want or loss of strength; debility; diminution of the vital forces.

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
You are here: Webster > Letter A > Page 135 of 156.
« Previous ¦127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 ¦ Next »