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Pain so extreme as to cause writhing or contortions of the body, similar to those made in the athletic contests in Greece; and hence, extreme pain of mind or body; anguish; paroxysm of grief; specifically, the sufferings of Christ in the garden of Gethsemane. Being in an agony he prayed more earnestly. Luke xxii. 44.…

An equal or equitable division of landed property; the principles or acts of those who favor a redistribution of land.

tal; to trouble; to be the matter with; -- used to express some uneasiness or affection, whose cause is unknown; as, what ails the man I know not what ails him. What aileth thee, Hagar Gen. xxi. 17.

reaching to the feet, an enveloping the person; -- in the Roman Catholic church, worn by those in holy orders when officiating at mass. It was formerly worn, at least by clerics, in daily life.

e first Sunday after Easter Sunday, properly Albless Sunday, because in the early church those who had been baptized on Easter eve laid aside on the following Saturday their white albs which had been put on after baptism.

Applied to those ova which segment uniformly, and which have little or no food yelk embedded in their protoplasm. Balfour.

an officer appointed to look to the goodness of ale and beer; also, one of the officers chosen by the liverymen of London to inspect the measures used in public houses. But the office is a sinecure. [Also called aletaster.] [Eng.]

ns and properties of quantity by means of letters and other symbols. It is applicable to those relations that are true of every kind of magnitude.

l proceedings to connect the different names of any one who has gone by two or more, and whose true name is for any cause doubtful; as, Smith, alias Simpson.

An animal whose toes are connected by a membrane, serving for a wing, as the bat.

Applied to those days when the holy sacrifice is not offered. Shipley.

One of a class of caustic bases, such as soda, potash, ammoma, and lithia, whose distinguishing peculiarities are solubility in alcohol and water, uniting with oils and fats to form soap, neutralizing and forming salts with acids, turning to brown several vegetable yellows, and changing reddened litmus to blue. Fixed a…

by the French in the reign of Louis XIV.; -- now mostly found in suites of pieces, like those of Bach and Handel.

rce or weight of. [Obs.] Should no others join capable to alleviate the expense. Evelyn. Those large bladders . . . conduce much to the alleviating of the body [of flying birds]. Ray.

by relationship in qualities; affinity. The alliance of the principles of the world with those of the gospel. C. J. Smith. The alliance . . . between logic and metaphysics. Mansel.

which aims to combat disease by the use of remedies which produce effects different from those produced by the special disease treated; -- a term invented by Hahnemann to designate the ordinary practice, as opposed to homeopathy.

A measure by the ell; formerly a sworn officer in England, whose duty was to inspect act measure woolen cloth, and fix upon it a seal.

Sole; only; exclusive. [R.] God, by whose alone power and conversation we all live, and move, and have our being. Bentley.

ive 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.

An offer of two things, one of which may be chosen, but not both; a choice between two things, so that if one is taken, the other must be left. There is something else than the mere alternative of absolute destruction or unreformed existence. Burke.