Dictionary
An American Dictionary of the English Language
Revised and enlarged (Goodrich & Porter)
Springfield, Mass. · G. & C. Merriam · 1865
- Entries
- 95,912
- Pages
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- Illustrations
- 2,133
Look up a word as the writers of the time used it.
Ag-grĕss'ive, a. p. 30Tending to aggress; making the first attack. Clarkson.Ag-grĕss'ive-ness, n. p. 30The quality or state of being aggressive.Ag-grĕss’or, n. p. 30The person who first attacks or makes an aggression; he who first commences hostility or a quarrel; an assailer; an invader. The insolence of the aggressor is usually proportioned to the tameness of…Ag-griev'ance, n. p. 30Oppression; hardship; injury; grievance. [Rare.]Ag-griēve', v. t. p. 30To give pain or sorrow to; to afflict; hence, to oppress or injure; to vex; to harass. “Aggrieved by oppression and extortion.” Macaulay.Ag-griēve', v. i. p. 30To mourn; to lament. [Obs.]Ag-group', v. t. p. 30To bring together; to group; to collect in a crowd, or into a whole, either in statuary, painting, or description. Dryden.A-ghäst', a. or adv. p. 30Struck with amazement; stupefied with sudden fright or horror. Aghast he waked; and, starting from his bed, Cold sweat in clammy drops his limbs o'erspread. Dryden. ☞ Spenser uses the word as the…Ăg'i-ble, a. p. 30Possible to be done. [Obs.] “When they were fit for agible things.” Sir A. Shirley.Ăg'ile, a. p. 30Having the faculty of quick motion in the limbs; apt or ready to move; active. “With agile hand.” Cowper. And bending forward struck his agile heels. Shak. Syn. — Active; alert; nimble; brisk…Ăg'ile-ly, adv. p. 30In an agile manner.Ăg'ile-ness, n. p. 30The faculty of moving the limbs quickly; agility; nimbleness; activity.A-ġĭl'i-ty, n. p. 30The quality of being agile; the power of moving the limbs quickly; nimbleness; briskness; activity; quickness of motion. Turning and wheeling with the agility of a hawk upon the wing. W. Scott. 2.…A-gĭl'lo-chŭm, n. p. 30See AGALLOCHUM.Ā'ġi-o, n. p. 30(Com.) The difference in value between metallic and paper money, or between one sort of metallic money and another. McCulloch. 2. Premium; sum given above the nominal value; as, the agio of exchange.…Ā'ġi-o-taġe, n. p. 30Stock-jobbing; the maneuvers of speculators to raise or lower the price of stocks or public funds. Brande. Vanity and agiotage are to a Parisian the oxygen and hydrogen of life. Landor.A-ġĭst', v. t. p. 30(Law.) To take to graze or pasture, at a certain sum;—used originally of the feeding of cattle in the king’s forests, and collecting the money for the same. Blackstone.A-ġĭst'a-tor or A-ġĭst'er or A-ġĭst'or, n. p. 30(Law.) (a.) An officer of the king's forest, who has the care of cattle agisted, and collects the money for the same;—hence called gist-taker, which in England is corrupted into guest-taker. (b.) One…A-ġĭst'ment, n. p. 30(Law.) (a.) The taking and feeding of other men's cattle in the king's forest, or on one's own land, at a certain rate. (b.) The price paid for such feeding. (c.) A burden, charge, or tax. Jacobs.…Ăg'i-ta-ble, a. p. 30Capable of being agitated, shaken, or discussed.Ăg'i-tāte, v. t. p. 30To move with a violent, irregular action; as, the wind agitates the sea; to agitate water in a vessel. 2. To disturb or excite; to perturb. “An agitated countenance.” Thackeray. The mind of man is…Ăg/i-tā'tion, n. p. 30The act of agitating, or the state of being agitated; the state of being moved with violence, or with irregular action; commotion; as, the sea after a storm is in agitation. 2. Disturbance of…Ag'i-tā'tive, a. p. 30Having a tendency to agitate.Āg'i-tā'to, a. p. 30(Mus.) Hurried, broken, perturbed, and startling in style.Ăg'i-tā'tor, n. p. 30One who agitates; specifically (Eng. Hist.), one of a body of men appointed by the army, in Cromwell's time, to look after their interests;—called also agitators. Clarendon. 2. A contrivance for…Ăg'let or Ăig'let, n. p. 30A tag of a lace or of the points formerly used in dress. They were sometimes formed into small figures. Fosbro'ke. 2. (Bot.) A pendant at the ends of the chives of flowers, as in the tulip; an…Ag'let-bā'by, n. p. 30A small image on the top of a lace. [Obs. and very rare.] Shak.Ag'let-hĕad'ed, a. p. 30Having an aglet or tag at the head. [Obs.] Pilkington.A-glōw', a. p. 30Very warm; hot; as, cheeks all aglow.Ag'mi-nal, a. p. 30Pertaining to an army or troop. [Obs.] Bailey.Ag'nail, n. p. 30A whitlow; an inflammation round the nail; a hangnail. Dunglison. 2. A corn. [Obs.] Rider's Dict. 1640.Ag'nāte, n. p. 30(Law.) Related or akin by the father's side. 2. Allied. [Rare.] “Agnate words.” Pownall. Assume more or less of a fictitious character, but congenial and agnate with the former. Landor.Ag'nāte, n. p. 30Any male relation by the father's side. Bouvier.Ag-nāt'ic, a. p. 30Pertaining to descent by the male line of ancestors. “The agnatic succession.” Blackstone.Ag-nā'tion, n. p. 30Relation by the father's side only, or descent in the male line, as distinguished from cognation, which includes descent in both the male and female lines. Bouvier.Ag-nī'tion, n. p. 30Acknowledgment. [Obs.] Grafton.Ag-nīze', v. t. p. 30To acknowledge; to confess. [Obs.] “I do agnize a natural and prompt alacrity.” Shak.Ag'noi-ōl'o-gy, n. p. 30(Phil.) The doctrine concerning those things of which we are necessarily ignorant.Ag-nō'men, n. p. 30Among the Romans, a fourth name, on account of some remarkable exploit or event; as, Publius Caius Scipio Africanus.Ag-nŏm'i-nāte, v. t. p. 30To name. [Obs.] “Agnominated by our name.” Locrine.Ag-nōm'i-nā'tion, n. p. 30A name added to another, as expressive of some act, achievement, &c.; a surname. B. Jonson. 2. Allusion of one word to another by resemblance of sound. Camden.Ag'nus Cās'tus, n. p. 30(Bot.) A species of Vitex (V. agnus castus); the chaste-tree. Loudon. “And wreaths of agnus castus others bore.” Dryden.Ăg'nus Dē'ī, n. p. 30(Rom. Cath. Church.) A cake of wax stamped with the figure of a lamb, supporting the banner of the cross. It is consecrated by the pope, and is supposed to possess great virtues. 2. A prayer in the…A-gō', adv. or a. p. 30Past; gone; as, five and twenty years ago.A-gōg', a. or adv. p. 30Highly excited by eagerness after an object. “All agog to dash through thick and thin.” Cooper.A-gō'ing p. 30In motion; in the act of going; as, to set a mill agoing. “To set them first agoing.” Tatler.A'gon, n. p. 30The contest for the prize. [Obs.] Sancroft.A-gōne', p. p. p. 30Ago; past; since. [Obs.]Ā'gōne, n. p. 30The agonic line. See AGONIC.A-gōn'ic, a. p. 30Not forming an angle.Agonic line p. 30a line on the earth's surface on which the magnetic needle points to the true north, and thus the magnetic meridian coincides with the geographical. There is one such line in the Western hemisphere…Ag'o-nĭsm, n. p. 30Contention for a prize. Blount.Ag'o-nist, n. p. 30One who contends for the prize in public games. Milton has used Agonistes in this sense, and so called his tragedy, from the similitude of Samson's exertions in slaying the Philistines to…Ăg'o-nĭs'tarch, n. p. 30One who exercised combatants for the games. [Obs.]Ăg'o-nĭst'ic or Ăg'o-nĭst'ic-al, a. p. 30Pertaining to violent bodily or mental struggles, or to any violent contest. As a scholar, he [Dr. Parr] was brilliant, but he consumed his power in agonistic displays. De Quincey.Ăg'o-nĭst'ic-al-ly, adv. p. 31In an agonistic manner; like prize-fighting.Ăg'o-nĭst'ics, n. sing. p. 31The science of games or prize-fighting. [See Note under MATHEMATICS.]Ag'o-nīze, v. i. p. 31To writhe with agony; to feel extreme pain; to suffer violent anguish. To smart and agonize at every pore. Pope.Ag'o-nīze, v. t. p. 31To cause to suffer agony; to distress with extreme pain; to torture. He agonized his mother by his behavior. Thackeray.Ag'o-nīz-ing-ly, adv. p. 31With extreme anguish.