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To wean. [R.] Bailey.

The weaning of a child from the breast, or of young beasts from their dam. Blount.

ed to one of the cases of the noun in Latin and some other languages, -- the fundamental meaning of the case being removal, separation, or taking away.

on 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.

Having sufficient power, strength, force, 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 e…

The act of washing or cleansing; specifically, the washing of the body, or some part of it, as a religious rite.

passing; beyond; higher in measure or degree than; as, things above comprehension; above mean actions; conduct above reproach. "Thy worth . . . is actions above my gifts." Marlowe. I saw in the way a light from heaven above the brightness of the sun. Acts xxxvi. 13.

ward off fever. At present the word is used chiefly in jest to denote something without meaning; jargon.

Anything which absorbs. The ocean, itself a bad absorbent of heat. Darwin.

To make clean by wiping; to wipe away; to cleanse; hence, to purge. [R.] Quincy.

Serving to cleanse, detergent.

To absterge; to cleanse; to purge away. [Obs.] Sir T. Browne.

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

Cleansing; purging. Bacon.

A group of teleostean fishes having spiny fins. See Acanthopterygii.

tion. I. Taylor. (Astr. & Physics.) Acceleration of the moon, the increase of the moon's mean motion in its orbit, in consequence of which its period of revolution is now shorter than in ancient times. -- Acceleration and retardation of the tides. See Priming of the tides, under Priming. -- Diurnal acceleration of th…

A genus of European birds (so named from their sweet notes), including the hedge warbler. In America sometimes applied to the water thrushes.

Meaning; acceptation. [Obs.] Acceptance of persons, partiality, favoritism. See under Accept.

The meaning in which a word or expression is understood, or generally received; as, term is to be used according to its usual acceptation. My words, in common acceptation, Could never give this provocation. Gay.

Acceptation; the received meaning. [Obs.] Here the word "baron" is not to be taken in that restrictive sense to which the modern acception hath confined it. Fuller. Acception of persons or faces (Eccl.), favoritism; partiality. [Obs.] Wyclif.