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An escutcheon or ensign armorial; now generally applied to the funeral shield commonly called hatchment. Cussans.

An instrument for measuring the acuteness of the sense of hearing. Itard.

To perform; to execute; to do. [Archaic] That we act our temporal affairs with a desire no greater than our necessity. Jer. Taylor. Industry doth beget by producing good habits, and facility of acting things expedient for us to do. Barrow. Uplifted hands that at convenient times Could act extortion and the worst of cri…

Sharpness or acuteness, as of a needle, wit, etc.

g under the divided vessel a needle, the ends of which are left exposed externally on the cutaneous surface. Simpson.

To manage or conduct, as public affairs; to direct or superintend the execution, application, or conduct of; as, to administer the government or the state. For forms of government let fools contest: Whate'er is best administered is best. Pope.

Pertaining to administration, or to the executive part of government.

Executive; acting; managing affairs. -- n.

The executive part of government; the persons collectively who are intrusted with the execution of laws and the superintendence of public affairs; the chief magistrate and his cabinet or council; or the council, or ministry, alone, as in Great Britain. A mild and popular administration. Macaulay. The administration has…

Pertaining to administration; administering; executive; as, an administrative body, ability, or energy. -- Ad*min"is*tra`tive*ly, adv.

One who administers affairs; one who directs, manages, executes, or dispenses, whether in civil, judicial, political, or ecclesiastical affairs; a manager.

g skill and readiness in avoiding danger or escaping difficulty; ready in invention or execution; -- applied to persons and to acts; as, an adroit mechanic, an adroit reply. "Adroit in the application of the telescope and quadrant." Horsley. "He was adroit in intrigue." Macaulay.

ocates (Scot.), the Scottish bar in Edinburgh. -- Lord advocate (Scot.), the public prosecutor of crimes, and principal crown lawyer. -- Judge advocate. See under Judge.

To cut with an adz. [R.] Carlyle.

Executed in a workmanlike manner; ingeniously made. [R.] Bailey.

A diminutive person; so called in allusion to the small figures cut in agate for rings and seals. [Obs.] Shak.

An acute fever. [Obs.] "Brenning agues." P. Plowman.

Indisposition; morbid affection of the body; -- not applied ordinarily to acute diseases. "Little ailments." Landsdowne.

A musical idea, or motive, rhythmically developed in consecutive single tones, so as to form a symmetrical and balanced whole, which may be sung by a single voice to the stanzas of a hymn or song, or even to plain prose, or played upon an instrument; a melody; a tune; an aria.

The bone of the rump; also, the cut of beef surrounding this bone. [Spelt also edgebone.]