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Hewn or squared stone; also, masonry made of squared or hewn stone. Rough ashlar, a block of freestone as brought from the quarry. When hammer-dressed it is known as common ashlar. Knight.

ish family to which the Maccabees belonged; Maccabean; as, the Asmonean dynasty. [Written also Asmonæan.]

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.

believed to aid in the disposition of nitrogenous matter throughout the plant; -- called also altheine.

The brush used in the Roman Catholic church for sprinkling holy water on the people. [Also written aspergillus.]

To bespatter with foul reports or false and injurious charges; to tarnish in point of reputation or good name; to slander or calumniate; as, to asperse a poet or his writings; to asperse a man's character. With blackest crimes aspersed. Cowper.

f the Dead Sea, which is therefore called Asphaltites, or the Asphaltic Lake. It is found also in many parts of Asia, Europe, and America. See Bitumen.

es, institutions; to attack by words, hostile influence, etc.; as, to assail one with appeals, arguments, abuse, ridicule, and the like. The papal authority . . . assailed. Hallam. They assailed him with keen invective; they assailed him with still keener irony. Macaulay.

A violent onset or attack with moral 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.

The act or process of testing, esp. of analyzing or examining metals and ores, to determine the proportion of pure metal.

A collection of individuals, or of individuals, or of particular things; as, a political assemblage; an assemblage of ideas.

To meet or come together, as a number of individuals; to convene; to congregate. Dryden. The Parliament assembled in November. W. Massey.

One who assembles a number of individuals; also, one of a number assembled.

t, acquiescence, concurrence, or concession. Who informed the governor . . . And the Jews also assented, saying that these things were so. Acts xxiv. 9. The princess assented to all that was suggested. Macaulay.

To fix or determine the rate or amount of. This sum is assessed and raised upon individuals by commissioners in the act. Blackstone.

An apportionment of a subscription for stock into successive installments; also, one of these installments (in England termed a "call"). [U. S.]

opriate, as nourishment; as, food is assimilated and converted into organic tissue. Hence also animals and vegetables may assimilate their nourishment. Sir I. Newton. His mind had no power to assimilate the lessons. Merivale.

The act or process of assimilating or bringing to a resemblance, likeness, or identity; also, the state of being so assimilated; as, the assimilation of one sound to another. To aspire to an assimilation with God. Dr. H. More. The assimilation of gases and vapors. Sir J. Herschel.

An optical property of some crystals which exhibit a star- shaped by reflected light, as star sapphire, or by transmitted light, as some mica.

the numerous small planets whose orbits lie between those of Mars and Jupiter; -- called also planetoids and minor planets.