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or temper; irritating bitterness of disposition or manners. John the Baptist set himself with much acrimony and indignation to baffle this senseless arrogant conceit of theirs. South.

Acridity; pungency joined with heat. [Obs.]

Having each verse begin with the same letter as that with which the preceding verse ends.

dentally. Freeman. -- To go across the country, to go by a direct course across a region without following the roads.

A Hebrew poem in which the lines or stanzas begin with the letters of the alphabet in regular order (as Psalm cxix.). See Abecedarian. Double acrostic, a species of enigma, in which words are to be guessed whose initial and final letters form other words.

Having a cleavage parallel with the base.

To perform; to execute; to do. [Archaic] That we act our temporal affairs with a desire 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 cri…

Without action or spirit. [R.]

A stuffed jacket worn under the mail, or (later) a jacket plated with mail. [Spelled also hacqueton.] [Obs.] Halliwell. Sir W. Scott.

One who deals with or considers actually existing facts and conditions, rather than fancies or theories; -- opposed to idealist. J. Grote.

to actuate 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.

Sharpness or acuteness, as of a needle, wit, etc.

Having a sting; covered with prickles; sharp like a prickle.

Having a sharp point; armed with prickles; prickly; aculeate.

Pricking with a needle; a needle prick. Specifically (Med.):

Attended with symptoms of some degree of severity, and coming speedily to a crisis; -- opposed to chronic; as, an acute disease. Acute angle (Geom.), an angle less than a right angle.

Having acute angles; as, an acute-angled triangle, a triangle with every one of its angles less than a right angle.

In an acute manner; sharply; keenly; with nice discrimination.

The twisting of an artery with a needle to arrest hemorrhage.

Without limit; endlessly.