Search the Dictionary

Notoriously or preëminently bad; thorough or downright, in a bad sense; shameless; unmitigated; as, an arrant rogue or coward. I discover an arrant laziness in my soul. Fuller.

The act or habit of arrogating, or making undue claims in an overbearing manner; that species of pride which consists in exorbitant claims of rank, dignity, estimation, or power, or which exalts the worth or importance of the person to an undue degree; proud contempt of others; lordliness; haughtiness; self-assumption;…

culative principles; as, the art of building or engraving; the art of war; the art of navigation. Science is systematized knowledge . . . Art is knowledge made efficient by skill. J. F. Genung.

p of the line of numbers, solve, with tolerable exactness, questions in trigonometry, navigation, etc. -- Artificial numbers, logarithms. -- Artificial person (Law). See under Person. -- Artificial sines, tangents, etc., the same as logarithms of the natural, tangents, etc. Hutton.

The act of ascertaining; a reducing to certainty; a finding out by investigation; discovery. The positive ascertainment of its limits. Burke.

To interrogate or inquire of or concerning; to put a question to or about; to question. He is of age; ask him: he shall speak for himself. John ix. 21. He asked the way to Chester. Shak.

To mitigate; to moderate; to appease; to abate; to diminish. [Archaic] Chaucer.

dness. "Asperity of character." Landor. It is no very cynical asperity not to confess obligations where no benefit has been received. Johnson.

l weapons, as words, arguments, appeals, and the like; as, to make an assault on the prerogatives of a prince, or on the constitution of a government. Clarendon.

To collect into one place or body; to bring or call together; to convene; to congregate. Thither he assembled all his train. Milton. All the men of Israel assembled themselves. 1 Kings viii. 2.

Maintenance; vindication; as, the assertion of one's rights or prerogatives.

because sufficient to render the executor or administrator liable to the creditors and legatees, so far as such goods or estate may extend. Story. Blackstone.

or the Advancement of Science; a benevolent association. Specifically, as among the Congregationalists, a society, consisting of a number of ministers, generally the pastors of neighboring churches, united for promoting the interests of religion and the harmony of the churches. Association of ideas (Physiol.), the comb…

To soften, in a figurative sense; to allay, mitigate, ease, or lessen, as heat, pain, or grief; to appease or pacify, as passion or tumult; to satisfy, as appetite or desire. Refreshing winds the summer's heat assuage. Addison. To assuage the sorrows of a desolate old man Burke. The fount at which the panting mind assu…

Mitigation; abatement.

Mitigating; tranquilizing; soothing. [R.] Music her soft assuasive voice applies. Pope.

One who assumes, arrogates, pretends, or supposes. W. D. Whitney.

The act of binding; restriction; also, obligation. Milton.

To bind by moral or legal obligation. Wolsey.

The investigation of the relation between the sun, moon, and stars, and the weather. -- As`*tro*me`te*or`o*log"ic*al, a. -- As`tro*me`te*or*ol"o*gist, n.