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v. [ A false form from the preterit abraid, abrayde. ] See Abraid. [ Obs. ] Spenser. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. [ Pref. a- (for on) + day; the final s was orig. a genitive ending, afterwards forming adverbs. ] By day, or every day; in the daytime. [ Obs. ] Fielding. [ 1913 Webster ]

. (a) A stretched wire or rope elevated above the ground and forming a way along which a trolley may travel, for conveying a load suspended from the trolley. (b) An elevated cableway. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

v. t. [ p. p. Affrayed. ] [ OE. afraien, affraien, OF. effreer, esfreer, F. effrayer, orig. to disquiet, put out of peace, fr. L. ex + OHG. fridu peace (akin to E. free). Cf. Afraid, Fray, Frith inclosure. ] [ Archaic ] 1. To startle from quiet; to alarm. [ 1913 Webster ]

Smale foules a great heap
That had afrayed [ affrayed ] me out of my sleep. Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To frighten; to scare; to frighten away. [ 1913 Webster ]

That voice doth us affray. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ OE. afrai, affrai, OF. esfrei, F. effroi, fr. OF. esfreer. See Affray, v. t. ] 1. The act of suddenly disturbing any one; an assault or attack. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Alarm; terror; fright. [ Obs. ] Spenser. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. A tumultuous assault or quarrel; a brawl; a fray. “In the very midst of the affray.” Motley. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. (Law) The fighting of two or more persons, in a public place, to the terror of others. Blackstone. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ A fighting in private is not, in a legal sense, an affray. [ 1913 Webster ]

Syn. -- Quarrel; brawl; scuffle; encounter; fight; contest; feud; tumult; disturbance. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. One engaged in an affray. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Affray. [ Obs. ] Spenser. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. To gainsay. [ Obs. ] Wyclif. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. a duct that provides ventilation, as in mines.
Syn. -- air passage, air duct. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

interj. [ For alack the day. Cf. Lackaday. ] An exclamation expressing sorrow. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ Shakespeare has “alack the day” and “alack the heavy day.” Compare “woe worth the day.” [ 1913 Webster ]

. (Eccl.) The first Sunday after Easter Sunday, properly Albless Sunday, because in the early church those who had been baptized on Easter eve laid aside on the following Saturday their white albs which had been put on after baptism. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

‖ /mhw>, n. [ Sp. alcaide, fr. Ar. al-qāīd governor, fr. qāda to lead, govern. ] 1. A commander of a castle or fortress among the Spaniards, Portuguese, and Moors. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. The warden, or keeper of a jail. [ 1913 Webster ]

‖n. Same as Alcaid. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. Continually. [ Obs. ] Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Allayed p. pr. & vb. n. Allaying. ] [ OE. alaien, aleggen, to lay down, put down, humble, put an end to, AS. ālecgan; ā- (cf. Goth. us-, G. er-, orig. meaning out) + lecgan to lay; but confused with old forms of allege, alloy, alegge. See Lay. ] 1. To make quiet or put at rest; to pacify or appease; to quell; to calm; as, to allay popular excitement; to allay the tumult of the passions. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To alleviate; to abate; to mitigate; as, to allay the severity of affliction or the bitterness of adversity. [ 1913 Webster ]

It would allay the burning quality of that fell poison. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

Syn. -- To alleviate; check; repress; assuage; appease; abate; subdue; destroy; compose; soothe; calm; quiet. See Alleviate. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. To diminish in strength; to abate; to subside. “When the rage allays.” Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Alleviation; abatement; check. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Alloy. [ Obs. ] Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. To mix (metals); to mix with a baser metal; to alloy; to deteriorate. [ Archaic ] Fuller. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. One who, or that which, allays. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. An allaying; that which allays; mitigation. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

The like allayment could I give my grief. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

pos>n. An alley. [ 1913 Webster ]

The first day of April, a day on which sportive impositions are practiced. [ 1913 Webster ]

The first of April, some do say,
Is set apart for All Fools' Day. Poor Robin's Almanack (1760). [ 1913 Webster ]

The second day of November; a feast day of the Roman Catholic church, on which supplications are made for the souls of the faithful dead. [ 1913 Webster ]

{ } n. [ OF. Aleman, F. Allemand, fr. L. Alemanni, ancient Ger. tribes. ] [ Obs. ] 1. A German. Also adj., German. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. The German language. J. Foxe. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. A kind of dance. See Allemande. [ 1913 Webster ]

Almain rivets,
Almayne rivets, or
Alman rivets, a sort of light armor from Germany, characterized by overlapping plates, arranged to slide on rivets, and thus afford great flexibility. [ 1913 Webster ]

. (Physics & Chem.) Rays of relatively low penetrating power emitted by radium and other radioactive substances, and shown to consist of positively charged alpha particles (helium nuclei) having enormous velocities but small masses. They are slightly deflected by a strong magnetic or electric field. Compare beta ray and gamma ray. Because the rays penetrate only a small distance in dense matter such as living tissue, small pellets of radioactive substances emitting alpha rays have been used to cause local destruction of tissue, as in cancer therapy. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. +PJC ]

adv. Always. [ Archaic or Poetic ] [ 1913 Webster ]

I would not live alway. Job vii. 16. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. [ All + way. The s is an adverbial (orig. a genitive) ending. ] 1. At all times; ever; perpetually; throughout all time; continually; as, God is always the same. [ 1913 Webster ]

Even in Heaven his [ Mammon's ] looks and thoughts. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Constancy during a certain period, or regularly at stated intervals; invariably; uniformly; -- opposed to sometimes or occasionally. [ 1913 Webster ]

He always rides a black galloway. Bulwer. [ 1913 Webster ]

{ } adv. Anywise; at all. Tennyson. Southey. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ OF. appayer, apaier, LL. appacare, appagare, fr. L. ad + pacare to pacify, pax, pacis, peace. See Pay, Appease. ] To pay; to satisfy or appease. [ Obs. ] Sir P. Sidney. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A way or passage under an arch. [ 1913 Webster ]

, adv. [ Prob. a corruption of arriswise. See Arris. ] Placed in such a position as to exhibit the top and two sides, the corner being in front; -- said of a rectangular form. Encyc. Brit. Cussans. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ OE. arai, arrai, OF. arrai, arrei, arroi, order, arrangement, dress, F. arroi; a (L. ad) + OF. rai, rei, roi, order, arrangement, fr. G. or Scand.; cf. Goth. raidjan, garaidjan, to arrange, MHG. gereiten, Icel. reiði rigging, harness; akin to E. ready. Cf. Ready, Greith, Curry. ] 1. Order; a regular and imposing arrangement; disposition in regular lines; hence, order of battle; as, drawn up in battle array. [ 1913 Webster ]

Wedged together in the closest array. Gibbon. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. The whole body of persons thus placed in order; an orderly collection; hence, a body of soldiers. [ 1913 Webster ]

A gallant array of nobles and cavaliers. Prescott. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. An imposing series of things. [ 1913 Webster ]

Their long array of sapphire and of gold. Byron. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. Dress; garments disposed in order upon the person; rich or beautiful apparel. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. (Law) (a) A ranking or setting forth in order, by the proper officer, of a jury as impaneled in a cause. (b) The panel itself. (c) The whole body of jurors summoned to attend the court. [ 1913 Webster ]

To challenge the array (Law), to except to the whole panel. Cowell. Tomlins. Blount. --
Commission of array (Eng. Hist.), a commission given by the prince to officers in every county, to muster and array the inhabitants, or see them in a condition for war. Blackstone. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Arrayed p. pr. & vb. n. Arraying. ] [ OE. araien, arraien, fr. OE. arraier, arreier, arreer, arroier, fr. arrai. See Array, n. ] 1. To place or dispose in order, as troops for battle; to marshal. [ 1913 Webster ]

By torch and trumpet fast arrayed,
Each horseman drew his battle blade. Campbell. [ 1913 Webster ]

These doubts will be arrayed before their minds. Farrar. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To deck or dress; to adorn with dress; to cloth to envelop; -- applied esp. to dress of a splendid kind. [ 1913 Webster ]

Pharaoh . . . arrayed him in vestures of fine linen. Gen. xli.&unr_;. [ 1913 Webster ]

In gelid caves with horrid gloom arrayed. Trumbull. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Law) To set in order, as a jury, for the trial of a cause; that is, to call them man by man. Blackstone. [ 1913 Webster ]

To array a panel, to set forth in order the men that are impaneled. Cowell. Tomlins. [ 1913 Webster ]

Syn. -- To draw up; arrange; dispose; set in order. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. One who arrays. In some early English statutes, applied to an officer who had care of the soldiers' armor, and who saw them duly accoutered. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ From Array, v. t. ] Clothes; raiment. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

adj. 1. 1 pale gray; ash-colored.
Syn. -- ash-grey, ashy. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

The first day of Lent; -- so called from a custom in the Roman Catholic church of putting ashes, on that day, upon the foreheads of penitents. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ OF. asai, essai, trial, F. essa. See Essay, n. ] 1. Trial; attempt; essay. [ Obs. ] Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]

I am withal persuaded that it may prove much more easy in the assay than it now seems at distance. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Examination and determination; test; as, an assay of bread or wine. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

This can not be, by no assay of reason. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Trial by danger or by affliction; adventure; risk; hardship; state of being tried. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Through many hard assays which did betide. Spenser. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. Tested purity or value. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

With gold and pearl of rich assay. Spenser. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. (Metallurgy) The act or process of ascertaining the proportion of a particular metal in an ore or alloy; especially, the determination of the proportion of gold or silver in bullion or coin. [ 1913 Webster ]

6. The alloy or metal to be assayed. Ure. [ 1913 Webster ]

Assay and essay are radically the same word; but modern usage has appropriated assay chiefly to experiments in metallurgy, and essay to intellectual and bodily efforts. See Essay. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ Assay is used adjectively or as the first part of a compound; as, assay balance, assay furnace. [ 1913 Webster ]

Assay master, an officer who assays or tests gold or silver coin or bullion. --
Assay ton, a weight of 29, 1662/3 grams. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Assayed p. pr. & vb. n. Assaying. ] [ OF. asaier, essaier, F. essayer, fr. essai. See Assay, n., Essay, v. ] 1. To try; to attempt; to apply. [ Obs. or Archaic ] [ 1913 Webster ]

To-night let us assay our plot. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

Soft words to his fierce passion she assayed. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To affect. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

When the heart is ill assayed. Spenser. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To try tasting, as food or drink. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

4. To subject, as an ore, alloy, or other metallic compound, to chemical or metallurgical examination, in order to determine the amount of a particular metal contained in it, or to ascertain its composition. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. To attempt, try, or endeavor. [ Archaic. In this sense essay is now commonly used. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

She thrice assayed to speak. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. That may be assayed. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. One who assays. Specifically: One who examines metallic ores or compounds, for the purpose of determining the amount of any particular metal in the same, especially of gold or silver. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The act or process of testing, esp. of analyzing or examining metals and ores, to determine the proportion of pure metal. [ 1913 Webster ]

. A small standard weight used in assaying bullion, etc., sometimes equaling 0.5 gram, but varying with the assayer. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

. A weight of 29.166 + grams used in assaying, for convenience. Since it bears the same relation to the milligram that a ton of 2000 avoirdupois pounds does to the troy ounce, the weight in milligrams of precious metal obtained from an assay ton of ore gives directly the number of ounces to the ton. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

adv. (Naut.) An anchor is said to be astay, when, in heaving it, an acute angle is formed between the cable and the surface of the water. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. & a. [ See Estray, Stray. ] Out of the right, either in a literal or in a figurative sense; wandering; as, to lead one astray. [ 1913 Webster ]

Ye were as sheep going astray. 1 Pet. ii. 25. [ 1913 Webster ]