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Astray; faultily; improperly; wrongly; ill. What error drives our eyes and ears amiss Shak. Ye ask and receive not, because ye ask amiss. James iv. 3. To take (an act, thing) amiss, to impute a wrong motive to (an act or thing); to take offense at' to take unkindly; as, you must not take these questions amiss.…

Any fermentation process by which ammonia is formed, as that by which urea is converted into ammonium carbonate when urine is exposed to the air.

That group of vertebrates which develops in its embryonic life the envelope called the amnion. It comprises the reptiles, the birds, and the mammals.

That division of the Rhizopoda which includes the amoeba and similar forms.

ing a relation of dispersion, distribution, etc.; also, a relation of reciprocal action. What news among the merchants Shak. Human sacrifices were practiced among them. Hume. Divide that gold amongst you. Marlowe. Whether they quarreled among themselves, or with their neighbors. Addison.

To alienate in mortmain, that is, to convey to a corporation. See Mortmain.

Elevated, -- as a toe, when raised so high that the tip does not touch the ground.

icance, or result; the sum; as, the amount of the testimony is this. The whole amount of that enormous fame. Pope.

Capable of two meanings. An amphibolous sentence is one that is capable of two meanings, not from the double sense of any of the words, but from its admitting of a double construction; e. g., "The duke yet lives that Henry shall depose." Whately.

An element that in combination produces amphid salt; -- applied by Berzelius to oxygen, sulphur, selenium, and tellurium. [R.]

of harmless lizards, serpentlike in form, without legs, and with both ends so much alike that they appear to have a head at each, and ability to move either way. See Illustration in Appendix.

Produced by, or indicating, a cavity in the lungs, not filled, and giving a sound like that produced by blowing into an empty decanter; as, amphoric respiration or resonance.

in size, extent, capacity, or bulk; spacious; roomy; widely extended. All the people in that ample house Did to that image bow their humble knees. Spenser.

Enlarging a conception by adding to that which is already known or received. "All bodies possess power of attraction" is an ampliative judgment; because we can think of bodies without thinking of attraction as one of their immediate primary attribute. Abp. W. Thomson.

amplification. Brande & C. I shall summarily, without any amplification at all, show in what manner defects have been supplied. Sir J. Davies.

One who or that which amplifies.

frenzy, as the Malays sometimes do under the influence of "bhang," and attack every one that comes in the way; to assail recklessly and indiscriminately. Satire's my weapon, but I'm too discreet To run amuck, and tilt at all I meet. Pope.

The state of being amused; pleasurable excitement; that which amuses; diversion. His favorite amusements were architecture and gardening. Macaulay.

That part of the starch granule or granulose which is soluble in water.

It is used before nouns of the singular number only, and signifies one, or any, but somewhat less emphatically. In such expressions as "twice an hour," "once an age," a shilling an ounce (see 2d A, 2), it has a distributive force, and is equivalent to each, every.