Search the Dictionary

The contraction of a word by the omission of a letter or letters, which omission is marked by the character ['] placed where the letter or letters would have been; as, call'd for called.

or operative; any complex instrument or appliance, mechanical or chemical, for a specific action or operation; machinery; mechanism.

the parties; the being present in court; the coming into court of a party summoned in an action, either by himself or by his attorney, expressed by a formal entry by the proper officer to that effect; the act or proceeding by which a party proceeded against places himself before the court, and submits to its jurisdict…

Specifically: An instinctive inclination or propensity in animals to perform certain actions, as in the young to suck, in aquatic fowls to enter into water and to swim; the tendency of an organized body to seek what satisfies the wants of its organism. These lacteals have mouths, and by animal selection or appetency th…

approving; an assenting to the propriety of a thing with some degree of pleasure or satisfaction; approval; sanction; commendation. Many . . . joined in a loud hum of approbation. Macaulay. The silent approbation of one's own breast. Melmoth. Animals . . . love approbation or praise. Darwin.

or acquired disposition or capacity for a particular purpose, or tendency to a particular action or effect; as, oil has an aptitude to burn. He seems to have had a peculiar aptitude for the management of irregular troops. Macaulay.

The substance from which attraction spheres develop in mitotic cell division, and of which they consist.

Constriction or contraction of some natural passage, as in constipation from inflammation.

C8H13O2N, the chief alkaloid of the betel nut, to which the latter owes its anthelmintic action.

Any place of public contest or exertion; any sphere of action; as, the arenaof debate; the arena of life.

on which another quantity in a table depends; as, the altitude is the argument of the refraction.

To spring up; to come into action, being, or notice; to become operative, sensible, or visible; to begin to act a part; to present itself; as, the waves of the sea arose; a persecution arose; the wrath of the king shall arise. There arose up a new king . . . which knew not Joseph. Ex. i. 8. The doubts that in his heart…

territorial defense, living at home and having only occasional periods of drill and instraction, who are variously called home reserves (as in the table below), second, third, etc., line of defense (the regular army and its reserves ordinarily constituting the first line of defense), territorial forces, or the like. I…

To excite to action from a state of rest; to stir, or put in motion or exertion; to rouse; to excite; as, to arouse one from sleep; to arouse the dormant faculties. Grasping his spear, forth issued to arouse His brother, mighty sovereign on the host. Cowper. No suspicion was aroused. Merivale.

To stop; to check or hinder the motion or action of; as, to arrest the current of a river; to arrest the senses. Nor could her virtues the relentless hand Of Death arrest. Philips.

A system of rules serving to facilitate the performance of certain actions; a system of principles and rules for attaining a desired end; method of doing well some special work; -- often contradistinguished from science or speculative principles; as, the art of building or engraving; the art of war; the art of navigati…

Of or pertaining to an artery, or the arteries; as, arterial action; the arterial system.

directness of dealing; crafty; as, an artful boy. [The usual sense.] Artful in speech, in action, and in mind. Pope. The artful revenge of various animals. Darwin.

A contraction of art thou. [Obs.] Chaucer.

Not liable to putrefaction; nonputrescent. -- n.