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The substitution of one root vowel for another, thus indicating a corresponding modification of use or meaning; vowel permutation; as, get, gat, got; sing, song; hang, hung. Earle.

rce, skill, means, or resources of any kind to accomplish the object; possessed of qualifications rendering competent for some end; competent; qualified; capable; as, an able workman, soldier, seaman, a man able to work; a mind able to reason; a person able to be generous; able to endure pain; able to play on a piano.…

A mystical word or collocation of letters written as in the figure. Worn on an amulet it was supposed to ward off fever. At present the word is used chiefly in jest to denote something without meaning; jargon.

At the same time; simultaneously. [Obs.] Abreast therewith began a convocation. Fuller.

An absolving from ecclesiastical penalties, -- for example, excommunication. P. Cyc.

ction, especially the refraining from an indulgence of appetite, or from customary gratifications of animal or sensual propensities. Specifically, the practice of abstaining from intoxicating beverages, -- called also total abstinence. The abstinence from a present pleasure that offers itself is a pain, nay, oftentimes…

Considered apart from any application to a particular object; separated from matter; exiting in the mind only; as, abstract truth, abstract numbers. Hence: ideal; abstruse; difficult.

Improper treatment or use; application to a wrong or bad 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.

he voice in speaking; manner of speaking or pronouncing; peculiar or characteristic modification of the voice; tone; as, a foreign accent; a French or a German accent. "Beguiled you in a plain accent." Shak. "A perfect accent." Thackeray. The tender accent of a woman's cry. Prior.

Act of accentuating; applications of accent. Specifically (Eccles. Mus.),

ing to its usual acceptation. My words, in common acceptation, Could never give this provocation. Gay.

The application of a writer's language, on the ground of analogy, to something not originally referred to or intended. Many of those quotations from the Old Testament were probably intended as nothing more than accommodations. Paley.

inment; 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 grace. Cowper.

A statement and explanation or vindication of one's conduct with reference to judgment thereon. Give an account of thy stewardship. Luke xvi. 2.

An apparatus for hastening acetification. Knight.

Causing, or connected with, acetification; as, acetous fermentation. Acetous acid, a name formerly given to vinegar.

Having no crisis; giving no indications of a crisis; as, acritical symptoms, an acritical abscess.

Having a terminal fructification; having the fruit at the end of the stalk.

A spore borne at the extremity of the cells of fructification in fungi.

In an active signification; as, a word used actively.