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v. t. To hinder; to withhold. [ 1913 Webster ]

Whether he abstain men from marrying. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. One who abstains; esp., one who abstains from the use of intoxicating liquors. [ 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 ]

v. i. [ imp. & p. p. Appertained p. pr. & vb. n. Appertaining. ] [ OE. apperteinen, apertenen, OF. apartenir, F. appartenir, fr. L. appertinere; ad + pertinere to reach to, belong. See Pertain. ] To belong or pertain, whether by right, nature, appointment, or custom; to relate. [ 1913 Webster ]

Things appertaining to this life. Hooker. [ 1913 Webster ]

Give it unto him to whom it appertaineth. Lev. vi. 5. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. That which appertains to a person; an appurtenance. [ Obs. or R. ] Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Gr. &unr_; virtue. ] The ethical theory which excludes all relations between virtue and happiness; the science of virtue; -- contrasted with eudemonics. J. Grote. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Ascertained p. pr. & vb. n. Ascertaining. ] [ OF. acertener; a (L. ad) + certain. See Certain. ] 1. To render (a person) certain; to cause to feel certain; to make confident; to assure; to apprise. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

When the blessed Virgin was so ascertained. Jer. Taylor. [ 1913 Webster ]

Muncer assured them that the design was approved of by Heaven, and that the Almighty had in a dream ascertained him of its effects. Robertson. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To make (a thing) certain to the mind; to free from obscurity, doubt, or change; to make sure of; to fix; to determine. [ Archaic ] [ 1913 Webster ]

The divine law . . . ascertaineth the truth. Hooker. [ 1913 Webster ]

The very deferring [ of his execution ] shall increase and ascertain the condemnation. Jer. Taylor. [ 1913 Webster ]

The ministry, in order to ascertain a majority . . . persuaded the queen to create twelve new peers. Smollett. [ 1913 Webster ]

The mildness and precision of their laws ascertained the rule and measure of taxation. Gibbon. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To find out or learn for a certainty, by trial, examination, or experiment; to get to know; as, to ascertain the weight of a commodity, or the purity of a metal. [ 1913 Webster ]

He was there only for the purpose of ascertaining whether a descent on England was practicable. Macaulay. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. That may be ascertained. -- As`cer*tain"a*ble*ness, n. -- As`cer*tain"a*bly, adv. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. One who ascertains. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The act of ascertaining; a reducing to certainty; a finding out by investigation; discovery. [ 1913 Webster ]

The positive ascertainment of its limits. Burke. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Attained p. pr. & vb. n. Attaining. ] [ Of. atteinen, atteignen, atainen, OF. ateindre, ataindre, F. atteindre, fr. L. attingere; ad + tangere to touch, reach. See Tangent, and cf. Attinge, Attaint. ] 1. To achieve or accomplish, that is, to reach by efforts; to gain; to compass; as, to attain rest. [ 1913 Webster ]

Is he wise who hopes to attain the end without the means? Abp. Tillotson. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To gain or obtain possession of; to acquire. [ Obs. with a material object. ] Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To get at the knowledge of; to ascertain. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Not well attaining his meaning. Fuller. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. To reach or come to, by progression or motion; to arrive at. “Canaan he now attains.” Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. To overtake. [ Obs. ] Bacon. [ 1913 Webster ]

6. To reach in excellence or degree; to equal. [ 1913 Webster ]

Syn. -- To Attain, Obtain, Procure. Attain always implies an effort toward an object. Hence it is not synonymous with obtain and procure, which do not necessarily imply such effort or motion. We procure or obtain a thing by purchase or loan, and we obtain by inheritance, but we do not attain it by such means. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. 1. To come or arrive, by motion, growth, bodily exertion, or efforts toward a place, object, state, etc.; to reach. [ 1913 Webster ]

If by any means they might attain to Phenice. Acts xxvii. 12. [ 1913 Webster ]

Nor nearer might the dogs attain. Sir W. Scott. [ 1913 Webster ]

To see your trees attain to the dignity of timber. Cowper. [ 1913 Webster ]

Few boroughs had as yet attained to power such as this. J. R. Green. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To come or arrive, by an effort of mind. [ 1913 Webster ]

Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I can not attain unto it. Ps. cxxxix. 6. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Attainment. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The quality of being attainable; attainableness. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. 1. Capable of being attained or reached by efforts of the mind or body; capable of being compassed or accomplished by efforts directed to the object. [ 1913 Webster ]

The highest pitch of perfection attainable in this life. Addison. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Obtainable. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

General Howe would not permit the purchase of those articles [ clothes and blankets ] in Philadelphia, and they were not attainable in the country. Marshall. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The quality of being attainable; attainability. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ OF. ataindre, ateindre, to accuse, convict. Attainder is often erroneously referred to F. teindre tie stain. See Attaint, Attain. ] 1. The act of attainting, or the state of being attainted; the extinction of the civil rights and capacities of a person, consequent upon sentence of death or outlawry; as, an act of attainder. Abbott. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ Formerly attainder was the inseparable consequence of a judicial or legislative sentence for treason or felony, and involved the forfeiture of all the real and personal property of the condemned person, and such “corruption of blood” that he could neither receive nor transmit by inheritance, nor could he sue or testify in any court, or claim any legal protection or rights. In England attainders are now abolished, and in the United States the Constitution provides that no bill of attainder shall be passed; and no attainder of treason (in consequence of a judicial sentence) shall work corruption of blood or forfeiture, except during the life of the person attainted. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A stain or staining; state of being in dishonor or condemnation. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

He lived from all attainder of suspect. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

Bill of attainder, a bill brought into, or passed by, a legislative body, condemning a person to death or outlawry, and attainder, without judicial sentence. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. The act of attaining; the act of arriving at or reaching; hence, the act of obtaining by efforts. [ 1913 Webster ]

The attainment of every desired object. Sir W. Jones. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. That which is attained to, or obtained by exertion; acquirement; acquisition; (pl.), mental acquirements; knowledge; as, literary and scientific attainments. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Attainted; p. pr. & vb. n. Attainting. ] [ OE. atteynten to convict, fr. atteynt, OF. ateint, p. p. of ateindre, ataindre. The meanings 3, 4, 5, and 6 were influenced by a supposed connection with taint. See Attain, Attainder. ] 1. To attain; to get act; to hit. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Old Law) To find guilty; to convict; -- said esp. of a jury on trial for giving a false verdict. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Upon sufficient proof attainted of some open act by men of his own condition. Blackstone. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Law) To subject (a person) to the legal condition formerly resulting from a sentence of death or outlawry, pronounced in respect of treason or felony; to affect by attainder. [ 1913 Webster ]

No person shall be attainted of high treason where corruption of blood is incurred, but by the oath of two witnesses. Stat. 7 & 8 Wm. III. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. To accuse; to charge with a crime or a dishonorable act. [ Archaic ] [ 1913 Webster ]

5. To affect or infect, as with physical or mental disease or with moral contagion; to taint or corrupt. [ 1913 Webster ]

My tender youth was never yet attaint
With any passion of inflaming love. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

6. To stain; to obscure; to sully; to disgrace; to cloud with infamy. [ 1913 Webster ]

For so exceeding shone his glistring ray,
That Ph&unr_;bus' golden face it did attaint. Spenser. [ 1913 Webster ]

Lest she with blame her honor should attaint. Spenser. [ 1913 Webster ]

p. p. Attainted; corrupted. [ Obs. ] Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ OF. attainte. See Attaint, v. ] 1. A touch or hit. Sir W. Scott. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Far.) A blow or wound on the leg of a horse, made by overreaching. White. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Law) A writ which lies after judgment, to inquire whether a jury has given a false verdict in any court of record; also, the convicting of the jury so tried. Bouvier. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. A stain or taint; disgrace. See Taint. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. An infecting influence. [ R. ] Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Attainder; attainture; conviction. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Attainder; disgrace. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ OF. esventail. Cf. Ventail. ] The movable front to a helmet; the ventail. [ 1913 Webster ]

{ }, a. Private; indirect; secret; conducted with secrecy; intriguing; -- as if finding access by the back stairs; as, backstairs gossip.
Syn. -- clandestine, cloak-and-dagger, hugger-mugger, hush-hush, on the quiet(predicate), secret, subterranean, surreptitious, undercover, underground. [ 1913 Webster + WordNet 1.5 ]

A backstairs influence. Burke. [ 1913 Webster ]

Female caprice and backstair influence. Trevelyan. [ 1913 Webster ]

. pos>n. Stairs in the back part of a house, as distinguished from the front stairs; a second staircase at the rear of a building; hence, a private or indirect way. [ 1913 Webster + WordNet 1.5 ]

n. 1. a horse bred for racing.
Syn. -- racehorse, race horse. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

a. Embattled. [ Obs. ] Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ F. bataillant, p. pr. See Battle, v. i. ] [ Obs. ] Prepared for battle; combatant; warlike. Spenser. -- n. A combatant. Shelton. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ OF. bataillos, fr. bataille. See Battle, n. ] Arrayed for battle; fit or eager for battle; warlike. [ Obs. ] “In battailous aspect.” Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. To stain. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ From beta, generic name of the beet. ] (Chem.) A nitrogenous base, C5H11NO2, produced artificially, and also occurring naturally in beet-root molasses and its residues, from which it is extracted as a white crystalline substance; -- called also lycine and oxyneurine. It has a sweetish taste. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Black + tail. ] 1. (Zool.) A fish; the ruff or pope. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Zool.) The black-tailed deer (Cervus Columbianus or Cariacus Columbianus) of California and Oregon; also, the mule deer of the Rocky Mountains. See Mule deer. [ 1913 Webster ]

adj. stained with blood; as, a bloodstained shirt; a bloodstained carpet; a bloodstained sidewalk. [ PJC ]

n. (Zool.) A large grackle or blackbird (Quiscalus major), found in the Southern United States. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Bob + tail. ] An animal (as a horse or dog) with a short tail. [ 1913 Webster ]

Rag, tag, and bobtail, the rabble. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Bobtailed. “Bobtail cur.” Marryat. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Having the tail cut short, or naturally short; curtailed; as, a bobtailed horse or dog; a bobtailed coat. [ 1913 Webster ]

. (Aëronautics) In a flying machine, a tail or rudder, usually fixed, resembling a box kite. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

n. (Zool.) The European redstart; -- so called from the red color of its tail. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Zool.) An insect of the genera Lepisma, Campodea, etc., belonging to the Thysanura. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. the fur of a very young karakul lamb. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

2. a hardy coarse-haired sheep of central Asia; the lambs are valued for their soft curly black fur.
Syn. -- caracul, karakul. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. [ from Brompton Hospital, London. ](Pharmacy) A mixture containing morphine and cocaine, and sometimes other narcotic substances, such as heroin, in an alcoholic solution, administered mostly to terminally ill patients, especially cancer patients, to relieve severe pain. Its use is not universally accepted as good medical practice. [ PJC ]

n. [ OE. capitain, captain, OF. capitain, F. capitaine (cf. Sp. capitan, It. capitano), LL. capitaneus, capitanus, fr. L. caput the head. See under Chief, and cf. Chieftain. ] 1. A head, or chief officer; as: (a) The military officer who commands a company, troop, or battery, or who has the rank entitling him to do so though he may be employed on other service. (b) An officer in the United States navy, next above a commander and below a commodore, and ranking with a colonel in the army. (c) By courtesy, an officer actually commanding a vessel, although not having the rank of captain. (d) The master or commanding officer of a merchant vessel. (e) One in charge of a portion of a ship's company; as, a captain of a top, captain of a gun, etc. (f) The foreman of a body of workmen. (g) A person having authority over others acting in concert; as, the captain of a boat's crew; the captain of a football team. [ 1913 Webster ]

A trainband captain eke was he. Cowper. [ 1913 Webster ]

The Rhodian captain, relying on . . . the lightness of his vessel, passed, in open day, through all the guards. Arbuthnot. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A military leader; a warrior. [ 1913 Webster ]

Foremost captain of his time. Tennyson. [ 1913 Webster ]

Captain general. (a) The commander in chief of an army or armies, or of the militia. (b) The Spanish governor of Cuba and its dependent islands. --
Captain lieutenant, a lieutenant with the rank and duties of captain but with a lieutenant's pay, -- as in the first company of an English regiment. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. To act as captain of; to lead. [ R. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Men who captained or accompanied the exodus from existing forms. Lowell. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Chief; superior. [ R. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

captain jewes in the carcanet. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]