Search the Dictionary

One destitute of wit or sense; a blockhead; a fool. [Obs.] Shak.

The dabchick.

A vinelike plant (Vitis Caribæa) growing in parched districts in the West Indies, and containing a great amount of sap which is sometimes used for quenching thirst.

An African plant (Welwitschia mirabilis) belonging to the order Gnetaceæ. It consists of a short, woody, topshaped stem, and never more than two leaves, which are the cotyledons enormously developed, and at length split into diverging segments.

With which; -- used relatively. The love wherewith thou hast loved me. John xvii. 26.

Wherewith. "Wherewithal shall we be clothed" Matt. vi. 31. Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way Ps. cxix. 9. [The builders of Babel], still with vain design, New Babels, had they wherewithal, would build. Milton.

rst letter (Aleph, and itself from the Egyptian origin. The Aleph was a consonant letter, with a guttural breath sound that was not an element of Greek articulation; and the Greeks took it to represent their vowel Alpha with the ä sound, the Phoenician alphabet having no vowel symbols. This letter, in English, is used…

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.

Astride; with a part on each side; -- used specif. in designating the position of an army with the wings separated by some line of demarcation, as a river or road.

With stronger reason.

, ago. (4) Old English y- or i- (corrupted from the AS. inseparable particle ge-, cognate with OHG. ga-, gi-, Goth. ga-), which, as a prefix, made no essential addition to the meaning, as in aware. (5) French à (L. ad to), as in abase, achieve. (6) L. a, ab, abs, from, as in avert. (7) Greek insep. prefix a without, or…

On tiptoe; eagerly expecting. We all feel a-tiptoe with hope and confidence. F. Harrison.

f Southern Africa. It burrows in the ground, and feeds entirely on ants, which it catches with its long, slimy tongue.

A rod with one serpent twined around it, thus differing from the caduceus of Mercury, which has two.

to the ecclesiastical reckoning, the eleventh by the civil computation, coinciding nearly with August. W. Smith.

Toward the back or rear; backward. "Therewith aback she started." Chaucer.

A table or tray strewn with sand, anciently used for drawing, calculating, etc. [Obs.]

To estrange; to withdraw. [Obs.]

A univalve mollusk of the genus Haliotis. The shell is lined with mother-of-pearl, and used for ornamental purposes; the sea-ear. Several large species are found on the coast of California, clinging closely to the rocks.

ve up absolutely; to forsake entirely ; to renounce utterly; to relinquish all connection with or concern on; to desert, as a person to whom one owes allegiance or fidelity; to quit; to surrender. Hope was overthrown, yet could not be abandoned. I. Taylor.