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The process of weakening in intensity; diminution of virulence; as, the attenuation of virus.

United States from Ireland in 1790. -- Augustinian nuns, an order of nuns following the rule of St. Augustine. -- Augustinian rule, a rule for religious communities based upon the 109th letter of St. Augustine, and adopted by the Augustinian orders.

One who rules with undisputed sway in any company or relation; a despot. The autocrat of the breakfast table. Holmes.

Sky-blue; resembling the clear blue color of the unclouded sky; cerulean; also, cloudless. Azure stone (Min.), the lapis lazuli; also, the lazulite.

The blue roach of Europe (Leuciscus cæruleus); -- so called from its color.

Purulent matter. [Obs.] Barrough.

A man in a rule, savage, or uncivilized state.

Traversed by barrulets or small bars; -- said of the field.

A backward slope in the face of a wall or of a bank; receding slope. Batter rule, an instrument consisting of a rule or frame, and a plumb line, by which the batter or slope of a wall is regulated in building.

To possess and use, as power; to exercise. Every man should bear rule in his own house. Esther i. 22.

trains or confines as a girdle. He cannot buckle his distempered cause Within the belt of rule. Shak.

An instrument consisting of two rules or arms, jointed together at one end, and opening to any angle, for adjusting the surfaces of work to the same or a given inclination; -- called also a bevel square. Gwilt.

The territory ruled by a bey.

One who makes the Bible the sole rule of faith.

The East Indian name of a virulent poison extracted from Aconitum ferox or other species of aconite: also, the plant itself.

y claiming to be a successor of the Apostles. The bishop is usually the spiritual head or ruler of a diocese, bishopric, or see. Bishop in partibus [infidelium] (R. C. Ch.), a bishop of a see which does not actually exist; one who has the office of bishop, without especial jurisdiction. Shipley. -- Titular bishop (R.…

A rule steelyard. [Scot.]

Characterized by sharpness, severity, or cruelty; harsh; stern; virulent; as, bitter reproach. Husbands, love your wives, and be not bitter against them. Col. iii. 19.

fore morning from lack of air. A discipline of unlimited autocracy, upheld by rods, and ferules, and the black hole. H. Spencer.

The European blue titmouse (Parus coeruleus); the bluecap.