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Destitute of a siphon or breathing tube; -- said of many bivalve shells. -- n.

A group of bivalve mollusks destitute of siphons, as the oyster; the asiphonate mollusks.

Destitute of seeds; aspermatous.

with a view to produce changes in the feelings, character, conduct, existing usages, institutions; to attack by words, hostile influence, etc.; as, to assail one with appeals, arguments, abuse, ridicule, and the like. The papal authority . . . assailed. Hallam. They assailed him with keen invective; they assailed him w…

ls, and the like; as, to make an assault on the prerogatives of a prince, or on the constitution of a government. Clarendon.

A statute or ordinance in general. Specifically: (1) A statute regulating the weight, measure, and proportions of ingredients and the price of articles sold in the market; as, the assize of bread and other provisions; (2) A statute fixing the standard of weights and measures.

One connected with an association or institution without the full rights or privileges of a regular member; as, an associate of the Royal Academy.

l bodies, of their magnitudes, motions, distances, periods of revolution, eclipses, constitution, physical condition, and of the causes of their various phenomena.

the physical characteristics of the stars and other heavenly bodies, their chemical constitution, light, heat, atmospheres, etc.

Subtle; cunning; astute. [R.] Sir W. Scott. -- As*tu"cious*ly, adv. [R.]

Craftiness; astuteness. [R.] Carlyle.

An institution for the protection or relief of some class of destitute, unfortunate, or afflicted persons; as, an asylum for the aged, for the blind, or for the insane; a lunatic asylum; an orphan asylum.

Destitute of tone vocality; surd. Rush.

rabiliary. Dunglision. A hard-faced, atrabilious, earnest-eyed race. Lowell. He was constitutionally atrabilious and scornful. Froude.

A substitute; a proxy; an agent. [Obs.] And will have no attorney but myself. Shak.

A bawd, or a prostitute. [Obs.] Shak. Aunt Sally, a puppet head placed on a pole and having a pipe in its mouth; also a game, which consists in trying to hit the pipe by throwing short bludgeons at it.

A collection of the Novels or New Constitutions of Justinian, by an anonymous author; -- so called on account of its authencity. Bouvier.

Destitute of any vestige of organic life, or at least of animal life; anterior to the existence of animal life; formed when there was no animal life on the globe; as, the azoic. rocks. Azoic age (Geol.), the age preceding the existence of animal life, or anterior to the paleozoic tome. Azoic is also used as a noun, age…

Any one of several species of Acacia, esp. A. Arabica, which yelds a gum used as a substitute for true gum arabic.

An instrument which, in conjunction with another making an absolute disposition, constitutes a trust.