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of being altered; a change made in the form or nature of a thing; changed condition. Ere long might perceive Strange alteration in me. Milton. Appius Claudius admitted to the senate the sons of those who had been slaves; by which, and succeeding alterations, that council degenerated into a most corrupt. Swift.…

A usage, among diplomats, of rotation in precedence among representatives of equal rank, sometimes determined by lot and at other times in regular order. The practice obtains in the signing of treaties and conventions between nations.

. If this demand is refused the alternative is war. Lewis. With no alternative but death. Longfellow.

Lofty speech; pompous language. [R.] Bailey.

High-sounding; lofty or pompous. Skelton.

Lofty in doctrine, aims, etc. [R.] Coleridge.

rly the part sung by the highest male, or counter-tenor, voices; now the part sung by the lowest female, or contralto, voices, between in tenor and soprano. In instrumental music it now signifies the tenor.

A cloud formation similar to cirro-stratus, but heavier and at a lower level.

roughout all time; continually; as, God is always the same. Even in Heaven his [Mammon's] looks and thoughts. Milton.

Lovableness. Jer. Taylor.

force; vigorously; violently; exceedingly. They on the hill, which were not yet come to blows, perceiving the fewness of their enemies, came down amain. Milton. That striping giant, ill-bred and scoffing, shouts amain. T. Parker.

Full of love; amatory.

The faculty supposed to influence sexual desire; propensity to love. Combe.

Of or pertaining to a lover or to love making; amatory; as, amatorial verses.

Pertaining to, producing, or expressing, sexual love; as, amatory potions.

A loss or decay of sight, from loss of power in the optic nerve, without any perceptible external change in the eye; -- called also gutta serena, the "drop serene" of Milton.

An unguent of the gods. His dewy locks distilled ambrosia. Milton.

In churches, a kind of closet, niche, cupboard, or locker for utensils, vestments, etc.

Double aces, the lowest throw of all at dice. Hence: Bad luck; anything of no account or value.

One of the radical zones of echinoderms, along which run the principal nerves, blood vessels, and water tubes. These zones usually bear rows of locomotive suckers or tentacles, which protrude from regular pores. In star fishes they occupy the grooves along the under side of the rays.