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rsday. -- Right ascension (Astron.), that degree of the equinoctial, counted from the beginning of Aries, which rises with a star, or other celestial body, in a right sphere; or the arc of the equator intercepted between the first point of Aries and that point of the equator that comes to the meridian with the star; -…

A genus of trees of the Olive family, having opposite pinnate leaves, many of the species furnishing valuable timber, as the European ash (Fraxinus excelsior) and the white ash (F. Americana). Prickly ash (Zanthoxylum Americanum) and Poison ash (Rhus venenata) are shrubs of different families, somewhat resembling the t…

The smaller of the two otoliths found in the inner ear of many fishes.

A disease characterized by thickening and fatty degeneration of the inner coat of the arteries.

The beginning of corrosive, decomposing, or destructive action, by a chemical agent.

Any step wrongly innovated or attempted in a suit by an inferior judge.

An inn. Beau. & Fl.

A variety of the game of bridge in which the players, beginning with the dealer, bid for the privilege of naming the trump and playing with the dummy for that deal, there being heavy penalties for a player's failure to make good his bid. The score value of each trick more than six taken by the successful bidder is as f…

The rise, dawn, or beginning. Hawthorne.

iving promise of success, prosperity, or happiness; predicting good; as, an auspicious beginning. Auspicious union of order and freedom. Macaulay.

Plainness; freedom from adornment; severe simplicity. Partly owing to the studied austerity of her dress, and partly to the lack of demonstration in her manners. Hawthorne.

The beginner, former, or first mover of anything; hence, the efficient cause of a thing; a creator; an originator. Eternal King; thee, Author of all being. Milton.

f; to be of service to; to profit; to benefit; to help; as, artifices will not avail the sinner in the day of judgment. O, what avails me now that honor high ! Milton.

, is an ax for hewing timber, made heavier than the chopping ax, and with a broader and thinner blade and a shorter handle.

The outward or upper part of a thing, as opposed to the inner or lower part; as, the back of the hand, the back of the foot, the back of a hand rail. Methought Love pitying me, when he saw this, Gave me your hands, the backs and palms to kiss. Donne.

Slipping back; falling back into sin or error; sinning. Turn, O backsliding children, saith the Lord. Jer. iii. 14.

billiard table near one end, marking a limit within which the cue balls are placed in beginning a game; also, a line around the table, parallel to the sides, used in playing a particular game, called the balk line game.

The game played with such a club; hockey; shinney; bandy ball.

arbary horse; a barb. [Obs.] Also, a kind of pigeon. Barbary ape (Zoöl.), an ape (Macacus innus) of north Africa and Gibraltar Rock, being the only monkey inhabiting Europe. It is very commonly trained by showmen.

Formerly, any small sailing vessel, as a pinnace, fishing smack, etc.; also, a rowing boat; a barge. Now applied poetically to a sailing vessel or boat of any kind. Byron.