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; as, an authentic paper or register. To be avenged On him who had stole Jove's authentic fire. Milton.

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.

To sanction or confirm by the authority of some one; to warrant; as, to authorize a report. A woman's story at a winter's fire, Authorized by her grandam. Shak.

In fire-alarm telegraphy, a system so arranged that when one alarm is being transmitted, no other alarm, sent in from another point, will be transmitted until after the first alarm has been disposed of.

the point of the equator intersected by the ecliptic, as the sun proceeds southward; the first point of Libra. -- ~= signs, the signs Libra, Scorpio, and Sagittarius, through which the sun passes between the ~ equinox and winter solstice.

n shall they seek to avail themselves of names. Milton. I have availed myself of the very first opportunity. Dickens.

A mischance causing a person's death without felony, as by drowning, or falling into the fire.

A kind of glass, containing gold-colored spangles. It was produced in the first place by the accidental (par aventure) dropping of some brass filings into a pot of melted glass.

To affirm with confidence; to declare in a positive manner, as in confidence of asserting the truth. It is sufficient that the very fact hath its foundation in truth, as I do seriously aver is the case. Fielding. Then all averred I had killed the bird. Coleridge.

The act of averring, or that which is averred; affirmation; positive assertion. Signally has this averment received illustration in the course of recent events. I. Taylor.

To declare or assert positively and as matter of fact; to affirm openly. If this which he avouches does appear. Shak. Such antiquities could have been avouched for the Irish. Spenser.

A self-evident and necessary truth, or a proposition whose truth is so evident as first sight that no reasoning or demonstration can make it plainer; a proposition which it is necessary to take for granted; as, "The whole is greater than a part;" "A thing can not, at the same time, be and not be."

of the body only of the vertebra, which is prolonged anteriorly within the foramen of the first vertebra or atlas, so as to form the odontoid process or peg which serves as a pivot for the atlas and head to turn upon.

An affirmative vote; one who votes in the affirmative; as, "To call for the ayes and noes;" "The ayes have it."

Yes; yea; -- a word expressing assent, or an affirmative answer to a question. It is much used in viva voce voting in legislative bodies, etc.

The first principle of metals, i. e., mercury, which was formerly supposed to exist in all metals, and to be extractable from them.

The degree of bachelor of arts. (B.A. or A.B.), the first or lowest academical degree conferred by universities and colleges.

A person who has taken the first or lowest degree in the liberal arts, or in some branch of science, at a college or university; as, a bachelor of arts.

ply of water; esp. a small cistern at the back of a stove, or a group of pipes set in the fire box of a stove or furnace, through which water circulates and is heated.

The column of bones in the back which sustains and gives firmness to the frame; the spine; the vertebral or spinal column.