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Pure; unmixed; as, absolute alcohol.

To engross or engage wholly; to occupy fully; as, absorbed in study or the pursuit of wealth.

Swallowing, engrossing; as, an absorbing pursuit. -- Ab*sorb"ing, adv.

To make clean by wiping; to wipe away; to cleanse; hence, to purge. [R.] Quincy.

To absterge; to cleanse; to purge away. [Obs.] Sir T. Browne.

Act of wiping clean; a cleansing; a purging. The task of ablution and abstersion being performed. Sir W. Scott.

Cleansing; purging. Bacon.

; but when applied to any thing, as 6 feet, 10 men, they become concrete. -- Abstract or Pure mathematics. See Mathematics.

The taking surreptitiously for one's own use part of the property of another; purloining. [Modern]

To put to a wrong use; to misapply; to misuse; to put to a bad use; to use for a wrong purpose or end; to pervert; as, to abuse inherited gold; to make an excessive use of; as, to abuse one's authority. This principle (if one may so abuse the word) shoots rapidly into popularity. Froude.

nding on the hypersensibility of the retina of the eye for complementary colors. They are purely subjective sensations of color which often result from the contemplation of actually colored bodies. -- Accidental point (Persp.), the point in which a right line, drawn from the eye, parallel to a given right line, cuts t…

ch a person makes and delivers to another, not upon a consideration received, but for the purpose of raising money on credit. -- Accommodation coach, or train, one running at moderate speed and stopping at all or nearly all stations. -- Accommodation ladder (Naut.), a light ladder hung over the side of a ship at the…

The potter's field, said to have lain south of Jerusalem, purchased with the bribe which Judas took for betraying his Master, and therefore called the field of blood. Fig.: A field of bloodshed. The system of warfare . . . which had already converted immense tracts into one universal aceldama. De Quincey.…

Purchase; bargaining. [Obs.] Chaucer.

Purveyor; acater. [Obs.] Chaucer.

Property acquired by purchase, gift, or otherwise than by inheritance. Bouvier.

To feign or counterfeit; to simulate. With acted fear the villain thus pursued. Dryden. To act a part, to sustain the part of one of the characters in a play; hence, to simulate; to dissemble. -- To act the part of, to take the character of; to fulfill the duties of.

us disease of cattle and man due to the presence of Actinomyces bovis. It causes local suppurating tumors, esp. about the jaw. Called also lumpy jaw or big jaw. -- Ac`ti*no*my*cot"ic (#), a.

The insertion of needles into the living tissues for remedial purposes.

The quality of being adaptable; suitableness. "General adaptability for every purpose." Farrar.