Search the Dictionary

Away from the axis or central line; eccentric. Balfour.

rt of the body between the thorax and the pelvis. Also, the cavity of the belly, which is lined by the peritoneum, and contains the stomach, bowels, and other viscera. In man, often restricted to the part between the diaphragm and the commencement of the pelvis, the remainder being called the pelvic cavity.…

Having a protuberant belly; pot-bellied. Gorgonius sits, abdominous and wan, Like a fat squab upon a Chinese fan. Cowper.

To draw away, as a limb or other part, from its ordinary position.

The movement which separates a limb or other part from the axis, or middle line, of the body.

A muscle which serves to draw a part out, or form the median line of the body; as, the abductor oculi, which draws the eye outward.

On the beam, that is, on a line which forms a right angle with the ship's keel; opposite to the center of the ship's side.

; alphabetic; hence, rudimentary. Abecedarian psalms, hymns, etc., compositions in which (like the 119th psalm in Hebrew) distinct portions or verses commence with successive letters of the alphabet. Hook.

ct in Africa (4th century), mentioned by St. Augustine, who states that they married, but lived in continence, after the manner, as they pretended, of Abel.

A partial alienation of reason. "Occasional aberrations of intellect." Lingard. Whims, which at first are the aberrations of a single brain, pass with heat into epidemic form. I. Taylor.

The quality or state of being able; power to perform, whether physical, moral, intellectual, conventional, or legal; capacity; skill or competence in doing; sufficiency of strength, skill, resources, etc.; -- in the plural, faculty, talent. Then the disciples, every man according to his ability, determined to send reli…

The supposed origination of living organisms from lifeless matter; such genesis as does not involve the action of living parents; spontaneous generation; -- called also abiogeny, and opposed to biogenesis. I shall call the . . . doctrine that living matter may be produced by not living matter, the hypothesis of abiogen…

One who believes that life can be produced independently of antecedent. Huxley.

Sunk to a law condition; down in spirit or hope; degraded; servile; groveling; despicable; as, abject posture, fortune, thoughts. "Base and abject flatterers." Addison. "An abject liar." Macaulay. And banish hence these abject, lowly dreams. Shak.

Departure from the ordinary type; irregularity; monstrosity. "An abnormity . . . like a calf born with two heads." Mrs. Whitney.

arly, the expulsion of the human fetus prematurely, or before it is capable of sustaining life; miscarriage.

above reproach. "Thy worth . . . is actions above my gifts." Marlowe. I saw in the way a light from heaven above the brightness of the sun. Acts xxxvi. 13.

On deck; and hence, like aboveboard, without artifice. Smart.

Side by side, with breasts in a line; as, "Two men could hardly walk abreast." Macaulay.

To set abroach; to let out, as liquor; to broach; to tap. [Obs.] Chaucer.