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teep, or craggy, as rocks, precipices, banks; precipitous; steep; as, abrupt places. "Tumbling through ricks abrupt," Thomson.

c of ordinary abscesses, and lasting for years without exhibiting any tendency towards healing; a chronic abscess.

lute or arbitrary government; despotism. The element of absolutism and prelacy was controlling. Palfrey.

ituperative words; coarse, insulting speech; abusive language; virulent condemnation; reviling. The two parties, after exchanging a good deal of abuse, came to blows. Macaulay.

Pertaining to, or resembling, an abyss; bottomless; unending; profound. Geology gives one the same abysmal extent of time that astronomy does of space. Carlyle.

Belonging to, or resembling, an abyss; unfathomable. Abyssal zone (Phys. Geog.), one of the belts or zones into which Sir E. Forbes divides the bottom of the sea in describing its plants, animals, etc. It is the one furthest from the shore, embracing all beyond one hundred fathoms deep. Hence, abyssal animals, plants,…

Belonging to or resembling the Acalephæ or jellyfishes.

Of, pertaining to, or resembling, the family of plants of which the acanthus is the type.

Of, pertaining to, or resembling, the plant acanthus.

An ornament resembling the foliage or leaves of the acanthus (Acanthus spinosus); -- used in the capitals of the Corinthian and Composite orders.

Shaped like or resembling a mite.

f accelerating, or the state of being accelerated; increase of motion or action; as, a falling body moves toward the earth with an acceleration of velocity; -- opposed to retardation. A period of social improvement, or of intellectual advancement, contains within itself a principle of acceleration. I. Taylor. (Astr. &…

The act of kindling or the state of being kindled; ignition. Locke.

A respecter; a viewer with partiality. [Obs.] God is no accepter of persons. Chillingworth.

Literally, a befalling; an event that takes place without one's foresight or expectation; an undesigned, sudden, and unexpected event; chance; contingency; often, an undesigned and unforeseen occurrence of an afflictive or unfortunate character; a casualty; a mishap; as, to die by an accident. Of moving accidents by fl…

Those fortuitous effects produced by luminous rays falling on certain objects so that some parts stand forth in abnormal brightness and other parts are cast into a deep shadow.

A bandage applied over the nose, resembling the claw of a hawk.

Willingness to accommodate; obligingness.

A registry of pecuniary transactions; a written or printed statement of business dealings or debts and credits, and also of other things subjected to a reckoning or review; as, to keep one's account at the bank.

The act of coupling, or the state of being coupled; union. [R.] Caxton.