Alt Alt adjective & noun [ See Alto .] (Mus.) The higher part of the scale. See Alto .

To be in alt , to be in an exalted state of mind.

Altaian, Altaic Al·ta"ian, Al·ta"ic adjective [ Confer French altaïque .] Of or pertaining to the Altai, a mountain chain in Central Asia.

Altar Al"tar noun [ Middle English alter , auter , autier , from Latin altare , plural altaria , altar, probably from altus high: confer Old French alter , autier , French autel . Confer Altitude .] 1. A raised structure (as a square or oblong erection of stone or wood) on which sacrifices are offered or incense burned to a deity.

Noah builded an altar unto the Lord.
Gen. viii. 20.

2. In the Christian church, a construction of stone, wood, or other material for the celebration of the Holy Eucharist; the communion table.

» Altar is much used adjectively, or as the first part of a compound; as, altar bread or altar -bread.

Altar cloth or Altar-cloth , the cover for an altar in a Christian church, usually richly embroidered. -- Altar cushion , a cushion laid upon the altar in a Christian church to support the service book. -- Altar frontal . See Frontal . -- Altar rail , the railing in front of the altar or communion table. -- Altar screen , a wall or partition built behind an altar to protect it from approach in the rear. -- Altar tomb , a tomb resembling an altar in shape, etc. -- Family altar , place of family devotions. -- To lead (as a bride) to the altar , to marry; -- said of a woman.

Altarage Al"tar·age noun [ Confer Old French auterage , autelage .] 1. The offerings made upon the altar, or to a church.

2. The profit which accrues to the priest, by reason of the altar, from the small tithes. Shipley.

Altarist Al"tar·ist noun [ Confer Late Latin altarista , French altariste .] (Old Law) (a) A chaplain. (b) A vicar of a church.

Altarpiece Al"tar·piece` noun The painting or piece of sculpture above and behind the altar; reredos.

Altarwise Al"tar·wise` adverb In the proper position of an altar, that is, at the east of a church with its ends towards the north and south. Shipley.

Altazimuth Alt·az"i·muth noun [ All tude + azimuth .] (Astron.) An instrument for taking azimuths and altitudes simultaneously.

Alter Al"ter transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Altered ; present participle & verbal noun Altering .] [ French altérer , Late Latin alterare , from Latin alter other, alius other. Confer Else , Other .] 1. To make otherwise; to change in some respect, either partially or wholly; to vary; to modify. "To alter the king's course." "To alter the condition of a man." "No power in Venice can alter a decree." Shak.

It gilds all objects, but it alters none.
Pope.

My covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips.
Ps. lxxxix. 34.

2. To agitate; to affect mentally. [ Obsolete] Milton.

3. To geld. [ Colloq.]

Syn. -- Change , Alter . Change is generic and the stronger term. It may express a loss of identity, or the substitution of one thing in place of another; alter commonly expresses a partial change, or a change in form or details without destroying identity.

Alter Al"ter intransitive verb To become, in some respects, different; to vary; to change; as, the weather alters almost daily; rocks or minerals alter by exposure. "The law of the Medes and Persians, which altereth not." Dan. vi. 8.

Alterability Al`ter·a·bil"i·ty noun [ Confer French altérabilité .] The quality of being alterable; alterableness.

Alterable Al"ter·a·ble adjective [ Confer French altérable .] Capable of being altered.

Our condition in this world is mutable and uncertain, alterable by a thousand accidents.
Rogers.

Alterableness Al"ter·a·ble·ness noun The quality of being alterable; variableness; alterability.

Alterably Al"ter·a·bly adverb In an alterable manner.

Alterant Al"ter·ant adjective [ Late Latin alterans , present participle: confer French altérant .] Altering; gradually changing. Bacon.

Alterant Al"ter·ant noun An alterative. [ R.] Chambers.

Alteration Al`ter·a"tion noun [ Confer French altération .] 1. The act of altering or making different.

Alteration , though it be from worse to better, hath in it incoveniences.
Hooker.

2. The state of being altered; a change made in the form or nature of a thing; changed condition.

Ere long might perceive
Strange alteration in me.
Milton.

Appius Claudius admitted to the senate the sons of those who had been slaves; by which, and succeeding alterations , that council degenerated into a most corrupt.
Swift.

Alterative Al"ter·a·tive adjective [ Latin alterativus : confer French altératif .] Causing ateration. Specifically: Gradually changing, or tending to change, a morbid state of the functions into one of health. Burton.

Alterative Al"ter·a·tive noun A medicine or treatment which gradually induces a change, and restores healthy functions without sensible evacuations.

Altercate Al"ter·cate intransitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Altercated ; present participle & verbal noun Altercating .] [ Latin altercatus , past participle of altercare , altercari , from alter another. See Alter .] To contend in words; to dispute with zeal, heat, or anger; to wrangle.

Altercation Al`ter·ca"tion noun [ French altercation , from Latin altercatio .] Warm contention in words; dispute carried on with heat or anger; controversy; wrangle; wordy contest. "Stormy altercations ." Macaulay.

Syn. -- Altercation , Dispute , Wrangle . The term dispute is in most cases, but not necessarily, applied to a verbal contest; as, a dispute on the lawfulness of war. An altercation is an angry dispute between two parties, involving an interchange of severe language. A wrangle is a confused and noisy altercation.

Their whole life was little else than a perpetual wrangling and altercation .
Hakewill.

Altercative Al"ter·ca·tive adjective Characterized by wrangling; scolding. [ R.] Fielding.

Alterity Al·ter"i·ty noun [ French altérité .] The state or quality of being other; a being otherwise. [ R.]

For outness is but the feeling of otherness ( alterity ) rendered intuitive, or alterity visually represented.
Coleridge.

Altern Al"tern adjective [ Latin alternus , from alter another: confer French alterne .] Acting by turns; alternate. Milton.

Altern base (Trig.) , a second side made base, in distinction from a side previously regarded as base.

Alternacy Al·ter"na·cy noun Alternateness; alternation. [ R.] Mitford.

Alternant Al·ter"nant adjective [ Latin alternans , present participle: confer French alternant . See Alternate , transitive verb ] (Geol.) Composed of alternate layers, as some rocks.

Alternat Al`ter`nat" noun [ French] A usage, among diplomats, of rotation in precedence among representatives of equal rank, sometimes determined by lot and at other times in regular order. The practice obtains in the signing of treaties and conventions between nations.

Alternate Al·ter"nate adjective [ Latin alternatus , past participle of alternate , from alternus . See Altern , Alter .] 1. Being or succeeding by turns; one following the other in succession of time or place; by turns first one and then the other; hence, reciprocal.

And bid alternate passions fall and rise.
Pope.

2. Designating the members in a series, which regularly intervene between the members of another series, as the odd or even numbers of the numerals; every other; every second; as, the alternate members 1, 3, 5, 7, etc. ; read every alternate line.

3. (Botany) Distributed, as leaves, singly at different heights of the stem, and at equal intervals as respects angular divergence. Gray.

Alternate alligation . See Alligation . -- Alternate angles (Geom.) , the internal and angles made by two lines with a third, on opposite sides of it. It the parallels AB, CD, are cut by the line EF, the angles AGH, GHD, as also the angles BGH and GHC, are called alternate angles . -- Alternate generation . (Biol.) See under Generation .

Alternate Al·ter"nate noun 1. That which alternates with something else; vicissitude. [ R.]

Grateful alternates of substantial.
Prior.

2. A substitute; one designated to take the place of another, if necessary, in performing some duty.

3. (Math.) A proportion derived from another proportion by interchanging the means.

Alternate Al"ter·nate transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Alternated ; present participle & verbal noun Alternating .] [ Latin alternatus , past participle of alternare . See Altern .] To perform by turns, or in succession; to cause to succeed by turns; to interchange regularly.

The most high God, in all things appertaining unto this life, for sundry wise ends alternates the disposition of good and evil.
Grew.

Alternate Al"ter·nate intransitive verb 1. To happen, succeed, or act by turns; to follow reciprocally in place or time; -- followed by with ; as, the flood and ebb tides alternate with each other.

Rage, shame, and grief alternate in his breast.
J. Philips.

Different species alternating with each other.
Kirwan.

2. To vary by turns; as, the land alternates between rocky hills and sandy plains.

Alternately Al·ter"nate·ly adverb 1. In reciprocal succession; succeeding by turns; in alternate order.

2. (Math.) By alternation; when, in a proportion, the antecedent term is compared with antecedent, and consequent.

Alternateness Al·ter"nate·ness noun The quality of being alternate, or of following by turns.

Alternating current Al"ter·nat`ing cur"rent (Electricity) A current which periodically changes or reverses its direction of flow.

Alternation Al`ter·na"tion noun [ Latin alternatio : confer French alternation .] 1. The reciprocal succession of things in time or place; the act of following and being followed by turns; alternate succession, performance, or occurrence; as, the alternation of day and night, cold and heat, summer and winter, hope and fear.

2. (Math.) Permutation.

3. The response of the congregation speaking alternately with the minister. Mason.

Alternation of generation . See under Generation .

Alternative Al·ter"na·tive adjective [ Confer French alternatif .] 1. Offering a choice of two things.

2. Disjunctive; as, an alternative conjunction.

3. Alternate; reciprocal. [ Obsolete] Holland.

Alternative Al·ter"na·tive noun [ Confer French alternative , Late Latin alternativa .] 1. An offer of two things, one of which may be chosen, but not both; a choice between two things, so that if one is taken, the other must be left.

There is something else than the mere alternative of absolute destruction or unreformed existence.
Burke.

2. Either of two things or propositions offered to one's choice. Thus when two things offer a choice of one only, the two things are called alternatives .

Having to choose between two alternatives , safety and war, you obstinately prefer the worse.
Jowett (Thucyd.).

3. The course of action or the thing offered in place of another.

If this demand is refused the alternative is war.
Lewis.

With no alternative but death.
Longfellow.

4. A choice between more than two things; one of several things offered to choose among.

My decided preference is for the fourth and last of these alternatives .
Gladstone.

Alternatively Al·ter"na·tive·ly adverb In the manner of alternatives, or that admits the choice of one out of two things.

Alternativeness Al·ter"na·tive·ness noun The quality of being alternative, or of offering a choice between two.

Alternator Al"ter·na`tor noun (Electricity) An electric generator or dynamo for producing alternating currents.

Alternity Al·ter"ni·ty noun [ Late Latin alternitas .] Succession by turns; alternation. [ R.] Sir T. Browne.

Altheine Al·the"ine noun (Chemistry) Asparagine.

Althing Al"thing noun [ Icelandic (modern) alping , earlier alpingi ; allr all + ping assembly. See All , and Thing .] The national assembly or parliament of Iceland. See Thing , noun , 8.

Altho Al·tho" conj. Although. [ Reformed spelling]

Althorn Alt"horn` noun [ Alt + horn .] (Mus.) An instrument of the saxhorn family, used exclusively in military music, often replacing the French horn. Grove.

Although Al·though" conj. [ All + though ; Middle English al thagh .] Grant all this; be it that; supposing that; notwithstanding; though.

Although all shall be offended, yet will not I.
Mark xiv. 29.

Syn. -- Although , Though . Although , which originally was perhaps more emphatic than though , is now interchangeable with it in the sense given above. Euphonic consideration determines the choice.

Althæa Al·thæ"a Al*the"a noun [ althaea, Greek ....] (Botany) (a) A genus of plants of the Mallow family. It includes the officinal marsh mallow, and the garden hollyhocks. (b) An ornamental shrub ( Hibiscus Syriacus ) of the Mallow family.

Altiloquence Al·til"o·quence noun Lofty speech; pompous language. [ R.] Bailey.

Altiloquent Al·til"o·quent adjective [ Latin altus (adv. alte ) high + loquens , present participle of loqui to speak.] High-sounding; pompous in speech. [ R.] Bailey.

Altimeter Al·tim"e·ter noun [ Late Latin altimeter ; altus high + metrum , Greek ..., measure: confer French altimètre .] An instrument for taking altitudes, as a quadrant, sextant, etc. Knight.

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 63 of 156.
« Previous ¦55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 ¦ Next »