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n.; pl. Admiralties [ F. amirauté, for an older amiralté, office of admiral, fr. LL. admiralitas. See Admiral. ] 1. The office or jurisdiction of an admiral. Prescott. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. The department or officers having authority over naval affairs generally. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. The court which has jurisdiction of maritime questions and offenses. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ In England, admiralty jurisdiction was formerly vested in the High Court of Admiralty, which was held before the Lord High Admiral, or his deputy, styled the Judge of the Admiralty; but admiralty jurisdiction is now vested in the probate, divorce, and admiralty division of the High Justice. In America, there are no admiralty courts distinct from others, but admiralty jurisdiction is vested in the district courts of the United States, subject to revision by the circuit courts and the Supreme Court of the United States. Admiralty jurisprudence has cognizance of maritime contracts and torts, collisions at sea, cases of prize in war, etc., and in America, admiralty jurisdiction is extended to such matters, arising out of the navigation of any of the public waters, as the Great Lakes and rivers. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. The system of jurisprudence of admiralty courts. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. The building in which the lords of the admiralty, in England, transact business. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. & n. [ See Alto. ] (Mus.) The higher part of the scale. See Alto. [ 1913 Webster ]

To be in alt, to be in an exalted state of mind. [ 1913 Webster ]

adj. 1. of or pertaining to the Altaic languages. Altaic languages [ WordNet 1.5 ]

a. [ Cf. F. altaïque. ] Of or pertaining to the Altai, a mountain chain in Central Asia. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. a collective term for a group of related linguistic families including the Turkic, Tungusik and Mongolian languages, spoken over a broad area from southeastern Europe and Asia, as far east as the Pacific. [ PJC ]

n. [ OE. alter, auter, autier, fr. L. altare, pl. altaria, altar, prob. fr. altus high: cf. OF. alter, autier, F. autel. Cf. Altitude. ] 1. A raised structure (as a square or oblong erection of stone or wood) on which sacrifices are offered or incense burned to a deity. [ 1913 Webster ]

Noah builded an altar unto the Lord. Gen. viii. 20. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. In the Christian church, a construction of stone, wood, or other material for the celebration of the Holy Eucharist; the communion table. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ Altar is much used adjectively, or as the first part of a compound; as, altar bread or altar-bread. [ 1913 Webster ]

Altar cloth or
Altar-cloth, the cover for an altar in a Christian church, usually richly embroidered. --
Altar cushion, a cushion laid upon the altar in a Christian church to support the service book. --
Altar frontal. See Frontal. --
Altar rail, the railing in front of the altar or communion table. --
Altar screen, a wall or partition built behind an altar to protect it from approach in the rear. --
Altar tomb, a tomb resembling an altar in shape, etc. --
Family altar, place of family devotions. --
To lead (as a bride) to the altar, to marry; -- said of a woman. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Cf. OF. auterage, autelage. ] 1. The offerings made upon the altar, or to a church. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. The profit which accrues to the priest, by reason of the altar, from the small tithes. Shipley. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. a boy who assists a priest at the clebration of the Holy Mass and other forms of public worship; -- also called acolyte. [ PJC ]

n. [ Cf. LL. altarista, F. altariste. ] (Old Law) (a) A chaplain. (b) A vicar of a church. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The painting or piece of sculpture above and behind the altar; reredos. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. In the proper position of an altar, that is, at the east of a church with its ends towards the north and south. Shipley. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Alltude + azimuth. ] (Astron.) An instrument for taking azimuths and altitudes simultaneously. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Altered p. pr. & vb. n. Altering. ] [ F. altérer, LL. alterare, fr. L. alter other, alius other. Cf. Else, Other. ] 1. To make otherwise; to change in some respect, either partially or wholly; to vary; to modify. “To alter the king's course.” “To alter the condition of a man.” “No power in Venice can alter a decree.” Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

It gilds all objects, but it alters none. Pope. [ 1913 Webster ]

My covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips. Ps. lxxxix. 34. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To agitate; to affect mentally. [ Obs. ] Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To geld. [ Colloq. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Syn. -- Change, Alter. Change is generic and the stronger term. It may express a loss of identity, or the substitution of one thing in place of another; alter commonly expresses a partial change, or a change in form or details without destroying identity. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. To become, in some respects, different; to vary; to change; as, the weather alters almost daily; rocks or minerals alter by exposure. “The law of the Medes and Persians, which altereth not.” Dan. vi. 8. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Cf. F. altérabilité. ] The quality of being alterable; alterableness. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ Cf. F. altérable. ] Capable of being altered. [ 1913 Webster ]

Our condition in this world is mutable and uncertain, alterable by a thousand accidents. Rogers. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The quality of being alterable; variableness; alterability. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. In an alterable manner. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ LL. alterans, p. pr.: cf. F. altérant. ] Altering; gradually changing. Bacon. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. An alterative. [ R. ] Chambers. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Cf. F. altération. ] 1. The act of altering or making different. [ 1913 Webster ]

Alteration, though it be from worse to better, hath in it incoveniences. Hooker. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. The state of being altered; a change made in the form or nature of a thing; changed condition. [ 1913 Webster ]

Ere long might perceive
Strange alteration in me. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

Appius Claudius admitted to the senate the sons of those who had been slaves; by which, and succeeding alterations, that council degenerated into a most corrupt. Swift. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A medicine or treatment which gradually induces a change, and restores healthy functions without sensible evacuations. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. alterativus: cf. F. altératif. ] Causing ateration. Specifically: Gradually changing, or tending to change, a morbid state of the functions into one of health. Burton. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. [ imp. & p. p. Altercated; p. pr. & vb. n. Altercating. ] [ L. altercatus, p. p. of altercare, altercari, fr. alter another. See Alter. ] To contend in words; to dispute with zeal, heat, or anger; to wrangle. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ F. altercation, fr. L. altercatio. ] Warm contention in words; dispute carried on with heat or anger; controversy; wrangle; wordy contest. “Stormy altercations.” Macaulay. [ 1913 Webster ]

Syn. -- Altercation, Dispute, Wrangle. The term dispute is in most cases, but not necessarily, applied to a verbal contest; as, a dispute on the lawfulness of war. An altercation is an angry dispute between two parties, involving an interchange of severe language. A wrangle is a confused and noisy altercation. [ 1913 Webster ]

Their whole life was little else than a perpetual wrangling and altercation. Hakewill. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Characterized by wrangling; scolding. [ R. ] Fielding. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ F. altérité. ] The state or quality of being other; a being otherwise. [ R. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

For outness is but the feeling of otherness (alterity) rendered intuitive, or alterity visually represented. Coleridge. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. alternus, fr. alter another: cf. F. alterne. ] Acting by turns; alternate. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

Altern base (Trig.), a second side made base, in distinction from a side previously regarded as base. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Alternateness; alternation. [ R. ] Mitford. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. alternans, p. pr.: cf. F. alternant. See Alternate, v. t. ] (Geol.) Composed of alternate layers, as some rocks. [ 1913 Webster ]

‖n. [ F. ] A usage, among diplomats, of rotation in precedence among representatives of equal rank, sometimes determined by lot and at other times in regular order. The practice obtains in the signing of treaties and conventions between nations. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

a. [ L. alternatus, p. p. of alternate, fr. alternus. See Altern, Alter. ] 1. Being or succeeding by turns; one following the other in succession of time or place; by turns first one and then the other; hence, reciprocal. [ 1913 Webster ]

And bid alternate passions fall and rise. Pope. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Designating the members in a series, which regularly intervene between the members of another series, as the odd or even numbers of the numerals; every other; every second; as, the alternate members 1, 3, 5, 7, etc. ; read every alternate line. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Bot.) Distributed, as leaves, singly at different heights of the stem, and at equal intervals as respects angular divergence. Gray. [ 1913 Webster ]

Alternate alligation. See Alligation. --
Alternate angles (Geom.), the internal and angles made by two lines with a third, on opposite sides of it. It the parallels AB, CD, are cut by the line EF, the angles AGH, GHD, as also the angles BGH and GHC, are called alternate angles. --
Alternate generation. (Biol.) See under Generation. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. That which alternates with something else; vicissitude. [ R. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Grateful alternates of substantial. Prior. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A substitute; one designated to take the place of another, if necessary, in performing some duty. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Math.) A proportion derived from another proportion by interchanging the means. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Alternated; p. pr. & vb. n. Alternating. ] [ L. alternatus, p. p. of alternare. See Altern. ] To perform by turns, or in succession; to cause to succeed by turns; to interchange regularly. [ 1913 Webster ]

The most high God, in all things appertaining unto this life, for sundry wise ends alternates the disposition of good and evil. Grew. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. 1. To happen, succeed, or act by turns; to follow reciprocally in place or time; -- followed by with; as, the flood and ebb tides alternate with each other. [ 1913 Webster ]

Rage, shame, and grief alternate in his breast. J. Philips. [ 1913 Webster ]

Different species alternating with each other. Kirwan. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To vary by turns; as, the land alternates between rocky hills and sandy plains. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. 1. In reciprocal succession; succeeding by turns; in alternate order. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Math.) By alternation; when, in a proportion, the antecedent term is compared with antecedent, and consequent. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The quality of being alternate, or of following by turns. [ 1913 Webster ]

. (Elec.) A current which periodically changes or reverses its direction of flow, especially an electric current that reverses direction sinusoidally, as is used for most domestic and industrial power requirements. Contrasted with direct curent.
Syn. -- AC [ Webster 1913 Suppl. +PJC ]

The common household current is alternating. Alternating current is easier than direct current to transform to high voltage and back, making long-distance transmission more efficient. [ PJC ]

n. [ L. alternatio: cf. F. alternation. ] 1. The reciprocal succession of things in time or place; the act of following and being followed by turns; alternate succession, performance, or occurrence; as, the alternation of day and night, cold and heat, summer and winter, hope and fear. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Math.) Permutation. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. The response of the congregation speaking alternately with the minister. Mason. [ 1913 Webster ]

Alternation of generation. See under Generation. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ Cf. F. alternatif. ] 1. Offering a choice of two things. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Disjunctive; as, an alternative conjunction. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Alternate; reciprocal. [ Obs. ] Holland. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Cf. F. alternative, LL. alternativa. ] 1. An offer of two things, one of which may be chosen, but not both; a choice between two things, so that if one is taken, the other must be left. [ 1913 Webster ]

There is something else than the mere alternative of absolute destruction or unreformed existence. Burke. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Either of two things or propositions offered to one's choice. Thus when two things offer a choice of one only, the two things are called alternatives. [ 1913 Webster ]

Having to choose between two alternatives, safety and war, you obstinately prefer the worse. Jowett (Thucyd.). [ 1913 Webster ]

3. The course of action or the thing offered in place of another. [ 1913 Webster ]

If this demand is refused the alternative is war. Lewis. [ 1913 Webster ]

With no alternative but death. Longfellow. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. A choice between more than two things; one of several things offered to choose among. [ 1913 Webster ]

My decided preference is for the fourth and last of these alternatives. Gladstone. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. In the manner of alternatives, or that admits the choice of one out of two things. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The quality of being alternative, or of offering a choice between two. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Elec.) An electric generator or dynamo for producing alternating currents. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

n. [ LL. alternitas. ] Succession by turns; alternation. [ R. ] Sir T. Browne. [ 1913 Webster ]

{ ‖ ‖ } n. [ althaea, Gr. &unr_;. ] (Bot.) (a) A genus of plants of the Mallow family. It includes the officinal marsh mallow, and the garden hollyhocks. (b) An ornamental shrub (Hibiscus Syriacus) of the Mallow family. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Chem.) Asparagine. [ 1913 Webster ]

‖n. [ Icel. (modern) alping, earlier alpingi; allr all + ping assembly. See All, and Thing. ] The national assembly or parliament of Iceland. See Thing, n., 8. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]