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Webster’s Dictionary (1828)



751 words match “ANCIENT”

ILIAC a.
Pertaining to ancient Ilium, or Troy. Gladstone.
ILIAD n.
A celebrated Greek epic poem, in twenty-four books, on the destruction of Ilium, the ancient Troy. The Iliad is ascribed to Homer.
IMMEMORIAL a.
Extending beyond the reach of memory, record, or tradition; indefinitely ancient; as, existing from time immemorial. "Immemorial elms." Tennyson. "Immemorial usage or custom." Sir M. Hale. Time immemorial (Eng. Law.), a time antedating (legal) history, and beyond "legal memory" so called; formerly an indefinite time, b…
INDO-GERMANIC a.
denoting the Teutonic family of languages as related to the Sanskrit, or derived from the ancient Aryan language.
INFERNAL a.
Of or pertaining to or suitable for the lower regions, inhabited, according to the ancients, by the dead; pertaining to Pluto's realm of the dead, the Tartarus of the ancients. The Elysian fields, the infernal monarchy. Garth.
INFULA n.
A sort of fillet worn by dignitaries, priests, and others among the ancient Romans. It was generally white.
INNOVATION n.
ng new, and contrary to established customs, manners, or rites. Bacon. The love of things ancient doth argue stayedness, but levity and want of experience maketh apt unto innovations. Hooker.
INSPEXIMUS n.
The first word of ancient charters in England, confirming a grant made by a former king; hence, a royal grant.
INTELLIGIBLE n.
count or description; intelligible pronunciation, writing, etc. The intelligible forms of ancient poets. Coleridge.
IONIC a.
nd glory. -- Ionic foot. (Pros.) See Ionic, n., 1. -- Ionic, or Ionian, mode (Mus.), an ancient mode, supposed to correspond with the modern major scale of C. -- Ionic sect, a sect of philosophers founded by Thales of Miletus, in Ionia. Their distinguishing tenet was, that water is the original principle of all thin…
ISOLATE v.
ne; to insulate; to separate from others. Short isolated sentences were the mode in which ancient wisdom delighted to convey its precepts. Bp. Warburton.
ITALIC a.
ldus Manutius, about the year 1500. Italic languages, the group or family of languages of ancient Italy. -- Italic order (Arch.), the composite order. See Composite. -- Italic school, a term given to the Pythagorean and Eleatic philosophers, from the country where their doctrines were first promulgated. -- Italic ve…
JAVELIN n.
A sort of light spear, to be thrown or cast by thew hand; anciently, a weapon of war used by horsemen and foot soldiers; now used chiefly in hunting the wild boar and other fierce game. Flies the javelin swifter to its mark, Launched by the vigor of a Roman arm Addison.
JOVE n.
The chief divinity of the ancient Romans; Jupiter.
JUJUBE n.
Z. mucronata, and Z. Lotus. The last named is thought to have furnished the lotus of the ancient Libyan Lotophagi, or lotus eaters. Jujube paste, the dried or inspissated jelly of the jujube; also, a confection made of gum arabic sweetened.
JUNKETING n.
entertainment; a revel. All those snug junketings and public gormandizings for which the ancient magistrates were equally famous with their modern successors. W. Irving. The apostle would have no reveling or junketing upon the altar. South.
KAISER n.
The ancient title of emperors of Germany assumed by King William of Prussia when crowned sovereign of the new German empire in 1871.
KERMES n.
of a pea, contain coloring matter analogous to carmine, and are used in dyeing. They were anciently thought to be of a vegetable nature, and were used in medicine. [Written also chermes.]
KERN n.
A light-armed foot soldier of the ancient militia of Ireland and Scotland; -- distinguished from gallowglass, and often used as a term of contempt. Macaulay. Now for our Irish wars; We must supplant those rough, rug-headed kerns. Shak.
KNIGHT BACHELOR n.
A knight of the most ancient, but lowest, order of English knights, and not a member of any order of chivalry. See Bachelor, 4.
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