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ons; to get as one's own; as, to acquire a title, riches, knowledge, skill, good or bad habits. No virtue is acquired in an instant, but step by step. Barrow. Descent is the title whereby a man, on the death of his ancestor, acquires his estate, by right of representation, as his heir at law. Blackstone.…

Sharp and harsh, or bitter and not, to the taste; pungent; as, acrid salts.

The quality of being acrid or pungent; irritant bitterness; acrimony; as, the acridity of a plant, of a speech.

Caustic; bitter-tempered' sarcastic; as, acrimonious dispute, language, temper.

A quality of bodies which corrodes or destroys others; also, a harsh or biting sharpness; as, the acrimony of the juices of certain plants. [Archaic] Bacon.

esire no greater than our necessity. Jer. Taylor. Industry doth beget by producing good habits, and facility of acting things expedient for us to do. Barrow. Uplifted hands that at convenient times Could act extortion and the worst of crimes. Cowper.

An act; a thing done; a deed; an enterprise. (pl.): Habitual deeds; hence, conduct; behavior; demeanor. The Lord is a Good of knowledge, and by him actions are weighed. 1 Sam. ii. 3.

ate by the perpetual motion. Johnson. Men of the greatest abilities are most fired with ambition; and, on the contrary, mean and narrow minds are the least actuated by it. Addison.

To apply habitually; to devote; to habituate; -- with to. "They addict themselves to the civil law." Evelyn. He is addicted to his study. Beau. & Fl. That part of mankind that addict their minds to speculations. Adventurer. His genius addicted him to the study of antiquity. Fuller. A man gross . . . and addicted to low…

out or receiving heat. -- Ad`i*a*bat`ic*al*ly, adv. Adiabatic line or curve, a curve exhibiting the variations of pressure and volume of a fluid when it expands without either receiving or giving out heat. Rankine.

e gigantic crane, and by the native name argala. It is noted for its serpent-destroying habits.

Dexterous in the use of the hands or in the exercise of the mental faculties; exhibiting skill and readiness in avoiding danger or escaping difficulty; ready in invention or execution; -- applied to persons and to acts; as, an adroit mechanic, an adroit reply. "Adroit in the application of the telescope and quadrant."…

Of or pertaining to Æolia or Æolis, in Asia Minor, colonized by the Greeks, or to its inhabitants; æolic; as, the Æolian dialect.

Exhibiting differences of quality or property in different directions; not isotropic. Sir W. Thomson.

Of or pertaining to the air, or atmosphere; inhabiting or frequenting the air; produced by or found in the air; performed in the air; as, aërial regions or currents. "Aërial spirits." Milton. "Aërial voyages." Darwin.

To show a fondness for; to like to use or practice; to choose; hence, to frequent habitually. For he does neither affect company, nor is he fit for Shak. Do not affect the society of your inferiors in rank, nor court that of the great. Hazlitt.

An attempt to assume or exhibit what is not natural or real; false display; artificial show. "An affectation of contempt." Macaulay. Affectation is an awkward and forced imitation of what should be genuine and easy, wanting the beauty that accompanies what is natural what is natural. Locke.

One who exhibits affectation. [R.] Fitzed. Hall.

To assess or reduce, as an arbitrary penalty or amercement, to a certain and reasonable sum. Amercements . . . were affeered by the judges. Blackstone.

Trust; reliance; faith; confidence. Such feelings promptly yielded to his habitual affiance in the divine love. Sir J. Stephen. Lancelot, my Lancelot, thou in whom I have Most joy and most affiance. Tennyson.