apt

a. [ F. apte, L. aptus, fr. obsolete apere to fasten, to join, to fit, akin to apisci to reach, attain: cf. Gr. &unr_; to fasten, Skr. āpta fit, fr. āp to reach attain. ] 1. Fit or fitted; suited; suitable; appropriate. [ 1913 Webster ]

They have always apt instruments. Burke. [ 1913 Webster ]

A river . . . apt to be forded by a lamb. Jer. Taylor. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Having an habitual tendency; habitually liable or likely; -- used of things. [ 1913 Webster ]

My vines and peaches . . . were apt to have a soot or smuttiness upon their leaves and fruit. Temple. [ 1913 Webster ]

This tree, if unprotected, is apt to be stripped of the leaves by a leaf-cutting ant. Lubbock. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Inclined; disposed customarily; given; ready; -- used of persons. [ 1913 Webster ]

Apter to give than thou wit be to ask. Beau. & Fl. [ 1913 Webster ]

That lofty pity with which prosperous folk are apt to remember their grandfathers. F. Harrison. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. Ready; especially fitted or qualified (to do something); quick to learn; prompt; expert; as, a pupil apt to learn; an apt scholar. “An apt wit.” Johnson. [ 1913 Webster ]

Live a thousand years,
I shall not find myself so apt to die. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

I find thee apt . . . Now, Hamlet, hear. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

Syn. -- Fit; meet; suitable; qualified; inclined; disposed; liable; ready; quick; prompt. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ LL. aptabilis, fr. L. aptare. ] Capable of being adapted. [ Obs. ] Sherwood. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ L. aptatus, p. p. of aptare. See Apt. ] To make fit. [ Obs. ] Bailey [ 1913 Webster ]

‖n. pl. [ NL. aptera, fr. Gr. &unr_; without wings; 'a priv. + &unr_; wing, &unr_; to fly. ] (Zool.) Insects without wings, constituting the seventh Linnæn order of insects, an artificial group, which included Crustacea, spiders, centipeds, and even worms. These animals are now placed in several distinct classes and orders. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. 1. (Zool.) Apterous. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Arch.) Without lateral columns; -- applied to buildings which have no series of columns along their sides, but are either prostyle or amphiprostyle, and opposed to peripteral. R. Cyc. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Zool.) One of the Aptera. [ 1913 Webster ]

‖n. pl. [ NL. See Aptera. ] (Zool.) Naked spaces between the feathered areas of birds. See Pteryliæ. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. 1. (Zool.) Destitute of wings; apteral; as, apterous insects. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Bot.) Destitute of winglike membranous expansions, as a stem or petiole; -- opposed to alate. [ 1913 Webster ]