Search the Dictionary

al and paired with the fourth digit, as in the hog, the sheep, and the ox; - - opposed to Perissodactyla.

not more forward to bestow favors on them as they free to deal affronts to others their superiors. Fuller.

To rise, in a figurative sense; to proceed from an inferior to a superior degree, from mean to noble objects, from particulars to generals, from modern to ancient times, from one note to another more acute, etc.; as, our inquiries ascend to the remotest antiquity; to ascend to our first progenitor.

Superiority, or commanding influence; ascendency; as, one man has the ascendant over another. Chievres had acquired over the mind of the young monarch the ascendant not only of a tutor, but of a parent. Robertson.

Superior; surpassing; ruling. An ascendant spirit over him. South. The ascendant community obtained a surplus of wealth. J. S. Mill. Without some power of persuading or confuting, of defending himself against accusations, . . . no man could possibly hold an ascendent position. Grote.

To find out or learn for a certainty, by trial, examination, or experiment; to get to know; as, to ascertain the weight of 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.

A collection of serous fluid in the cavity of the abdomen; dropsy of the peritoneum. Dunglison.

One of the chiefs or pontiffs of the Roman province of Asia, who had the superintendence of the public games and religious rites. Milner.

nnul or defeat the effect or operation of, by a subsequent decision of the same or of a superior tribunal; to declare of no authority; as, to set aside a verdict or a judgment.

In a state of sleep; in sleep; dormant. Fast asleep the giant lay supine. Dryden. By whispering winds soon lulled asleep. Milton.

d essay are radically the same word; but modern usage has appropriated assay chiefly to experiments in metallurgy, and essay to intellectual and bodily efforts. See Essay.]

for trial. All as the dwarf the way to her assigned. Spenser. It is not easy to assign a period more eventful. De Quincey.

The periodical sessions of the judges of the superior courts in every county of England for the purpose of administering justice in the trial and determination of civil and criminal cases; -- usually in the plural. Brande. Wharton. Craig. Burrill.

aim. This gives no sanction to the unwarrantable assumption that the soul sleeps from the period of death to the resurrection of the body. Thodey. That calm assumption of the virtues. W. Black.

he science which treats of the celestial bodies, of their magnitudes, motions, distances, periods of revolution, eclipses, constitution, physical condition, and of the causes of their various phenomena.

A building or an apartment where a library, periodicals, and newspapers are kept for use.

A tempering, or mixing in due proportion.

The act of attempering or regulating. [Archaic] Bacon.

To make trial or experiment of; to try; to endeavor to do or perform (some action); to assay; as, to attempt to sing; to attempt a bold flight. Something attempted, something done, Has earned a night's repose. Longfellow.

To call to witness; to invoke. [Archaic] The sacred streams which Heaven's imperial state Attests in oaths, and fears to violate. Dryden.