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ate leaves, many of the species furnishing valuable timber, as the European ash (Fraxinus excelsior) and the white ash (F. Americana). Prickly ash (Zanthoxylum Americanum) and Poison ash (Rhus venenata) are shrubs of different families, somewhat resembling the true ashes in their foliage. -- Mountain ash. See Roman tr…

To reach in excellence or degree; to equal.

A crystalline globulin, contained in oat kernels, very similar in composition to excelsin, but different in reactions and crystalline form.

s). Hence, in the plural, an honorary garland or crown bestowed as a prize for victory or excellence, anciently made or consisting of branches of the laurel. The patriot's honors and the poet's bays. Trumbull.

A particular grace, feature, ornament, or excellence; anything beautiful; as, the beauties of nature.

; to cause to appear well; -- said of persons and things. It becomes me so to speak of so excellent a poet. Dryden. I have known persons so anxious to have their dress become them, as to convert it, at length, into their proper self, and thus actually to become the dress. Coleridge.

istance by, in progress of improvement Hence: Inferior to in dignity, rank, knowledge, or excellence, or in any achievement. I was not a whit behind the very chiefest apostles. 2 Cor. xi. 5.

A woman excelling both in beauty and goodness; a fair maid. [Obs.] Spenser.

Inferior to in rank, excellence, dignity, value, amount, price, etc.; lower in quality. "One degree below kings." Addison.

Lower in rank, dignity, or excellence than; as, brutes are beneath man; man is beneath angels in the scale of beings. Hence: Unworthy of; unbecoming. He will do nothing that is beneath his high station. Atterbury.

ng good qualities in the highest degree; most good, kind, desirable, suitable, etc.; most excellent; as, the best man; the best road; the best cloth; the best abilities. When he is best, he is a little worse than a man. Shak. Heaven's last, best gift, my ever new delight. Milton.

In a superior or more excellent manner; with more skill and wisdom, courage, virtue, advantage, or success; as, Henry writes better than John; veterans fight better than recruits. I could have better spared a better man. Shak.

mount exceeding or surpassing; proceeding to a greater degree than; above, as in dignity, excellence, or quality of any kind. "Beyond expectation." Barrow. Beyond any of the great men of my country. Sir P. Sidney. Beyond sea. (Law) See under Sea. -- To go beyond, to exceed in ingenuity, in research, or in anything els…

A West Indian tree (Picræna excelsa) from the wood of which the bitter drug Jamaica quassia is obtained.

The black sea bass (Centropristis atrarius) of the Atlantic coast. It is excellent food fish; -- locally called also black Harry.

To mark with deformity; to injure or impair, as anything which is well formed, or excellent; to mar, or make defective, either the body or mind. Sin is a soil which blemisheth the beauty of thy soul. Brathwait.

To praise, or glorify; to extol for excellences. Bless the Lord, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless his holy name. Ps. ciii. 1.

Descent from parents of recognized breed; excellence or purity of breed.

ci, otherwise called the Lombard or Eclectic school, the object of which was to unite the excellences of the preceding schools.

Sensitive or responsive to moral excellence. Dr. H. More.