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Webster’s Dictionary (1828)



143 words match “ACQUIRE”

MEAN n.
e heathen to Christ. Hooker. You may be able, by this mean, to review your own scientific acquirements. Coleridge. Philosophical doubt is not an end, but a mean. Sir W. Hamilton.
MENDICANT a.
cant friars. Mendicant orders (R. C. Ch.), certain monastic orders which are forbidden to acquire landed property and are required to be supported by alms, esp. the Franciscans, the Dominicans, the Carmelites, and the Augustinians.
MERIT v.
To acquire desert; to gain value; to receive benefit; to profit. [Obs.] Beau. & Fl.
MONEY n.
ment, or actually paid, at the time of a transaction; cash. -- To make money, to gain or acquire money or property; to make a profit in dealings.
MONOPOLIZE v.
To acquire a monopoly of; to have or get the exclusive privilege or means of dealing in, or the exclusive possession of; to engross the whole of; as, to monopolize the coffee trade; to monopolize land.
MUSTY a.
Having the rank, pungent, offencive odor and taste which substances of organic origin acquire during warm, moist weather; foul or sour and fetid; moldy; as, musty corn; musty books. Harvey.
NATIVE a.
Conferred by birth; derived from origin; born with one; inherent; inborn; not acquired; as, native genius, cheerfulness, simplicity, rights, etc. Courage is native to you. Jowett (Thucyd. ).
NATURAL a.
cording to nature; essential; characteristic; not artifical, foreign, assumed, put on, or acquired; as, the natural growth of animals or plants; the natural motion of a gravitating body; natural strength or disposition; the natural heat of the body; natural color. With strong natural sense, and rare force of will. Maca…
NEO-DARWINISM n.
be the chief factor in the evolution of plants and animals, and denies the inheritance of acquired characters; -- esp. opposed to Neo-Lamarckism. Weismannism is an example of extreme Neo- Darwinism. -- Ne`o-Dar*win"i*an, a. & n.
NEO-LAMARCKISM n.
xpounded by recent biologists, esp. as maintaining that the offspring inherits characters acquired by the parent from change of environment, use or disuse of parts, etc.; -- opposed of Neo-Darwinism (which see, above). -- Ne`o-La*marck"i*an, a. & n.
OBSERVATION n.
The information so acquired.
OBTAIN v.
To get hold of by effort; to gain possession of; to procure; to acquire, in any way. Some pray for riches; riches they obtain. Dryden. By guileful fair words peace may be obtained. Shak. It may be that I may obtain children by her. Gen. xvi. 2.
OCCUPANCY n.
holding possession; possession; occupation. Title by occupancy (Law), a right of property acquired by taking the first possession of a thing, or possession of a thing which belonged to nobody, and appropriating it. Blackstone. Kent.
OPEN DOOR n.
e policy is wholly or partially fixed by nations foreign to itself, or to territory newly acquired by a conquering nation. In this sense, often used adjectively, as, open-door system, open-door policy, etc.
ORDINARY a.
little merit; as, men of ordinary judgment; an ordinary book. An ordinary lad would have acquired little or no useful knowledge in such a way. Macaulay. Ordinary seaman (Naut.), one not expert or fully skilled, and hence ranking below an able seaman.
OUTWIT n.
The faculty of acquiring wesdom by observation and experience, or the wisdom so acquired; -- opposed to inwit. [Obs.] Piers Plowman.
PEAK v.
To acquire sharpness of figure or features; hence, to look thin or sicky. "Dwindle, peak, and pine." Shak.
PERFECTION n.
A quality, endowment, or acquirement completely excellent; an ideal faultlessness; especially, the divine attribute of complete excellence. Shak. What tongue can her perfections tell Sir P. Sidney. To perfection, in the highest degree of excellence; perfectly; as, to imitate a model to perfection.
PICK v.
ed efforts; to gather here and there; as, to pick up a livelihood; to pick up news.(c) to acquire (an infectious disease); as, to pick up a cold on the airplane. (d) To meet (a person) and induce to accompany one; as, to pick up a date at the mall. [See several other defs in MW10]
PIRATICAL a.
Of or pertaining to a pirate; acquired by, or practicing, piracy; as, a piratical undertaking. "Piratical printers." Pope. -- Pi*rat"ic*al*ly, adv.
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