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To gain, usually by one's own exertions; to get as one's own; as, to acquire a title, riches, knowledge, skill, good or bad habits. No virtue is acquired in an instant, but step by step. Barrow. Descent is the title whereby a man, on the death of his ancestor, acquires his estate, by right of representation, as his hei…

The act of acquiring, or that which is acquired; attainment. "Rules for the acquirement of a taste." Addison. His acquirements by industry were . . . enriched and enlarged by many excellent endowments of nature. Hayward.

A person who acquires.

To equip or furnish thoroughly; hence, to complete in acquirements; to render accomplished; to polish. The armorers accomplishing the knights. Shak. It [the moon] is fully accomplished for all those ends to which Providence did appoint it. Wilkins. These qualities . . . go to accomplish a perfect woman. Cowden Clarke.…

Complete in acquirements as the result usually of training; -- commonly in a good sense; as, an accomplished scholar, an accomplished villain. They . . . show themselves accomplished bees. Holland. Daughter of God and man, accomplished Eve. Milton.

That which completes, perfects, or equips thoroughly; acquirement; attainment; that which constitutes excellence of mind, or elegance of manners, acquired by education or training. "My new accomplishment of dancing." Churchill. "Accomplishments befitting a station." Thackeray. Accomplishments have taken virtue's place,…

Property acquired by purchase, gift, or otherwise than by inheritance. Bouvier.

Capable of being acquired.

Acquirement. [Obs.] Barrow.

Acquired. [Obs.] Burton.

The thing acquired or gained; an acquirement; a gain; as, learning is an acquisition.

Acquired. [Obs.] He died not in his acquisitive, but in his native soil. Wotton.

The quality of being acquisitive; propensity to acquire property; desire of possession.

One who acquires.

A quality or property of the body or the mind, whether natural or acquired; as, color, in the body, judgment in the mind.

Pertaining to adoption; made or acquired by adoption; fitted to adopt; as, an adoptive father, an child; an adoptive language. -- A*dopt"ive*ly, adv.

Acquired, as diseases; accidental. -- Ad`ven*ti"tious*ly, adv. -- Ad`ven*ti"tious*ness, n.

te or flesh-red mineral, of the zeolite, occurring in isometric crystals. By friction, it acquires a weak electricity; hence its name.

olestation for more than twenty years. In England, and in some of the United States, they acquire a prescriptive right.

A natural or acquired disposition or capacity for a particular purpose, or tendency to a particular action or effect; as, oil has an aptitude to burn. He seems to have had a peculiar aptitude for the management of irregular troops. Macaulay.