Search the Dictionary

Contraction for Vingt et un.

A gambling or lottery device consisting of a wheel which is spun horizontally, articles or sums to which certain marks on its circumference point when it stops being distributed according to varying rules.

r scale, which is named after it the scale in A minor. The second string of the violin is tuned to the A in the treble staff. -- A sharp (A#) is the name of a musical tone intermediate between A and B. -- A flat (A) is the name of a tone intermediate between A and G.

down in spirit or hope; degraded; servile; groveling; despicable; as, abject posture, fortune, thoughts. "Base and abject flatterers." Addison. "An abject liar." Macaulay. And banish hence these abject, lowly dreams. Shak.

nce; contingency; often, an undesigned and unforeseen occurrence of an afflictive or unfortunate character; a casualty; a mishap; as, to die by an accident. Of moving accidents by flood and field. Shak. Thou cam'st not to thy place by accident: It is the very place God meant for thee. Trench.

account; to answer in judgment; -- with for; as, we must account for the use of our opportunities.

hall always fear that he who accustoms himself to fraud in little things, wants only opportunity to practice it in greater. Adventurer.

oysters; -- so called because they have no evident head. Formerly the group included the Tunicata, Brachiopoda, and sometimes the Bryozoa. See Mollusca.

a mine is entered, or by which water and ores are carried away; -- called also drift and tunnel.

rist. Matt. xxvi. 63. The commissioners adjured them not to let pass so favorable an opportunity of securing their liberties. Marshall.

Any condition, circumstance, opportunity, or means, particularly favorable to success, or to any desired end; benefit; as, the enemy had the advantage of a more elevated position. Give me advantage of some brief discourse. Shak. The advantages of a close alliance. Macaulay.

One who adventures; as, the merchant adventurers; one who seeks his fortune in new and hazardous or perilous enterprises.

In hostile opposition to; unfavorable; unpropitious; contrary to one's wishes; unfortunate; calamitous; afflictive; hurtful; as, adverse fates, adverse circumstances, things adverse. Happy were it for us all if we bore prosperity as well and wisely as we endure an adverse fortune. Southey. Adverse possession (Law), a p…

In an adverse manner; inimically; unfortunately; contrariwise.

tural result; to provide; to furnish; as, a good life affords consolation in old age. His tuneful Muse affords the sweetest numbers. Addison. The quiet lanes . . . afford calmer retreats. Gilpin.

nzas of a hymn or song, or even to plain prose, or played upon an instrument; a melody; a tune; an aria.

A passage, usually vertical, for admitting fresh air into a mine or a tunnel.

The tunny. See Albicore.

ommon in the Mediterranean and Atlantic, is called in New England the horse mackerel; the tunny. [Written also albacore.]

To abate, impair, or debase by mixture; to allay; as, to alloy pleasure with misfortunes.