Webster's Dictionary, 1913
Excandescent adjective [ Latin
excandescens , present participle of
excandescere to take fire, glow;
ex out (intens.) +
candescere to begin to glisten or glow, from
candere . See
Candid .]
White or glowing with heat. [ R.]
Ure.
Excantation noun [ Latin
excantare to charm out. See
Ex... , and
Chant .]
Disenchantment by a countercharm. [ Obsolete]
Gayton.
Excarnate transitive verb [ Late Latin excarnatus , past participle of excarnare ; Latin ex out + caro , carnis , flesh.] To deprive or clear of flesh. Grew.
Excarnation noun The act of depriving or divesting of flesh; excarnification; -- opposed to incarnation .
Excarnificate transitive verb [ Latin
ex out + Late Latin
carnificatus , past participle
carnificare to carnify; confer Latin
excarnificare to tear to pieces, torment. See
Carnify .]
To clear of flesh; to excarnate. Dr. H. More.
Excarnification noun The act of excarnificating or of depriving of flesh; excarnation. Johnson.
Excavate transitive verb [
imperfect & past participle Excavated;
present participle & verbal noun Excavating.] [ Latin
excavatus , past participle of
excavare to excavate;
ex out +
cavare to make hollow,
cavus hollow. See
Cave .]
1. To hollow out; to form cavity or hole in; to make hollow by cutting, scooping, or digging; as, to excavate a ball; to excavate the earth. 2. To form by hollowing; to shape, as a cavity, or anything that is hollow; as, to excavate a canoe, a cellar, a channel. 3. (Engineering) To dig out and remove, as earth. The material excavated was usually sand.
E. Latin Corthell. Excavating pump ,
a kind of dredging apparatus for excavating under water, in which silt and loose material mixed with water are drawn up by a pump. Knight.
Excavation noun [ Latin
excavatio : confer French
excavation .]
1. The act of excavating, or of making hollow, by cutting, scooping, or digging out a part of a solid mass. 2. A cavity formed by cutting, digging, or scooping. "A winding
excavation ."
Glover. 3. (Engineering) (a) An uncovered cutting in the earth, in distinction from a covered cutting or tunnel . (b) The material dug out in making a channel or cavity. The delivery of the excavations at a distance of 250 feet.
E. Latin Corthell.
Excavator noun One who, or that which, excavates or hollows out; a machine, as a dredging machine, or a tool, for excavating.
Excave transitive verb [ Latin excavare .] To excavate. [ Obsolete] Cockeram.
Excecate transitive verb [ Latin excaecatus , past participle of excaecare to blind; ex (intens.) + caecare to blind, caecus blind.] To blind. [ Obsolete] Cockeram.
Excecation noun The act of making blind. [ Obsolete] Bp. Richardson.
Excedent noun [ Latin
excedens ,
-entis , present participle of
excedere . See
Exceed ,
transitive verb ]
Excess. [ R.]
Exceed transitive verb [
imperfect & past participle Exceeded ;
present participle & verbal noun Exceeding .] [ Latin
excedere ,
excessum , to go away or beyond;
ex out +
cedere to go, to pass: confer French
excéder . See
Cede .]
To go beyond; to proceed beyond the given or supposed limit or measure of; to outgo; to surpass; -- used both in a good and a bad sense; as, one man exceeds another in bulk, stature, weight, power, skill, etc.; one offender exceeds another in villainy; his rank exceeds yours. Name the time, but let it not
Exceed three days.
Shak. Observes how much a chintz exceeds mohair.
Pope. Syn. -- To outdo; surpass; excel; transcend; outstrip; outvie; overtop.
Exceed intransitive verb 1. To go too far; to pass the proper bounds or measure. "In our reverence to whom, we can not possibly
exceed ."
Jer. Taylor. Forty stripes he may give him, and not exceed .
Deut. xxv. 3. 2. To be more or greater; to be paramount. Shak.
Exceedable adjective Capable of exceeding or surpassing. [ Obsolete] Sherwood.
Exceeder noun One who exceeds. Bp. Montagu.
Exceeding adjective More than usual; extraordinary; more than sufficient; measureless. "The exceeding riches of his grace." Eph. ii. 7. -- Ex*ceed"ing*ness , noun [ Obsolete] Sir P. Sidney.
Exceeding adverb In a very great degree; extremely; exceedingly. [ Archaic. It is not joined to verbs.] "The voice
exceeding loud."
Keble. His raiment became shining, exceeding white as snow.
Mark ix. 3. The Genoese were exceeding powerful by sea.
Sir W. Raleigh.
Exceedingly adverb To a very great degree; beyond what is usual; surpassingly. It signifies more than very .
Excel transitive verb [
imperfect & past participle Excelled;
present participle & verbal noun Excelling .] [ Latin
excellere ,
excelsum ;
ex out + a root found in
culmen height, top; confer French
exceller . See
Culminate ,
Column .]
1. To go beyond or surpass in good qualities or laudable deeds; to outdo or outgo, in a good sense. Excelling others, these were great;
Thou, greater still, must these excel .
Prior. I saw that wisdom excelleth folly, as far as light excelleth darkness.
Eccl. ii. 13. 2. To exceed or go beyond; to surpass. She opened; but to shut
Excelled her power; the gates wide open stood.
Milton.
Excel intransitive verb To surpass others in good qualities, laudable actions, or acquirements; to be distinguished by superiority; as, to excel in mathematics, or classics. Unstable as water, thou shalt not excel .
Gen. xlix. 4. Then peers grew proud in horsemanship t' excel .
Pope.
Excellence noun [ French
excellence , Latin
excellentia .]
1. The quality of being excellent; state of possessing good qualities in an eminent degree; exalted merit; superiority in virtue. Consider first that great
Or bright infers not excellence .
Milton. 2. An excellent or valuable quality; that by which any one excels or is eminent; a virtue. With every excellence refined.
Beattie. 3. A title of honor or respect; -- more common in the form excellency . I do greet your excellence
With letters of commission from the king.
Shak. Syn. -- Superiority; preëminence; perfection; worth; goodness; purity; greatness.
Excellency noun ;
plural Excellencies 1. Excellence; virtue; dignity; worth; superiority. His excellency is over Israel.
Ps. lxviii. 34. Extinguish in men the sense of their own excellency .
Hooker. 2. A title of honor given to certain high dignitaries, esp. to viceroys, ministers, and ambassadors, to English colonial governors, etc. It was formerly sometimes given to kings and princes.
Excellent adjective [ French
excellent , Latin
excellens ,
-entis , present participle of
excellere . See
Excel .]
1. Excelling; surpassing others in some good quality or the sum of qualities; of great worth; eminent, in a good sense; superior; as, an excellent man, artist, citizen, husband, discourse, book, song, etc.; excellent breeding, principles, aims, action. To love . . .
What I see excellent in good or fair.
Milton. 2. Superior in kind or degree, irrespective of moral quality; -- used with words of a bad significance. [ Obsolete or Ironical] "An
excellent hypocrite."
Hume. Their sorrows are most excellent .
Beau. & Fl. Syn. -- Worthy; choice; prime; valuable; select; exquisite; transcendent; admirable; worthy.
Excellent adverb Excellently; eminently; exceedingly. [ Obsolete] "This comes off well and excellent ." Shak.
Excellently adverb 1. In an excellent manner; well in a high degree. 2. In a high or superior degree; -- in this literal use, not implying worthiness. [ Obsolete]
When the whole heart is excellently sorry.
J. Fletcher.
Excelsior adjective [ Latin , compar. of
excelsus elevated, lofty, past participle of
excellere . See
Excel ,
transitive verb ]
More lofty; still higher; ever upward.
Excelsior noun A kind of stuffing for upholstered furniture, mattresses, etc., in which curled shreds of wood are substituted for curled hair.
Excentral adjective [ Prefix ex- + central .] (Botany) Out of the center.
Excentric, Excentrical adjective 1. Same as Eccentric , Eccentrical . 2. (Botany) One-sided; having the normally central portion not in the true center. Gray.
Except transitive verb [
imperfect & past participle Excepted ;
present participle & verbal noun Excepting .] [ Latin
exceptus , past participle of
excipere to take or draw out, to except;
ex out +
capere to take: confer French
excepter . See
Capable .]
1. To take or leave out (anything) from a number or a whole as not belonging to it; to exclude; to omit. Who never touched
The excepted tree.
Milton. Wherein (if we only except the unfitness of the judge) all other things concurred.
Bp. Stillingfleet. 2. To object to; to protest against. [ Obsolete]
Shak.
Except intransitive verb To take exception; to object; -- usually followed by to , sometimes by against ; as, to except to a witness or his testimony. Except thou wilt except against my love.
Shak.
Except preposition [ Originally past participle, or verb in the imperative mode.]
With exclusion of; leaving or left out; excepting. God and his Son except ,
Created thing naught valued he nor . . . shunned .
Milton. Syn. --
Except ,
Excepting ,
But ,
Save ,
Besides .
Excepting ,
except ,
but , and
save are exclusive.
Except marks exclusion more pointedly. "I have finished all the letters
except one," is more marked than "I have finished all the letters
but one."
Excepting is the same as
except , but less used.
Save is chiefly found in poetry.
Besides (lit., by the side of) is in the nature of addition. "There is no one here
except or
but him," means, take him away and there is nobody present. "There is nobody here
besides him," means, he is present and by the side of, or in addition to, him is nobody. "Few ladies,
except her Majesty, could have made themselves heard." In this example,
besides should be used, not
except .
Except conj. Unless; if it be not so that. And he said, I will not let thee go, except thou bless me.
Gen. xxxii. 26. But yesterday you never opened lip,
Except , indeed, to drink.
Tennyson. » As a conjunction
unless has mostly taken the place of
except .
Exceptant adjective Making exception.
Excepting preposition & conj., but properly a participle .
With rejection or exception of; excluding; except. "
Excepting your worship's presence."
Shak. No one was ever yet made utterly miserable, excepting by himself.
Lubbock.
Exception noun [ Latin
exceptio : confer French
exception .]
1. The act of excepting or excluding; exclusion; restriction by taking out something which would otherwise be included, as in a class, statement, rule. 2. That which is excepted or taken out from others; a person, thing, or case, specified as distinct, or not included; as, almost every general rule has its exceptions . Such rare exceptions , shining in the dark,
Prove, rather than impeach, the just remark.
Cowper. Often with
to .
That proud exception to all nature's laws.
Pope. 3. (Law) An objection, oral or written, taken, in the course of an action, as to bail or security; or as to the decision of a judge, in the course of a trail, or in his charge to a jury; or as to lapse of time, or scandal, impertinence, or insufficiency in a pleading; also, as in conveyancing, a clause by which the grantor excepts something before granted. Burrill. 4. An objection; cavil; dissent; disapprobation; offense; cause of offense; -- usually followed by to or against . I will never answer what exceptions they can have against our account [ relation].
Bentley. He . . . took exception to the place of their burial.
Bacon. She takes exceptions at your person.
Shak. Bill of exceptions (Law) ,
a statement of exceptions to the decision, or instructions of a judge in the trial of a cause, made for the purpose of putting the points decided on record so as to bring them before a superior court or the full bench for review.
Exceptionable adjective Liable to exception or objection; objectionable. --
Ex*cep"tion*a*ble*ness ,
noun This passage I look upon to be the most exceptionable in the whole poem.
Addison.
Exceptional adjective [ Confer French
exceptionnel .]
Forming an exception; not ordinary; uncommon; rare; hence, better than the average; superior. Lyell. This particular spot had exceptional advantages.
Jowett (Th. ) --
Ex*cep"tion*al*ly adverb
Exceptioner noun One who takes exceptions or makes objections. [ Obsolete] Milton.
Exceptionless adjective Without exception. A universal, . . . exceptionless disqualification.
Bancroft.
Exceptious adjective Disposed or apt to take exceptions, or to object; captious. [ Obsolete]
At least effectually silence the doubtful and exceptious .
South. --
Ex*cep"tious*ness ,
noun [ Obsolete]
Barrow.
Exceptive adjective That excepts; including an exception; as, an exceptive proposition. I. Watts. A particular and exceptive law.
Milton.
Exceptless adjective Not exceptional; usual. [ Obsolete]
My general and exceptless rashness.
Shak.
Exceptor noun [ Latin , a scribe.] One who takes exceptions. T. Burnet.
Excerebration noun [ Latin excerebratus deprived of brains; ex out + cerebrum brain.] The act of removing or beating out the brains.
Excern transitive verb [ Latin
excernere . See
Excrete .]
To excrete; to throw off through the pores; as, fluids are excerned in perspiration. [ R.]
Bacon.