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naval officer of the highest rank; a naval officer of high rank, of which there are different grades. The chief gradations in rank are admiral, vice admiral, and rear admiral. The admiral is the commander in chief of a fleet or of fleets.

A mingling of different things; admixture. Glanvill.

The compound formed by mixing different substances together.

Growing with one side adherent to a stem; -- a term applied to the lateral zooids of corals and other compound animals.

The adhesion or cohesion of different floral verticils or sets of organs.

ip, as, child, heir, friend, citizen, etc. ; esp. to take voluntarily (a child of other parents) to be in the place of, or as, one's own child.

ease the length of the neck of a retort, or to unite two vessels whose openings have different diameters. [Written also adapter.]

he act of adopting, or state of being adopted; voluntary acceptance of a child of other parents to be the same as one's own child.

A transparent or translucent variety of common feldspar, or orthoclase, which often shows pearly opalescent reflections; -- called by lapidaries moonstone.

Property given, usually by a parent to a child, in advance of a future distribution.

Added extrinsically; not essentially inherent; accidental or causal; additional; supervenient; foreign. To things of great dimensions, if we annex an adventitious idea of terror, they become without comparison greater. Burke.

Exhibiting differences of quality or property in different directions; not isotropic. Sir W. Thomson.

Difference of quality or property in different directions.

the air; produced by or found in the air; performed in the air; as, aërial regions or currents. "Aërial spirits." Milton. "Aërial voyages." Darwin.

Dread of a current of air.

Conveying sensory or afferent impulses; -- said of nerves.

An instrument consisting in part of a differential thermometer. It is used for measuring changes of temperature produced by different conditions of the sky, as when clear or clouded.

Made up of terms involving different powers of the unknown quantity; adfected; as, an affected equation.

Proceeding from affection; indicating love; tender; as, the affectionate care of a parent; affectionate countenance, message, language.

The establishment or ascertaining of parentage; the assignment of a child, as a bastard, to its father; filiation.