Audition noun [ Latin auditio .] The act of hearing or listening; hearing.

Audition may be active or passive; hence the difference between listening and simple hearing.
Dunglison.

Auditive adjective [ Confer French auditif .] Of or pertaining to hearing; auditory. [ R.] Cotgrave.

Auditor noun [ Latin auditor , from audire . See Audible , adjective ]
1. A hearer or listener. Macaulay.

2. A person appointed and authorized to audit or examine an account or accounts, compare the charges with the vouchers, examine the parties and witnesses, allow or reject charges, and state the balance.

3. One who hears judicially, as in an audience court.

» In the United States government, and in the State governments, there are auditors of the treasury and of the public accounts. The name is also applied to persons employed to check the accounts of courts, corporations, companies, societies, and partnerships.

Auditorial adjective Auditory. [ R.]

Auditorium noun [ Latin See Auditory , noun ] The part of a church, theater, or other public building, assigned to the audience.

» In ancient churches the auditorium was the nave, where hearers stood to be instructed; in monasteries it was an apartment for the reception of strangers.

Auditorship noun The office or function of auditor.

Auditory adjective [ Latin auditorius .] Of or pertaining to hearing, or to the sense or organs of hearing; as, the auditory nerve. See Ear .

Auditory canal (Anat.) , the tube from the auditory meatus or opening of the ear to the tympanic membrane.

Auditory noun [ Latin auditorium .]
1. An assembly of hearers; an audience.

2. An auditorium. Udall.

Auditress noun A female hearer. Milton.

Auditual adjective Auditory. [ R.] Coleridge.

Auf (af) noun [ Middle English auph , aulf , from Icelandic ālfr elf. See Elf .] [ Also spelt oaf , ouphe .] A changeling or elf child, -- that is, one left by fairies; a deformed or foolish child; a simpleton; an oaf. [ Obsolete] Drayton.

Aufklärung noun [ G., enlightenment.] A philosophic movement of the 18th century characterized by a lively questioning of authority, keen interest in matters of politics and general culture, and an emphasis on empirical method in science. It received its impetus from the unsystematic but vigorous skepticism of Pierre Bayle, the physical doctrines of Newton, and the epistemological theories of Locke, in the preceding century. Its chief center was in France, where it gave rise to the skepticism of Voltaire , the naturalism of Rousseau, the sensationalism of Condillac, and the publication of the "Encyclopedia" by D'Alembert and Diderot. In Germany, Lessing, Mendelssohn, and Herder were representative thinkers, while the political doctrines of the leaders of the American Revolution and the speculations of Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Paine represented the movement in America.

Augean adjective
1. (Class. Myth.) Of or pertaining to Augeus, king of Elis, whose stable contained 3000 oxen, and had not been cleaned for 30 years. Hercules cleansed it in a single day.

2. Hence: Exceedingly filthy or corrupt.

Augean stable (Fig.), an accumulation of corruption or filth almost beyond the power of man to remedy.

Auger noun [ Middle English augoure , nauger , Anglo-Saxon nafegār , from nafu , nafa , nave of a wheel + gār spear, and therefore meaning properly and originally a nave-bore. See Nave (of a wheel) and 2d Gore , noun ]
1. A carpenter's tool for boring holes larger than those bored by a gimlet. It has a handle placed crosswise by which it is turned with both hands. A pod auger is one with a straight channel or groove, like the half of a bean pod. A screw auger has a twisted blade, by the spiral groove of which the chips are discharge.

2. An instrument for boring or perforating soils or rocks, for determining the quality of soils, or the nature of the rocks or strata upon which they lie, and for obtaining water.

Auger bit , a bit with a cutting edge or blade like that of an anger.

Auget noun [ French, dim. of auge trough, from Latin alveus hollow, from alvus belly.] (Mining) A priming tube connecting the charge chamber with the gallery, or place where the slow match is applied. Knight.

Aught noun [ Middle English aught , ought , awiht , Anglo-Saxon āwiht , ā ever + wiht . √136. See Aye ever, and Whit , Wight .] Anything; any part. [ Also written ought .]

There failed not aught of any good thing which the Lord has spoken.
Josh. xxi. 45

But go, my son, and see if aught be wanting.
Addison.

Aught (at) adverb At all; in any degree. Chaucer.

Aught, Aucht noun [ Anglo-Saxon ...ht , from āgan to own, past participle āhte .] Property; possession. [ Scot.] Sir W. Scott.

Augite (a"jīt) noun [ Latin augites , Greek a'ygi`ths , from a'ygh` brightness: confer French augite .] A variety of pyroxene, usually of a black or dark green color, occurring in igneous rocks, such as basalt; -- also used instead of the general term pyroxene .

Augitic (a*jĭt"ĭk) adjective Pertaining to, or like, augite; containing augite as a principal constituent; as, augitic rocks.

Augment transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Augmented ; present participle & verbal noun Augmenting .] [ Latin augmentare , from augmentum an increase, from augere to increase; perhaps akin to Greek ..., ..., English wax , v., and eke , v.: confer French augmenter .]
1. To enlarge or increase in size, amount, or degree; to swell; to make bigger; as, to augment an army by reëforcements; rain augments a stream; impatience augments an evil.

But their spite still serves
His glory to augment .
Milton.

2. (Gram.) To add an augment to.

Augment intransitive verb To increase; to grow larger, stronger, or more intense; as, a stream augments by rain.

Augment noun [ Latin augmentum : confer French augment .]
1. Enlargement by addition; increase.

2. (Gram.) A vowel prefixed, or a lengthening of the initial vowel, to mark past time, as in Greek and Sanskrit verbs.

» In Greek, the syllabic augment is a prefixed ..., forming an intial syllable; the temporal augment is an increase of the quantity (time) of an initial vowel, as by changing ... to ....

Augmentable adjective Capable of augmentation. Walsh.

Augmentation noun [ Late Latin augmentatio : confer French augmentation .]
1. The act or process of augmenting, or making larger, by addition, expansion, or dilation; increase.

2. The state of being augmented; enlargement.

3. The thing added by way of enlargement.

4. (Her.) A additional charge to a coat of arms, given as a mark of honor. Cussans.

5. (Medicine) The stage of a disease in which the symptoms go on increasing. Dunglison.

6. (Mus.) In counterpoint and fugue, a repetition of the subject in tones of twice the original length.

Augmentation court (Eng. Hist.) , a court erected by Stat. 27 Hen. VIII., to augment the revenues of the crown by the suppression of monasteries. It was long ago dissolved. Encyc. Brit.

Syn. -- Increase; enlargement; growth; extension; accession; addition.

Augmentative adjective [ Confer French augmentatif .] Having the quality or power of augmenting; expressing augmentation. -- Aug*ment"a*tive*ly , adverb

Augmentative noun (Gram.) A word which expresses with augmented force the idea or the properties of the term from which it is derived; as, dullard , one very dull. Opposed to diminutive . Gibbs.

Augmenter noun One who, or that which, augments or increases anything.

Augrim noun See Algorism . [ Obsolete] Chaucer.

Augrim stones , pebbles formerly used in numeration. -- Noumbres of Augrim , Arabic numerals. Chaucer.

Augur noun [ Latin Of uncertain origin: the first part of the word is perhaps from Latin avis bird, and the last syllable, gur , equiv. to the Sanskrit gar to call, akin to Latin garrulus garrulous.]
1. (Rom. Antiq.) An official diviner who foretold events by the singing, chattering, flight, and feeding of birds, or by signs or omens derived from celestial phenomena, certain appearances of quadrupeds, or unusual occurrences.

2. One who foretells events by omens; a soothsayer; a diviner; a prophet.

Augur of ill, whose tongue was never found
Without a priestly curse or boding sound.
Dryden.

Augur intransitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Augured ; present participle & verbal noun Auguring .]
1. To conjecture from signs or omens; to prognosticate; to foreshow.

My auguring mind assures the same success.
Dryden.

2. To anticipate, to foretell, or to indicate a favorable or an unfavorable issue; as, to augur well or ill.

Augur transitive verb To predict or foretell, as from signs or omens; to betoken; to presage; to infer.

It seems to augur genius.
Sir W. Scott.

I augur everything from the approbation the proposal has met with.
J. F. W. Herschel.

Syn. -- To predict; forebode; betoken; portend; presage; prognosticate; prophesy; forewarn.

Augural adjective [ Latin auguralis .] Of or pertaining to augurs or to augury; betokening; ominous; significant; as, an augural staff; augural books. "Portents augural ." Cowper.

Augurate transitive verb & i. [ Latin auguratus , past participle of augurari to augur.] To make or take auguries; to augur; to predict. [ Obsolete] C. Middleton.

Augurate noun The office of an augur. Merivale.

Auguration noun [ Latin auguratio .] The practice of augury.

Augurer noun An augur. [ Obsolete] Shak.

Augurial adjective [ Latin augurialis .] Relating to augurs or to augury. Sir T. Browne.

Augurist noun An augur. [ R.]

Augurize transitive verb To augur. [ Obsolete] Blount.

Augurous adjective Full of augury; foreboding. [ Obsolete] "Augurous hearts." Chapman.

Augurship noun The office, or period of office, of an augur. Bacon.

Augury noun ; plural Auguries [ Latin aucurium .]
1. The art or practice of foretelling events by observing the actions of birds, etc.; divination.

2. An omen; prediction; prognostication; indication of the future; presage.

From their flight strange auguries she drew.
Drayton.

He resigned himself . . . with a docility that gave little augury of his future greatness.
Prescott.

3. A rite, ceremony, or observation of an augur.

August adjective [ Latin augustus ; confer augere to increase; in the language of religion, to honor by offerings: confer French auguste . See Augment .] Of a quality inspiring mingled admiration and reverence; having an aspect of solemn dignity or grandeur; sublime; majestic; having exalted birth, character, state, or authority. "Forms august ." Pope. " August in visage." Dryden. "To shed that august blood." Macaulay.

So beautiful and so august a spectacle.
Burke.

To mingle with a body so august .
Byron.

Syn. -- Grand; magnificent; majestic; solemn; awful; noble; stately; dignified; imposing.

August noun [ Latin Augustus . See note below, and August , adjective ] The eighth month of the year, containing thirty-one days.

» The old Roman name was Sextilis , the sixth month from March, the month in which the primitive Romans, as well as Jews, began the year. The name was changed to August in honor of Augustus Cæsar, the first emperor of Rome, on account of his victories, and his entering on his first consulate in that month.

Augustan adjective [ Latin Augustanus , from Augustus . See August , noun ]
1. Of or pertaining to Augustus Cæsar or to his times.

2. Of or pertaining to the town of Augsburg.

Augustan age of any national literature, the period of its highest state of purity and refinement; -- so called because the reign of Augustus Cæsar was the golden age of Roman literature. Thus the reign of Louis XIV. (b. 1638) has been called the Augustan age of French literature, and that of Queen Anne (b. 1664) the Augustan age of English literature. -- Augustan confession (Eccl. Hist.) , or confession of Augsburg, drawn up at Augusta Vindelicorum , or Augsburg, by Luther and Melanchthon, in 1530, contains the principles of the Protestants, and their reasons for separating from the Roman Catholic church.

Augustine, Augustinian noun (Eccl.) A member of one of the religious orders called after St. Augustine; an Austin friar.

Augustinian adjective Of or pertaining to St. Augustine, bishop of Hippo in Northern Africa (b. 354 -- d. 430), or to his doctrines.

Augustinian canons , an order of monks once popular in England and Ireland; -- called also regular canons of St. Austin , and black canons . -- Augustinian hermits or Austin friars , an order of friars established in 1265 by Pope Alexander IV. It was introduced into the United States from Ireland in 1790. -- Augustinian nuns , an order of nuns following the rule of St. Augustine. -- Augustinian rule , a rule for religious communities based upon the 109th letter of St. Augustine, and adopted by the Augustinian orders.

Augustinian noun One of a class of divines, who, following St. Augustine, maintain that grace by its nature is effectual absolutely and creatively, not relatively and conditionally.

Augustinianism, Augustinism noun The doctrines held by Augustine or by the Augustinians.