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Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)


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 153 of 156.
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Avisely A·vise"ly adverb Advisedly. [ Obsolete] Chaucer.

Avisement A·vise"ment noun Advisement; observation; deliberation. [ Obsolete]

Avision A·vi"sion noun Vision. [ Obsolete] Chaucer.

Aviso A·vi"so noun [ Spanish ] 1. Information; advice.

2. An advice boat, or dispatch boat.

Avocado Av`o·ca"do noun [ Corrupted from the Mexican ahuacatl : confer Spanish aguacate , French aguacaté , avocat , German avogado baum.] 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 .

Avocat Av`o·cat noun [ French] An advocate.

Avocate Av"o·cate transitive verb [ Latin avocatus , past participle of avocare ; a , ab + vocare to call. Confer Avoke , and see Vocal , adjective ] To call off or away; to withdraw; to transfer to another tribunal. [ Obsolete or Archaic]

One who avocateth his mind from other occupations.
Barrow.

He, at last, . . . avocated the cause to Rome.
Robertson.

Avocation Av`o·ca"tion noun [ Latin avocatio .] 1. A calling away; a diversion. [ Obsolete or Archaic]

Impulses to duty, and powerful avocations from sin.
South.

2. That which calls one away from one's regular employment or vocation.

Heaven is his vocation, and therefore he counts earthly employments avocations .
Fuller.

By the secular cares and avocations which accompany marriage the clergy have been furnished with skill in common life.
Atterbury.

» 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.

3. plural Pursuits; duties; affairs which occupy one's time; usual employment; vocation.

There are professions, among the men, no more favorable to these studies than the common avocations of women.
Richardson.

In a few hours, above thirty thousand men left his standard, and returned to their ordinary avocations .
Macaulay.

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.

Avocative A·vo"ca·tive (ȧ*vō"kȧ*tĭv) adjective Calling off. [ Obsolete]

Avocative A·vo"ca·tive noun That which calls aside; a dissuasive.

Avocet, Avoset Av"o·cet, Av"o·set (ăv"o*sĕt) noun [ French avocette : confer Italian avosetta , Spanish avoceta .] (Zoology) A grallatorial bird, of the genus Recurvirostra ; the scooper. The bill is long and bend upward toward the tip. The American species is R. Americana . [ Written also avocette .]

Avoid A·void" transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Avoided ; present participle & verbal noun Avoiding .] [ Old French esvuidier , es (L. ex ) + vuidier , voidier , to empty. See Void , adjective ] 1. To empty. [ Obsolete] Wyclif.

2. To emit or throw out; to void; as, to avoid excretions. [ Obsolete] Sir T. Browne.

3. To quit or evacuate; to withdraw from. [ Obsolete]

Six of us only stayed, and the rest avoided
the room.
Bacon.

4. To make void; to annul or vacate; to refute.

How can these grants of the king's be avoided ?
Spenser.

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.

What need a man forestall his date of grief.
And run to meet what he would most avoid ?
Milton.

He carefully avoided every act which could goad them into open hostility.
Macaulay.

6. To get rid of. [ Obsolete] Shak.

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.

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.

No man can pray from his heart to be kept from temptation, if the take no care of himself to avoid it.
Mason.

So Chanticleer, who never saw a fox,
Yet shunned him as a sailor shuns the rocks.
Dryden.

Avoid A·void" intransitive verb 1. To retire; to withdraw. [ Obsolete]

David avoided out of his presence.
1 Sam. xviii. 11.

2. (Law) To become void or vacant. [ Obsolete] Ayliffe.

Avoidable A·void"a·ble adjective 1. Capable of being vacated; liable to be annulled or made invalid; voidable.

The charters were not avoidable for the king's nonage.
Hale.

2. Capable of being avoided, shunned, or escaped.

Avoidance A·void"ance noun 1. The act of annulling; annulment.

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.

Wolsey, . . . on every avoidance of St. Peter's chair, was sitting down therein, when suddenly some one or other clapped in before him.
Fuller.

3. A dismissing or a quitting; removal; withdrawal.

4. The act of avoiding or shunning; keeping clear of. "The avoidance of pain." Beattie.

5. The courts by which anything is carried off.

Avoidances and drainings of water.
Bacon.

Avoider A·void"er noun 1. The person who carries anything away, or the vessel in which things are carried away. Johnson.

2. One who avoids, shuns, or escapes.

Avoidless A·void"less adjective Unavoidable; inevitable.

Avoirdupois Av`oir·du·pois" (ăv`ẽr*du*poiz") noun & adjective [ Middle English aver de peis , goods of weight, where peis is from Old French peis weight, French poids , Latin pensum . See Aver , noun , and Poise , noun ] 1. Goods sold by weight. [ Obsolete]

2. Avoirdupois weight.

3. Weight; heaviness; as, a woman of much avoirdupois . [ Colloq.]

Avoirdupois weight , a system of weights by which coarser commodities are weighed, such as hay, grain, butter, sugar, tea.

» 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 ).

Avoke A·voke" transitive verb [ Confer Avocate .] To call from or back again. [ Obsolete] Bp. Burnet.

Avolate Av"o·late intransitive verb [ Latin avolare ; a ( ab ) + volare to fly.] To fly away; to escape; to exhale. [ Obsolete]

Avolation Av`o·la"tion noun [ Late Latin avolatio .] The act of flying; flight; evaporation. [ Obsolete]

Avoset Av"o·set noun Same as Avocet .

Avouch A·vouch" transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Avouched ; present participle & verbal noun Avouching .] [ Old French avochier , Late Latin advocare to recognize the existence of a thing, to advocate, from Latin advocare to call to; ad + vocare to call. Confer Avow to declare, Advocate , and see Vouch , transitive verb ] 1. To appeal to; to cite or claim as authority. [ Obsolete]

They avouch many successions of authorities.
Coke.

2. To maintain a just or true; to vouch for.

We might be disposed to question its authenticity, it if were not avouched by the full evidence.
Milman.

3. To declare or assert positively and as matter of fact; to affirm openly.

If this which he avouches does appear.
Shak.

Such antiquities could have been avouched for the Irish.
Spenser.

4. To acknowledge deliberately; to admit; to confess; to sanction.

Thou hast avouched the Lord this day to be thy God.
Deut. xxvi. 17.

Avouch A·vouch" noun Evidence; declaration. [ Obsolete]

The sensible and true avouch
Of mine own eyes.
Shak.

Avouchable A·vouch"a·ble adjective Capable of being avouched.

Avoucher A·vouch"er noun One who avouches.

Avouchment A·vouch"ment noun The act of avouching; positive declaration. [ Obsolete] Milton.

Avoutrer A·vou"trer noun See Advoutrer . [ Obsolete]

Avoutrie A·vou"trie noun [ Old French ] Adultery. [ Obsolete] Chaucer.

Avow A·vow" transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Avowed ; present participle & verbal noun Avowing .] [ French avouver , from Latin advocare to call to (whence the meanings, to call upon as superior; recognize as lord, own, confess); ad + vocare to call. See Advocate , Avouch .] 1. To declare openly, as something believed to be right; to own or acknowledge frankly; as, a man avows his principles or his crimes.

Which I to be the of Israel's God
Avow , and challenge Dagon to the test.
Milton.

2. (Law) To acknowledge and justify, as an act done. See Avowry . Blackstone.

Syn. -- To acknowledge; own; confess. See Confess .

Avow A·vow" noun [ Confer French aveu .] Avowal. [ Obsolete] Dryden.

Avow A·vow" transitive verb & i. [ Old French avouer , from Late Latin votare to vow, from Latin votun . See Vote , noun ] To bind, or to devote, by a vow. [ Obsolete] Wyclif.

Avow A·vow" noun A vow or determination. [ Archaic]

Avowable A·vow"a·ble adjective Capable of being avowed, or openly acknowledged, with confidence. Donne.

Avowal A·vow"al noun An open declaration; frank acknowledgment; as, an avowal of such principles. Hume.

Avowance A·vow"ance noun 1. Act of avowing; avowal.

2. Upholding; defense; vindication. [ Obsolete]

Can my avowance of king-murdering be collected from anything here written by me?
Fuller.

Avowant A·vow"ant noun (Law) The defendant in replevin, who avows the distress of the goods, and justifies the taking. Cowell.

Avowed A·vowed" adjective Openly acknowledged or declared; admitted. -- A*vow"ed*ly adverb

Avowee A·vow`ee" noun [ French avoué . Confer Advowee , Advocate , noun ] The person who has a right to present to a benefice; the patron; an advowee. See Advowson .

Avower A·vow"er noun One who avows or asserts.

Avowry A·vow"ry noun [ Middle English avouerie protection, authority, Old French avouerie . See Avow to declare.] 1. An advocate; a patron; a patron saint. [ Obsolete]

Let God alone be our avowry .
Latimer.

2. The act of the distrainer of goods, who, in an action of replevin, avows and justifies the taking in his own right. Blackstone.

» When an action of replevin is brought, the distrainer either makes avowry , that is, avours taking the distress in his own right, or the right of his wife, and states the reason if it, as for arrears of rent, damage done, or the like; or makes cognizance , that is, acknowledges the taking, but justifies in an another's right, as his bailiff or servant.

Avowtry A·vow"try transitive verb Adultery. See Advoutry .

Avoyer A·voy"er noun [ French] A chief magistrate of a free imperial city or canton of Switzerland. [ Obsolete]

Avulse A·vulse" transitive verb [ Latin avulsus , past participle of avellere to tear off; a ( ab ) + vellere to pluck.] To pluck or pull off. Shenstone.

Avulsion A·vul"sion noun [ Latin avulsio .] 1. A tearing asunder; a forcible separation.

The avulsion of two polished superficies.
Locke.

2. A fragment torn off. J. Barlow.

3. (Law) The sudden removal of lands or soil from the estate of one man to that of another by an inundation or a current, or by a sudden change in the course of a river by which a part of the estate of one man is cut off and joined to the estate of another. The property in the part thus separated, or cut off, continues in the original owner. Wharton. Burrill.

Avuncular A·vun"cu·lar adjective [ Latin avunculus uncle.] Of or pertaining to an uncle.

In these rare instances, the law of pedigree, whether direct or avuncular , gives way.
I. Taylor.

Await A·wait" transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Awaited ; present participle & verbal noun Awaiting .] [ Old French awaitier , agaitier ; ... (L. ad ) + waitier , gaitier to watch, French guetter . See Wait .] 1. To watch for; to look out for. [ Obsolete]

2. To wait on, serve, or attend. [ Obsolete]

3. To wait for; to stay for; to expect. See Expect .

Betwixt these rocky pillars Gabriel sat,
Chief of the angelic guards, awaiting night.
Milton.

4. To be in store for; to be ready or in waiting for; as, a glorious reward awaits the good.

O Eve, some farther change awaits us night.
Milton.

Await A·wait" intransitive verb 1. To watch. [ Obsolete] Chaucer.

2. To wait ( on or upon ). [ Obsolete]

3. To wait; to stay in waiting. Darwin.

Await A·wait" noun A waiting for; ambush; watch; watching; heed. [ Obsolete] Chaucer.

Awake A·wake" transitive verb [ imperfect Awoke Awaked ; past participle Awaked ; (Obsolete) Awaken , Awoken ; present participle & verbal noun Awaking . The form Awoke is sometimes used as a past participle ] [ Anglo-Saxon āwæcnan , intransitive verb (imp. awōc ), and āwacian , intransitive verb (imp. awacode ). See Awaken , Wake .] 1. To rouse from sleep; to wake; to awaken.

Where morning's earliest ray . . . awake her.
Tennyson.

And his disciples came to him, and awoke him, saying, Lord, save us; we perish.
Matt. viii. 25.

2. To rouse from a state resembling sleep, as from death, stupidity., or inaction; to put into action; to give new life to; to stir up; as, to awake the dead; to awake the dormant faculties.

I was soon awaked from this disagreeable reverie.
Goldsmith.

It way awake my bounty further.
Shak.

No sunny gleam awake s the trees.
Keble.

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