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would be sin or guilt to violate; to pronounce free; as, to absolve a subject from his allegiance; to absolve an offender, which amounts to an acquittal and remission of his punishment. Halifax was absolved by a majority of fourteen. Macaulay.

L., without this.] (Law) The technical words of denial used in traversing what has been alleged, and is repeated.

purpose; misuse; as, an abuse of our natural powers; an abuse of civil rights, or of privileges or advantages; an abuse of language. Liberty may be endangered by the abuses of liberty, as well as by the abuses of power. Madison.

A genus of leguminous trees and shrubs. Nearly 300 species are Australian or Polynesian, and have terete or vertically compressed leaf stalks, instead of the bipinnate leaves of the much fewer species of America, Africa, etc. Very few are found in temperate climates.

A member of an academy, university, or college.

A member of an academy, college, or university; an academician.

The articles of dress prescribed and worn at some colleges and universities.

A collegian. [R.] Chesterfield.

An institution for the study of higher learning; a college or a university. Popularly, a school, or seminary of learning, holding a rank between a college and a common school.

quips thoroughly; acquirement; attainment; that which constitutes excellence of mind, or elegance of manners, acquired by education or training. "My new accomplishment of dancing." Churchill. "Accomplishments befitting a station." Thackeray. Accomplishments have taken virtue's place, And wisdom falls before exterior gr…

] True religion . . . intelligible, rational, and accountable, -- not a burden but a privilege. B. Whichcote.

edential, as an ambassador, envoy, or diplomatic agent; to authorize, as a messenger or delegate. Beton . . . was accredited to the Court of France. Froude.

Gain to an heir or legatee, failure of a coheir to the same succession, or a co-legatee of the same thing, to take his share. Wharton. Kent.

The cavity in which the leg of an insect is inserted at its articulation with the body.

The strong tendon formed of the united tendons of the large muscles in the calf of the leg, an inserted into the bone of the heel; -- so called from the mythological account of Achilles being held by the heel when dipped in the River Styx.

To own as genuine; to assent to, as a legal instrument, to give it validity; to avow or admit in legal form; as, to acknowledgea deed.

A declaration or avowal of one's own act, to give it legal validity; as, the acknowledgment of a deed before a proper officer. Also, the certificate of the officer attesting such declaration. Acknowledgment money, in some parts of England, a sum paid by copyhold tenants, on the death of their landlords, as an acknowled…

uditory. Acoustic duct, the auditory duct, or external passage of the ear. -- Acoustic telegraph, a telegraph making audible signals; a telephone. -- Acoustic vessels, brazen tubes or vessels, shaped like a bell, used in ancient theaters to propel the voices of the actors, so as to render them audible to a great dist…

The result of public deliberation; the decision or determination of a legislative body, council, court of justice, etc.; a decree, edit, law, judgment, resolve, award; as, an act of Parliament, or of Congress.

an argument, passage, or consideration which bears on a statement or case; to cite; to allege. Reasons . . . were adduced on both sides. Macaulay. Enough could not be adduced to satisfy the purpose of illustration. De Quincey.