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The limulus.

A word given to sentinels, and to such as have occasion to visit the guards, used as a signal by which a friend is known from an enemy, or a person who has a right to pass the watch from one who has not; a countersign; a password.

"At a birth"; "In a word"; "At a blow". Shak.

A, as a prefix to English words, is derived from various sources. (1) It frequently signifies on or in (from an, a forms of AS. on), denoting a state, as in afoot, on foot, abed, amiss, asleep, aground, aloft, away (AS. onweg), and analogically, ablaze, atremble, etc. (2) AS. of off, from, as in adown (AS. ofdüne off t…

A prefix in many words of Latin origin. It signifies from, away , separating, or departure, as in abduct, abstract, abscond. See A- (6).

The French word answering to the English abbot, the head of an abbey; but commonly a title of respect given in France to every one vested with the ecclesiastical habit or dress.

make briefer; to shorten; to abridge; to reduce by contraction or omission, especially of words written or spoken. It is one thing to abbreviate by contracting, another by cutting off. Bacon.

The form to which a word or phrase is reduced by contraction and omission; a letter or letters, standing for a word or phrase of which they are a part; as, Gen. for Genesis; U.S.A. for United States of America.

To fill with horror or disgust. [Obs.] It doth abhor me now I speak the word. Shak.

ticiple (either expressed or implied), agreeing with it in gender, number, and case, both words forming a clause by themselves and being unconnected, grammatically, with the rest of the sentence; as, Tarquinio regnante, Pythagoras venit, i. e., Tarquinius reigning, Pythagoras came.

ding place; residence; a dwelling; a habitation. Come, let me lead you to our poor abode. Wordsworth.

itive; native; as, the aboriginal tribes of America. "Mantled o'er with aboriginal turf." Wordsworth.

A mystical word or collocation of letters written as in the figure. Worn on an amulet it was supposed to ward off fever. At present the word is used chiefly in jest to denote something without meaning; jargon.

A mystical word used as a charm and engraved on gems among the ancients; also, a gem stone thus engraved.

To shorten or contract by using fewer words, yet retaining the sense; to epitomize; to condense; as, to abridge a history or dictionary.

The form of words by which a penitent is absolved. Shipley.

To take one's self off; to decamp. [A jocular word. U. S.]

. Etym: [L., without this.] (Law) The technical words of denial used in traversing what has been alleged, and is repeated.

r properties which constitute it; -- opposed to Ant: concrete; as, honesty is an abstract word. J. S. Mill.

n excessive use of; as, to abuse one's authority. This principle (if one may so abuse the word) shoots rapidly into popularity. Froude.