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{ ‖ } n. [ L. ala wing + terni three each. ] (Bot.) An ornamental evergreen shrub (Rhamnus alaternus) belonging to the buckthorns. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Made of alder. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. One of a breed of cattle raised in Alderney, one of the Channel Islands. Alderneys are of a dun or tawny color and are often called Jersey cattle. See Jersey, 3. [ 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 ]

(Zool.) The five united jaws and accessory ossicles of certain sea urchins. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ L. aspernari; a (ab) + spernari. ] To spurn; to despise. [ Obs. ] Sir T. More. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. [ Pref. a- + stern. ] (Naut.) 1. In or at the hinder part of a ship; toward the hinder part, or stern; backward; as, to go astern. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Behind a ship; in the rear. “A gale of wind right astern.” De Foe. “Left this strait astern.” Drake. [ 1913 Webster ]

To bake astern, to go stern foremost. --
To be astern of the reckoning, to be behind the position given by the reckoning. --
To drop astern, to fall or be left behind. --
To go astern, to go backward, as from the action of currents or winds. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ Pref. a- not + sternal. ] (Anat.) Not sternal; -- said of ribs which do not join the sternum. [ 1913 Webster ]

{ } a. Of or pertaining to Avernus, a lake of Campania, in Italy, famous for its poisonous vapors, which ancient writers fancied were so malignant as to kill birds flying over it. It was represented by the poets to be connected with the infernal regions. [ 1913 Webster ]

prop. n. (Geography) The capital city of Switzerland. Population (2000) = 129, 423. [ PJC ]

n. See Barnacle. [ 1913 Webster ]

(Zool.) A Brazilian dipterous insect of the genus Trypeta, which lays its eggs in the nostrils or in wounds of man and beast, where the larvæ do great injury. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Of or pertaining to St. Bernard of Clairvaux, or to the Cistercian monks. -- n. A Cistercian monk. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Pertaining to the city or canton of Bern, in Switzerland, or to its inhabitants. -- n. sing. & pl. A native or natives of Bern. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ OE. bernak, bernacle; cf. OF. bernac; prob. fr. LL. bernacula for hibernicula, bernicula, fr. Hibernia; the birds coming from Hibernia or Ireland. Cf. 1st Barnacle. ] A bernicle goose. [ Written also barnacle. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Bernicle goose (Zool.), a goose (Branta leucopsis), of Arctic Europe and America. It was formerly believed that it hatched from the cirripeds of the sea (Lepas), which were, therefore, called barnacles, goose barnacles, or Anatifers. The name is also applied to other related species. See Anatifa and Cirripedia. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Same as Burnoose. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. The quality of being better or superior; superiority. [ R. ] Sir P. Sidney. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. The difference by which fine gold or silver exceeds in fineness the standard. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ F. bigorne. See Bicorn. ] An anvil ending in a beak or point (orig. in two beaks); also, the beak or horn itself. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ Pref. bi- + ternate. ] (Bot.) Doubly ternate, as when a petiole has three ternate leaflets. -- Bi*ter"nate*ly, adv. Gray. [1913 Webster]

n. [ OE. bitoure, betore, bitter, fr. F. butor; of unknown origin. ] (Zool.) A wading bird of the genus Botaurus, allied to the herons, of various species. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ The common European bittern is Botaurus stellaris. It makes, during the brooding season, a noise called by Dryden bumping, and by Goldsmith booming. The American bittern is Botaurus lentiginosus, and is also called stake-driver and meadow hen. See Stake-driver. [ 1913 Webster ]

The name is applied to other related birds, as the least bittern (Ardetta exilis), and the sun bittern. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ From Bitter, a. ] 1. The brine which remains in salt works after the salt is concreted, having a bitter taste from the chloride of magnesium which it contains. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A very bitter compound of quassia, cocculus Indicus, etc., used by fraudulent brewers in adulterating beer. Cooley. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ AS. biternys; biter better + -nys = -ness. ] 1. The quality or state of being bitter, sharp, or acrid, in either a literal or figurative sense; implacableness; resentfulness; severity; keenness of reproach or sarcasm; deep distress, grief, or vexation of mind. [ 1913 Webster ]

The lip that curls with bitterness. Percival. [ 1913 Webster ]

I will complain in the bitterness of my soul. Job vii. 11. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A state of extreme impiety or enmity to God. [ 1913 Webster ]

Thou art in the gall of bitterness, and in the bond of iniquity. Acts viii. 23. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Dangerous error, or schism, tending to draw persons to apostasy. [ 1913 Webster ]

Looking diligently, . . . lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you. Heb. xii. 15. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Bot.) The swamp hickory (Carya amara). Its thin-shelled nuts are bitter. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. a medium-sized blackish-gray seal (Cystophora cristata) with a large inflatable sac on the head; of Arctic-Atlantic waters.
Syn. -- hooded seal. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. 1. (Bot.) An American tree (Juglans cinerea) of the Walnut family, and its edible fruit; -- so called from the oil contained in the latter. Sometimes called oil nut and white walnut. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Bot.) The nut of the Caryocar butyrosum and Caryocar nuciferum, of S. America; -- called also Souari nut. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ F. caserne. ] A lodging for soldiers in garrison towns, usually near the rampart; barracks. Bescherelle. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A disdainful manner. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ L. caverna, fr. cavus hollow: cf. F. caverne. ] A large, deep, hollow place in the earth; a large cave. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. 1. Containing caverns. [ 1913 Webster ]

The wolves yelled on the caverned hill. Byron. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Living in a cavern. “Caverned hermit.” Pope. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. cavernosus: cf. F. caverneux. ] 1. Full of caverns; resembling a cavern or large cavity; hollow. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Filled with small cavities or cells. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Having a sound caused by a cavity. [ 1913 Webster ]

Cavernous body, a body of erectile tissue with large interspaces which may be distended with blood, as in the penis or clitoris. --
Cavernous respiration, a peculiar respiratory sound andible on auscultation, when the bronchial tubes communicate with morbid cavities in the lungs. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. cavernula, dim. of caverna cavern. ] Full of little cavities; as, cavernulous metal. Black. [ 1913 Webster ]