Search the Dictionary

Than. [Obs. & R.] The king was not more forward to bestow favors on them as they free to deal affronts to others their superiors. Fuller.

To move upward; to mount; to go up; to rise; -- opposed to Ant: descend. Higher yet that star ascends. Bowring. I ascend unto my father and your father. John xx. 17.

Rising toward the zenith; above the horizon. The constellation . . . about that time ascendant. Browne.

Rising; moving upward; as, an ascending kite. -- As*cend"ing*ly, adv. Ascending latitude (Astron.), the increasing latitude of a planet. Ferguson. -- Ascending line (Geneol.), the line of relationship traced backward or through one's ancestors. One's father and mother, grandfather and grandmother, etc., are in the li…

Relating to ascension; connected with ascent; ascensive; tending upward; as, the ascensional power of a balloon. Ascensional difference (Astron.), the difference between oblique and right ascension; -- used chiefly as expressing the difference between the time of the rising or setting of a body and six o'clock, or six…

The act of rising; motion upward; rise; a mounting upward; as, he made a tedious ascent; the ascent of vapors from the earth. To him with swift ascent he up returned. Milton.

To refer something to its cause or source; as, to attribute a backward spring to icebergs off the coast. Ascribe is used equally in both these senses, but involves a different image. To impute usually denotes to ascribe something doubtful or wrong, and hence, in general literature, has commonly a bad sense; as, to impu…

Toward one side; in a slanting direction; obliquely. [The shaft] drove through his neck aslant. Dryden.

Prospect; outlook. [Obs.] This town affords a good aspect toward the hill from whence we descended. Evelyn.

rising obliquely; curving upward. Gray.

In or at the hinder part of a ship; toward the hinder part, or stern; backward; as, to go astern.

this word expresses the relations of presence, nearness in place or time, or direction toward; as, at the ninth hour; at the house; to aim at a mark. It is less definite than in or on; at the house may be in or near the house. From this original import are derived all the various uses of at. It expresses: -…

or card.) -- Atmospheric pressure, the pressure exerted by the atmosphere, not merely downwards, but in every direction. In amounts to about 14.7 Ibs. on each square inch. -- Atmospheric railway, one in which pneumatic power, obtained from compressed air or the creation of a vacuum, is the propelling force. -- Atmosp…

s. This philosophy was first broached by Leucippus, was developed by Democritus, and afterward improved by Epicurus, and hence is sometimes denominated the Epicurean philosophy. -- Atomic theory, or the Doctrine of definite proportions (Chem.), teaches that chemical combinations take place between the supposed ultimat…

To come or arrive, by motion, growth, bodily exertion, or efforts toward a place, object, state, etc.; to reach. If by any means they might attain to Phenice. Acts xxvii. 12. Nor nearer might the dogs attain. Sir W. Scott. To see your trees attain to the dignity of timber. Cowper. Few boroughs had as yet attained to po…

by friction, or by rubbing substances together; abrasion. Effected by attrition of the inward stomach. Arbuthnot.

y authors to their readers. Fit audience find, though few. Milton. He drew his audience upward to the sky. Dryden. Court of audience, or Audience court (Eng.), a court long since disused, belonging to the Archbishop of Canterbury; also, one belonging to the Archbishop of York. Mozley & W. -- In general (or open) audie…

he peculiar sensation, as of a light vapor, or cold air, rising from the trunk or limbs towards the head, a premonitory symptom of epilepsy or hysterics. Electric ~, a supposed electric fluid, emanating from an electrified body, and forming a mass surrounding it, called the electric atmosphere. See Atmosphere, 2.…

A celestial crown or accidental glory added to the bliss of heaven, as a reward to those (as virgins, martyrs, preachers, etc.) who have overcome the world, the flesh, and the devil.

to be of electrical origin. This species of light usually appears in streams, ascending toward the zenith from a dusky line or bank, a few degrees above the northern horizon; when reaching south beyond the zenith, it forms what is called the corona, about a spot in the heavens toward which the dipping needle points. Oc…