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Pertaining to, or formed by, the letters of the alphabet; alphabetic; hence, rudimentary. Abecedarian psalms, hymns, etc., compositions in which (like the 119th psalm in Hebrew) distinct portions or verses commence with successive letters of the alphabet. Hook.

A morbid condition characterized by the presence of acetone in the blood, as in diabetes.

Excess of acetone in the urine, as in starvation or diabetes.

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.

Divination by means of a cock and grains of corn placed on the letters of the alphabet, the letters being put together in the order in which the grains were eaten. Amer. Cyc.

Flour made of aleurone, used as a substitute for ordinary flour in preparing bread for diabetic persons.

An approver or abettor. [Obs.]

The first letter in the Greek alphabet, answering to A, and hence used to denote the beginning. In am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last. Rev. xxii. 13.

ve public notice, or first notice of; to make known; to publish; to proclaim. Her [Q. Elizabeth's] arrival was announced through the country by a peal of cannon from the ramparts. Gilpin.

o black art; magic. [Obs.] Shak. Art and part (Scots Law), share or concern by aiding and abetting a criminal in the perpetration of a crime, whether by advice or by assistance in the execution; complicity.

is the second letter of the English alphabet. (See Guide to Pronunciation, §§ 196,220.) It is etymologically related to p , v , f , w and m , letters representing sounds having a close organic affinity to its own sound; as in Eng. bursar and purser; Eng. bear and Lat. pear; Eng. silver and Ger. silber; Lat. cubitum and…

Stand back! give place! -- a cant word of the Elizabethan writers, probably in ridicule of some person who pretended to a knowledge of Latin which he did not possess. Baccare! you are marvelous forward. Shak.

light part song, or madrigal, with a fa la burden or chorus, -- most common with the Elizabethan madrigal composers.

The second letter of the Greek alphabet, B, b. See B, and cf. etymology of Alphabet. Beta (B, b) is used variously for classifying, as:

One who assists or supports another in a contest; an abettor; a backer. [Colloq.] Lord Palmerston considered himself the bottleholder of oppressed states. The London Times.

C is the third letter of the English alphabet. It is from the Latin letter C, which in old Latin represented the sounds of k, and g (in go); its original value being the latter. In Anglo-Saxon words, or Old English before the Norman Conquest, it always has the sound of k. The Latin C was the same letter as the Greek go…

Thebes, who was said to have introduced into Greece the sixteen simple letters of the alphabet -- Cadmean letters. Cadmean victory, a victory that damages the victors as much as the vanquished; probably referring to the battle in which the soldiers who sprang from the dragon's teeth sown by Cadmus slew each other.…

A list or enumeration of names, or articles arranged methodically, often in alphabetical order; as, a catalogue of the students of a college, or of books, or of the stars. Card catalogue, a catalogue, as of books, having each item entered on a separate card, and the cards arranged in cases by subjects, or authors, or a…

The art or practice of using the manual alphabet or of communicating thoughts by sings made by the hands and fingers; a substitute for spoken or written language in intercourse with the deaf and dumb. See Dactylalogy.

The alphabet; -- formerly so called, either from the cross usually set before it, or from a superstitious custom, sometimes practiced, of writing it in the form of a cross, by way of a charm. From infant conning of the Christcross-row. Wordsworth.