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heet of horn covered the small, thin board of oak, or the slip of paper, on which the alphabet, digits, and often the Lord's Prayer, were written or printed; a primer. "He teaches boys the hornbook." Shak.

Moody; whimsical; capricious. Hawthorne. The commons do not abet humorsome, factious arms. Burke.

I, the ninth letter of the English alphabet, takes its form from the Phoenician, through the Latin and the Greek. The Phoenician letter was probably of Egyptian origin. Its original value was nearly the same as that of the Italian I, or long e as in mete. Etymologically I is most closely related to e, y, j, g; as in di…

efined to be pictures intended to represent either things or thoughts. I. Taylor (The Alphabet). You might even have a history without language written or spoken, by means of ideograms and gesture. J. Peile.

able for facilitating reference to topics, names, and the like, in a book; -- usually alphabetical in arrangement, and printed at the end of the volume.

itants of hell; hellish; diabolical; as, infernal spirits, or conduct. The instruments or abettors in such infernal dealings. Addison. Infernal machine, a machine or apparatus maliciously designed to explode, and destroy life or property. -- Infernal stone (lapis infernalis), lunar caustic; formerly so called. The nam…

l, which succeeded the Moralities or Moral Plays in the transition to the romantic or Elizabethan drama.

The ninth letter of the Greek alphabet (i) corresponding with the English i.

. J is the tenth letter of the English alphabet. It is a later variant form of the Roman letter I, used to express a consonantal sound, that is, originally, the sound of English y in yet. The forms J and I have, until a recent time, been classed together, and they have been used interchangeably.

The Java plum; also, a drug obtained from its bark and seeds, used as a remedy for diabetes.

Serving to denote objects by conventional signs or alphabetical characters; as, the original Greek alphabet of sixteen letters was called kyriologic, because it represented the pure elementary sounds. See Curiologic. [Written also curiologic and kuriologic.]

L is the twelfth letter of the English alphabet, and a vocal consonant. It is usually called a semivowel or liquid. Its form and value are from the Greek, through the Latin, the form of the Greek letter being from the Phoenician, and the ultimate origin prob. Egyptian. Etymologically, it is most closely related to r an…

A little lady; -- applied by the writers of Queen Elizabeth's time, in the abbreviated form Lakin, to the Virgin Mary.

One who makes, inscribes, or engraves, alphabetical letters.

A vocabulary, or book containing an alphabetical arrangement of the words in a language or of a considerable number of them, with the definition of each; a dictionary; especially, a dictionary of the Greek, Hebrew, or Latin language.

ive. Locke. They shall light into atheistical company. South. And here we lit on Aunt Elizabeth, And Lilia with the rest. Tennyson.

Of or pertaining to Lombardy of the Lombards. Lombardic alphabet, the ancient alphabet derived from the Roman, and employed in the manuscript of Italy. -- Lombardic architecture, the debased Roman style of architecture as found in parts of Northern Italy. F. G. Lee. Lombardy poplar. (Bot.) See Poplar.…

Single; unmarried, or in widowhood. [Archaic] Queen Elizabeth being a lone woman. Collection of Records (1642). A hundred mark is a long one for a poor lone woman to bear. Shak.

hanging prominently by itself; an earlock; -- worn by men of fashion in the reigns of Elizabeth and James I. Burton. A long lovelock and long hair he wore. Sir W. Scott.

M, the thirteenth letter of the English alphabet, is a vocal consonant, and from the manner of its formation, is called the labio- nasal consonant. See Guide to Pronunciation, §§ 178-180, 242.