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Using or exhibiting much art, skill, or contrivance; dexterous; skillful. He [was] too artful a writer to set down events in exact historical order. Dryden.

To accuse or charge by an exhibition of articles. He shall be articled against in the high court of admiralty. Stat. 33 Geo. III.

A genus of trilobites found in the Lower Silurian formation. See Illust. in Append.

A peculiar acrid and bitter oil, obtained from wood soot.

Persons who, at certain times of the year, have no shadow at noon; -- applied to the inhabitants of the torrid zone, who have, twice a year, a vertical sun.

A native or an inhabitant of Ashantee in Western Africa.

Of or pertaining to Asia or to its inhabitants. -- n.

A small, hooded, poisonous serpent of Egypt and adjacent countries, whose bite is often fatal. It is the Naja haje. The name is also applied to other poisonous serpents, esp. to Vipera aspis of southern Europe. See Haje.

Rough; rugged; harsh; bitter; stern; fierce. [Archaic] "An asper sound." Bacon.

Mineral pitch, Jews' pitch, or compact native bitumen. It is brittle, of a black or brown color and high luster on a surface of fracture; it melts and burns when heated, leaving no residue. It occurs on the surface and shores of the Dead Sea, which is therefore called Asphaltites, or the Asphaltic Lake. It is found als…

Pertaining to, of the nature of, or containing, asphalt; bituminous. "Asphaltic pool." "Asphaltic slime." Milton.

The peculiar bitter substance, soft or liquid, and of a yellow color, produced when meat, bread, gum, sugar, starch, and the like, are roasted till they turn brown.

Of or pertaining to Assam, a province of British India, or to its inhabitants. -- n. sing. & pl.

Measure; dimension; size. [In this sense now corrupted into size.] An hundred cubits high by just assize. Spenser. [Formerly written, as in French, assise.]

Connected by habit or sympathy; as, associate motions, such as occur sympathetically, in consequence of preceding motions. E. Darwin.

The act of accustoming, or the state of being accustomed; habituation. [Obs.] Custom and studies efform the soul like wax, and by assuefaction introduce a nature. Jer. Taylor.

Accustomedness; habit; habitual use. Assuetude of things hurtful doth make them lose their force to hurt. Bacon.

To take for granted, or without proof; to suppose as a fact; to suppose or take arbitrarily or tentatively. The consequences of assumed principles. Whewell.

contract or promise, express or implied, oral or in writing not under seal. Common or indebitatus assumpsit is brought for the most part on an implied promise. Special assumpsit is founded on an express promise or undertaking. Wharton.

other evidence. His promise that thy seed shall bruise our foe . . . Assures me that the bitterness of death Is past, and we shall live. Milton.