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ame form; and this was made from the first letter (Aleph, and itself from the Egyptian origin. The Aleph was a consonant letter, with a guttural breath sound that was not an element of Greek articulation; and the Greeks took it to represent their vowel Alpha with the ä sound, the Phoenician alphabet having no vowel sym…

A prefix in many words of Latin origin. It signifies from, away , separating, or departure, as in abduct, abstract, abscond. See A- (6).

al purposes; the sea-ear. Several large species are found on the coast of California, clinging closely to the rocks.

The act of abasing, humbling, or bringing low; the state of being abased or humbled; humiliation.

Belonging to an abbey; as, abbatial rights.

Serving or tending to abbreviate; shortening; abridging.

Having abdominal fins; belonging to the Abdominales; as, abdominal fishes. Abdominal ring (Anat.), a fancied ringlike opening on each side of the abdomen, external and superior to the pubes; -- called also inguinal ring.

spherical form of the lens or mirror, such form giving different foci for central and marginal rays; and chromatic aberration, when due to different refrangibilities of the colored rays of the spectrum, those of each color having a distinct focus.

The supposed origination of living organisms from lifeless matter; such genesis as does not involve the action of living parents; spontaneous generation; -- called also abiogeny, and opposed to biogenesis. I shall call the . . . doctrine that living matter may be produced by not living matter, the hypothesis of abiogen…

The act of bringing down or humbling. "The abjection of the king and his realm." Joe.

The act abridging, or the state of being abridged; diminution; lessening; reduction or deprivation; as, an abridgment of pleasures or of expenses.

amic principles, and reckoned from the absolute zero. -- Absolute zero (Physics), the be ginning, or zero point, in the scale of absolute temperature. It is equivalent to -273º centigrade or -459.4º Fahrenheit.

Act of wiping clean; a cleansing; a purging. The task of ablution and abstersion being performed. Sir W. Scott.

Cleansing; purging. Bacon.

r of milk in such proportion that one part of the abstract represents two parts of the original substance. Abstract of title (Law), an epitome of the evidences of ownership.

g speech; abusive language; virulent condemnation; reviling. The two parties, after exchanging a good deal of abuse, came to blows. Macaulay.

Belonging to, or resembling, an abyss; unfathomable. Abyssal zone (Phys. Geog.), one of the belts or zones into which Sir E. Forbes divides the bottom of the sea in describing its plants, animals, etc. It is the one furthest from the shore, embracing all beyond one hundred fathoms deep. Hence, abyssal animals, plants,…

Belonging to the school or philosophy of Plato; as, the Academic sect or philosophy.

A native of Acadie. Acadian epoch (Geol.), an epoch at the beginning of the American paleozoic time, and including the oldest American rocks known to be fossiliferous. See Geology. -- Acadian owl (Zoöl.), a small North American owl (Nyctule Acadica); the saw-whet.

oelenterata, including the Medusæ or jellyfishes, and hydroids; -- so called from the stinging power they possess. Sometimes called sea nettles.