Search the Dictionary

To oppose; to revoke the command of. For us to alter anuthing, is to lift ourselves against God; and, as it were, to countermand him. Hooker.

A change of measures; alteration of conduct. Such countermarches and retractions as we do not willingly impute to wisdom. T. Burnet.

A racing stroke, in which the swimmer, lying flat on the water with face submerged, takes alternate overhand arm strokes while moving his legs up and down alternately from the knee.

In its natural state; not cooked or prepared by fire or heat; undressed; not altered, refined, or prepared for use by any artificial process; raw; as, crude flesh. "Common crude salt." Boyle. Molding to its will each successive deposit of the crude materials. I. Taylor.

ractices dancing. The merry dancers, beams of the northern lights when they rise and fall alternately without any considerable change of length. See Aurora borealis, under Aurora.

on into constituent part; analysis; the decay or dissolution consequent on the removal or alteration of some of the ingredients of a compound; disintegration; as, the decomposition of wood, rocks, etc.

Consisting of two rising and two falling clauses, placed in alternate opposition to each other; as, a decussated period.

n a convention; as, a delegate to a convention for nominating officers, or for forming or altering a constitution. [U.S.] Court of delegates, formerly, the great court of appeal from the archbishops' courts and also from the court of admiralty. It is now abolished, and the privy council is the immediate court of appeal…

le; to omit. I have, therefore, . . . inserted eleven stanzas which do not appear in Sir Walter Scott's version, and have deleted eight. Aytoun.

To put out of phase, as two parts of a single alternating current.

An alteration of, or subtraction from, a contract for a sale of stocks.

sexual, zooids produced by budding or fission from the primary zooids, in animals having alternate generations. In the tapeworms, the joints are deuterozooids.

A division of Trematoda in which alternate generations occur, the immediate young not resembling their parents.

An argument which presents an antagonist with two or more alternatives, but is equally conclusive against him, whichever alternative he chooses.

A current flowing in one direction only; -- distinguished from alternating current. When steady and not pulsating a direct current is often called a continuous current.

ssent, credit, or credence; denial of belief. Our belief or disbelief of a thing does not alter the nature of the thing. Tillotson. No sadder proof can be given by a man of his own littleness that disbelief in great men. Carlyle.

To alter the natural hue or color of; to change to a different color; to stain; to tinge; as, a drop of wine will discolor water; silver is discolored by sea water.

The act of discoloring, or the state of being discolored; alteration of hue or appearance. Darwin.

Altered in color;

An alteration in the state of the body or of some of its organs, interrupting or disturbing the performance of the vital functions, and causing or threatening pain and weakness; malady; affection; illness; sickness; disorder; -- applied figuratively to the mind, to the moral character and habits, to institutions, the s…