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The whole duration of a being, whether animal, vegetable, or other kind; lifetime. Mine age is as nothing before thee. Ps. xxxix. 5.

A person, whether negro, Indian, or white, in whom by some defect of organization the substance which gives color to the skin, hair, and eyes is deficient or in a morbid state. An albino has a skin of a milky hue, with hair of the same color, and eyes with deep red pupil and pink or blue iris. The term is also used of…

- All the same, nevertheless. "There they [certain phenomena] remain rooted all the same, whether we recognize them or not." J. C. Shairp. "But Rugby is a very nice place all the same." T. Arnold. -- See also under All, n.

A place to walk in, whether in the open air, as the gallery of a cloister, or within a building.

The quality of being pleasant or agreeable, whether in respect to situation, climate, manners, or disposition; pleasantness; civility; suavity; gentleness. A sweetness and amenity of temper. Buckle. This climate has not seduced by its amenities. W. Howitt.

Human sacrifices were practiced among them. Hume. Divide that gold amongst you. Marlowe. Whether they quarreled among themselves, or with their neighbors. Addison.

A resolution of anything, whether an object of the senses or of the intellect, into its constituent or original elements; an examination of the component parts of a subject, each separately, as the words which compose a sentence, the tones of a tune, or the simple propositions which enter into an argument. It is oppose…

One from whom a person is descended, whether on the father's or mother's side, at any distance of time; a progenitor; a fore father.

A member of the Church of England. Whether Catholics, Anglicans, or Calvinists. Burke.

To belong or pertain, whether by right, nature, appointment, or custom; to relate. Things appertaining to this life. Hooker. Give it unto him to whom it appertaineth. Lev. vi. 5.

Steel or iron covering, whether of ships or forts, protecting them from the fire of artillery. Coat armor, the escutcheon of a person or family, with its several charges and other furniture, as mantling, crest, supporters, motto, etc. -- Submarine, a water-tight dress or covering for a diver. See under Submarine.…

The sharp edge or salient angle formed by two surfaces meeting each other, whether plane or curved; -- applied particularly to the edges in moldings, and to the raised edges which separate the flutings in a Doric column. P. Cyc. Arris fillet, a triangular piece of wood used to raise the slates of a roof against a chimn…

The act of arriving, or coming; the act of reaching a place from a distance, whether by water (as in its original sense) or by land. Our watchmen from the towers, with longing eyes, Expect his swift arrival. Dryden.

for the storage, or for the manufacture and storage, of arms and all military equipments, whether for land or naval service.

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.

a commodity, or the purity of a metal. He was there only for the purpose of ascertaining whether a descent on England was practicable. Macaulay.

To require, demand, claim, or expect, whether by way of remuneration or return, or as a matter of necessity; as, what price do you ask Ask me never so much dowry. Gen. xxxiv. 12. To whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more. Luke xii. 48. An exigence of state asks a much longer time to conduct a desig…

o the fluid or solid substance of the body, by the processes of digestion and absorption, whether in plants or animals. Not conversing the body, not repairing it by assimilation, but preserving it by ventilation. Sir T. Browne.

A court, the sitting or session of a court, for the trial of processes, whether civil or criminal, by a judge and jury. Blackstone. Wharton. Encyc. Brit.

The act of associating, or state of being associated; union; connection, whether of persons of things. "Some . . . bond of association." Hooker. Self-denial is a kind of holy association with God. Boyle.