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Having a left-hand twist; -- said of cordage; as, a water-laid, or left-hand, rope.

In church or chapel style; -- said of compositions sung in the old church style, without instrumental accompaniment; as, a mass a capella, i. e., a mass purely vocal.

Backward against the mast;-said of the sails when pressed by the wind. Totten. To be taken aback. (a) To be driven backward against the mast; -- said of the sails, also of the ship when the sails are thus driven. (b) To be suddenly checked, baffled, or discomfited. Dickens.

To renounce; to relinquish; -- said of authority, a trust, duty, right, etc. He abdicates all right to be his own governor. Burke. The understanding abdicates its functions. Froude.

To instigate or encourage by aid or countenance; -- used in a bad sense of persons and acts; as, to abet an ill-doer; to abet one in his wicked courses; to abet vice; to abet an insurrection. "The whole tribe abets the villany." South. Would not the fool abet the stealth, Who rashly thus exposed his wealth Gay.…

and to; to adhere; to maintain. The poor fellow was obstinate enough to abide by what he said at first. Fielding.

A lady's waiting-maid. Pepys. Her abigail reported that Mrs. Gutheridge had a set of night curls for sleeping in. Leslie.

In an able manner; with great ability; as, ably done, planned, said.

To do away with wholly; to annul; to make void; -- said of laws, customs, institutions, governments, etc.; as, to abolish slavery, to abolish folly.

Earlier in order; higher in the same page; hence, in a foregoing page. "That was said above." Dryden.

Mentioned or named before; aforesaid.

Same as Abraid. [Obs.]

See Abraid. [Obs.] Spenser.

To free from a penalty; to pardon; to remit (a sin); -- said of the sin or guilt. In his name I absolve your perjury. Gibbon.

Stress laid on certain syllables of a verse.

Accompanying as a subordinate; aiding in a secondary way; additional; connected as an incident or subordinate to a principal; contributing or contributory; said of persons and things, and, when of persons, usually in a bad sense; as, he was accessory to the riot; accessory sounds in music.

om that which is natural; to adapt to the peculiarities of a foreign or strange climate; said of man, the inferior animals, or plants.

ces. Also, formerly, an officer in the English court of chancery who received the moneys paid into the court, and deposited them in the Bank of England.

The potter's field, said to have lain south of Jerusalem, purchased with the bribe which Judas took for betraying his Master, and therefore called the field of blood. Fig.: A field of bloodshed. The system of warfare . . . which had already converted immense tracts into one universal aceldama. De Quincey.…

upposing faculties and powers to be the same, far more may be achieved in any line by the aid of a capital, invigorating motive than without it. I. Taylor.