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That which abridges or cuts short; hence, an entertainment that makes the time pass quickly. [Obs.] What abridgment have you for this evening What mask What music Shak.

Inattentive to what is passing; absent-minded; preoccupied; as, an absent air. What is commonly called an absent man is commonly either a very weak or a very affected man. Chesterfield.

o heat, light, and electricity are absorbed or taken up in the substances into which they pass. Nichol. p. 8

s self aloof; to forbear or refrain voluntarily, and especially from an indulgence of the passions or appetites; -- with from. Not a few abstained from voting. Macaulay. Who abstains from meat that is not gaunt Shak.

ood and strong drinks; temperate; abstinent; sparing in the indulgence of the appetite or passions. Instances of longevity are chiefly among the abstemious. Arbuthnot.

The expressive emphasis and shading of a passage. J. S. Dwight.

The means, place, or way by which a thing may be approached; passage way; as, the access is by a neck of land. "All access was thronged." Milton.

accounts for poverty. To account of, to esteem; to prize; to value. Now used only in the passive. "I account of her beauty." Shak. Newer was preaching more accounted of than in the sixteenth century. Canon Robinson.

s, or praiseworthy exertion; a feat. [The exploits] of the ancient saints . . . do far surpass the most famous achievements of pagan heroes. Barrow. The highest achievements of the human intellect. Macaulay.

earing, or the science of sounds; auditory. Acoustic duct, the auditory duct, or external passage of the ear. -- Acoustic telegraph, a telegraph making audible signals; a telephone. -- Acoustic vessels, brazen tubes or vessels, shaped like a bell, used in ancient theaters to propel the voices of the actors, so as to…

A silent or passive assent or submission, or a submission with apparent content; -- distinguished from avowed consent on the one hand, and on the other, from opposition or open discontent; quiet satisfaction.

o numerous offenders, as at the beginning of a new reign. -- Act of indemnity, a statute passed for the protection of those who have committed some illegal act subjecting them to penalties. Abbott. -- Act in pais, a thing done out of court (anciently, in the country), and not a matter of record.

e attitude or position of the several parts of the body as expressive of the sentiment or passion depicted.

ity of acting; causing change; communicating action or motion; acting; -- opposed to Ant: passive, that receives; as, certain active principles; the powers of the mind.

ctive manner; nimbly; briskly; energetically; also, by one's own action; voluntarily, not passively.

Actively. [Obs.] "Neither actually . . . nor passively." Fuller.

A mode of arresting hemorrhage resulting from wounds or surgical operations, by passing under the divided vessel a needle, the ends of which are left exposed externally on the cutaneous surface. Simpson.

` phrase applied to an appeal or argument addressed to the principles, interests, or passions of a man.

To bring forward or offer, as an argument, passage, or consideration which bears on a statement or case; to cite; to allege. Reasons . . . were adduced on both sides. Macaulay. Enough could not be adduced to satisfy the purpose of illustration. De Quincey.

An entrance or passage. Specifically: The nearly horizontal opening by which a mine is entered, or by which water and ores are carried away; -- called also drift and tunnel.