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n. [ AS. æcern, fr. æcer field, acre; akin to D. aker acorn, Ger. ecker, Icel. akarn, Dan. agern, Goth. akran fruit, akrs field; -- orig. fruit of the field. See Acre. ] 1. The fruit of the oak, being an oval nut growing in a woody cup or cupule. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Naut.) A cone-shaped piece of wood on the point of the spindle above the vane, on the mast-head. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Zool.) See Acorn-shell. [ 1913 Webster ]

The involucre or cup in which the acorn is fixed. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. 1. Furnished or loaded with acorns. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Fed or filled with acorns. [ R. ] Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Zool.) One of the sessile cirripeds; a barnacle of the genus Balanus. See Barnacle. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Adjourned p. pr. & vb. n. Adjourning ] [ OE. ajornen, OF. ajoiner, ajurner, F. ajourner; OF. a (L. ad) + jor, jur, jorn, F. jour, day, fr. L. diurnus belonging to the day, fr. dies day. Cf. Journal, Journey. ] To put off or defer to another day, or indefinitely; to postpone; to close or suspend for the day; -- commonly said of the meeting, or the action, of convened body; as, to adjourn the meeting; to adjourn a debate. [ 1913 Webster ]

It is a common practice to adjourn the reformation of their lives to a further time. Barrow. [ 1913 Webster ]

'Tis a needful fitness
That we adjourn this court till further day. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

Syn. -- To delay; defer; postpone; put off; suspend. -- To Adjourn, Prorogue, Dissolve. These words are used in respect to public bodies when they lay aside business and separate. Adjourn, both in Great Britain and this country, is applied to all cases in which such bodies separate for a brief period, with a view to meet again. Prorogue is applied in Great Britain to that act of the executive government, as the sovereign, which brings a session of Parliament to a close. The word is not used in this country, but a legislative body is said, in such a case, to adjourn sine die. To dissolve is to annul the corporate existence of a body. In order to exist again the body must be reconstituted. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. To suspend business for a time, as from one day to another, or for a longer period, or indefinitely; usually, to suspend public business, as of legislatures and courts, or other convened bodies; as, congress adjourned at four o'clock; the court adjourned without day. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Adjournment; postponement. [ R. ] “An adjournal of the Diet.” Sir W. Scott. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Cf. f. adjournement, OF. ajornement. See Adjourn. ] 1. The act of adjourning; the putting off till another day or time specified, or without day. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. The time or interval during which a public body adjourns its sittings or postpones business. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Adorned p. pr. & vb. n. Adorning. ] [ OE. aournen, anournen, adornen, OF. aorner, fr. L. aaornare; ad + ornare to furnish, embellish. See Adore, Ornate. ] To deck or dress with ornaments; to embellish; to set off to advantage; to render pleasing or attractive. [ 1913 Webster ]

As a bride adorneth herself with her jewels. Isa. lxi. 10. [ 1913 Webster ]

At church, with meek and unaffected grace,
His looks adorned the venerable place. Goldsmith. [ 1913 Webster ]

Syn. -- To deck; decorate; embellish; ornament; beautify; grace; dignify; exalt; honor. -- To Adorn, Ornament, Decorate, Embellish. We decorate and ornament by putting on some adjunct which is attractive or beautiful, and which serves to heighten the general effect. Thus, a lady's head-dress may be ornament or decorated with flowers or jewelry; a hall may be decorated or ornament with carving or gilding, with wreaths of flowers, or with hangings. Ornament is used in a wider sense than decorate. To embellish is to beautify or ornament richly, not so much by mere additions or details as by modifying the thing itself as a whole. It sometimes means gaudy and artificial decoration. We embellish a book with rich engravings; a style is embellished with rich and beautiful imagery; a shopkeeper embellishes his front window to attract attention. Adorn is sometimes identical with decorate, as when we say, a lady was adorned with jewels. In other cases, it seems to imply something more. Thus, we speak of a gallery of paintings as adorned with the works of some of the great masters, or adorned with noble statuary and columns. Here decorated and ornamented would hardly be appropriate. There is a value in these works of genius beyond mere show and ornament. Adorn may be used of what is purely moral; as, a character adorned with every Christian grace. Here neither decorate, nor ornament, nor embellish is proper. [ 1913 Webster ]

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

a. Adorned; decorated. [ Obs. ] Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Adornment. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. He who, or that which, adorns; a beautifier. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. By adorning; decoratively. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Cf. OF. adornement. See Adorn. ] An adorning; an ornament; a decoration. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. 1 coextensive with the order Aepyorniformes.
Syn. -- family Aepyornidae [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. 1. 1 huge extinct flightless birds: elephant birds.
Syn. -- order Aepyorniformes [ WordNet 1.5 ]

‖ n. [ Gr. &unr_; high + &unr_; bird. ] A gigantic (to 9 ft.) extinct flightless bird, of which fossils were found in Madagascar.
Syn. -- elephant bird [ 1913 Webster + WordNet 1.5 ]

n. The part of the day which follows noon, between noon and evening. [ 1913 Webster ]

adj. 1. conveyed by or through air, as dust or pollen; as, a clean room is needed to avoid airborne contaminants. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

2. in flight; flying; -- said of an airplane. [ PJC ]

3. (Mil.) carried directly to the site of battle by aircraft; -- said of combat troops, as, an airborne division. [ PJC ]

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

n. [ L. alburnus, fr. L. albus white. Cf. Auburn. ] (Zool.) The bleak, a small European fish having scales of a peculiarly silvery color which are used in making artificial pearls. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Of or pertaining to alburnum; of the alburnum; as, alburnous substances. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ L., fr. albus white. ] (Bot.) The white and softer part of wood, between the inner bark and the hard wood or duramen; sapwood. [ 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 ]

[ Prob. a corruption of Almain furnace, i. e., German furnace. See Almain. ] A kind of furnace used in refining, to separate the metal from cinders and other foreign matter. Chambers. [ 1913 Webster ]

{ }, n. [ G. Alpenhorn. ] A curved wooden horn about three feet long, with a cupped mouthpiece and a bell, used by the Swiss to sound the ranz des vaches and other melodies. Its notes are open harmonics of the tube. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

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. [ Alt + horn. ] (Mus.) An instrument of the saxhorn family, used exclusively in military music, often replacing the French horn. Grove. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Ger. amelkorn: cf. MHG. amel, amer, spelt, and L. amylum starch, Gr. &unr_;. ] A variety of wheat from which starch is produced; -- called also French rice. [ 1913 Webster ]