Search the Dictionary

The act of approving; an assenting to the propriety of a thing with some degree of pleasure or satisfaction; approval; sanction; commendation. Many . . . joined in a loud hum of approbation. Macaulay. The silent approbation of one's own breast. Melmoth. Animals . . . love approbation or praise. Darwin.…

Anything, especially money, thus set apart. The Commons watched carefully over the appropriation. Macaulay.

Approbation. I did nothing without your approvement. Hayward.

That which belongs to something else; an adjunct; an appendage; an accessory; something annexed to another thing more worthy; in common parlance and legal acceptation, something belonging to another thing as principal, and which passes as incident to it, as a right of way, or other easement to land; a right of common t…

Annexed or pertaining to some more important thing; accessory; incident; as, a right of way appurtenant to land or buildings. Blackstone. Common appurtenatn. (Law) See under Common, n.

Something which by its shape or use suggests an apron; as, (a) The fat skin covering the belly of a goose or duck. [Prov. Eng.] Halliwell.

Having an habitual tendency; habitually liable or likely; -- used of things. My vines and peaches . . . were apt to have a soot or smuttiness upon their leaves and fruit. Temple. This tree, if unprotected, is apt to be stripped of the leaves by a leaf-cutting ant. Lubbock.

Fitness; suitableness; appropriateness; as, the aptness of things to their end. The aptness of his quotations. J. R. Green.

er. Taylor. Rank pretends to fix the value of every one, and is the most arbitrary of all things. Landor.

Like, or imitative of, anything archaic; pertaining to an archaism.

The original pattern or model of a work; or the model from which a thing is made or formed. The House of Commons, the archetype of all the representative assemblies which now meet. Macaulay. Types and shadows of that glorious archetype that was to come into the world. South.

Whiteness; anything that is white. The polished argent of her breast. Tennyson.

made up of rational proofs; argumentation; discussion; disputation. The argument is about things, but names. Locke.

Adductive as proof; indicative; as, the adaptation of things to their uses is argumentative of infinite wisdom in the Creator. [Obs.]

To proceed; to issue; to spring. Whence haply mention may arise Of something not unseasonable to ask. Milton.

Anything resembling an arm; as,

Defensive arms for the body; any clothing or covering worn to protect one's person in battle.

Anything which a man takes in his hand in anger, to strike or assault another with; an aggressive weapon. Cowell. Blackstone.

An imposing series of things. Their long array of sapphire and of gold. Byron.

Money or other valuable thing given to evidence a contract; a pledge or earnest.