Dictionary
An American Dictionary of the English Language
Revised and enlarged (Goodrich & Porter)
Springfield, Mass. · G. & C. Merriam · 1865
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Look up a word as the writers of the time used it.
Ămb. p. 42About; around; — a prefix used in composition in words derived from the Latin.Am-bā'jēs, n. p. 42A winding or turning;— hence, a circuit of words to express ideas which may be expressed in fewer words; a circumlocution; a periphrasis. After many ambages, perspicuously define what this melancholy…Am-bā’g’-i-nous or Am-bā’g’-i-ous, a. p. 42Circumlocutory. [Rare.]Am-băg'i-to-ry, a. p. 42Circumlocutory; ambagious; indirect. [Rare.] Partaking of what scholars call the periphrastic and ambagitory. W. Scott.Am-băs'sa-dor, n. p. 42A minister of the highest rank employed by a government to represent it and manage its interests at the court or seat of government of some other power. ☞ This is the more common orthography; but…Am·băs′sa-dō′ri-al, a. p. 42Pertaining to an ambassador.Am-băs'sa-dress, n. p. 42A female ambassador; the wife of an ambassador. Prescott.Am'be or Am'bi, n. p. 43(Med.) (a.) A superficial eminence on a bone. (b.) A surgical instrument formerly used for reducing dislocations of the shoulder. Dunglison.Am'ber, n. p. 43(Min.) A yellowish resin resembling copal, found as a fossil in alluvial soils, with beds of lignite, or on the sea-shore in many places. It takes a fine polish, and is used for ornamental purposes…Ámbergris p. 432. Ámbergris. [Obs.] You that smell of amber at my charge. Beau. & Fl.Am'ber, a. p. 43Consisting of amber; made of amber. “Amber bracelets.” Shak. 2. Resembling amber, especially in color. “The amber moon.” Tennyson.Am'ber, v. t. p. 43To scent or flavor with amber. “Ambered wine.” Beau. & Fl.Ăm'ber-drĭnk, n. p. 43A drink resembling amber in color. Bacon.Ăm'ber-grīs, n. p. 43A substance of the consistence of wax, found floating in the Indian Ocean and other parts of the tropics, and also as a morbid secretion in the intestines of the sperm whale (Physetor macrocephalus)…Am'ber-seed, n. p. 43Musk-seed, from the Hibiscus abelmoschus; a seed somewhat resembling millet, brought from Egypt and the West Indies, and having a flavor like that of musk. Chambers.Am'ber-tree, n. p. 43A species of Anthospermum, a shrub, with evergreen leaves, which, when bruised, emit a fragrant odor.Am'ber-weep'ing, a. p. 43Distilling amber. Crashaw.Ambes'ās, n. p. 43Two aces, the lowest throw on the dice. [Obs.] Life of Bezet.Ăm'/bi-dĕx'ter, n. p. 43A person who uses both hands with equal facility. Browne. 2. Hence, a double dealer; one equally ready to act on either side in party disputes. The rest are hypocrites, ambidexters, so many turning…Am'bi-dex'ter'i-ty or Am'bi-dex'trous-ness, n. p. 43The quality of being ambidextrous; the faculty of using both hands with equal facility. Ignorant I was of the human frame, and of its latent powers, as regarded speed, force, and ambidexterity. De…Am'bi-dex'trous, a. p. 43Having the faculty of using both hands with equal ease. Browne. 2. Practicing or siding with both parties. Æsop condemns . . . all false, shuffling, and ambidextrous dealings. L'Estrange.Ăm'bi-ent, a. p. 43Floating or encompassing on all sides; investing; surrounding. A glorious pile . . . Whose towering summit ambient clouds concealed. Pope.Ăm′bi·ent, n. p. 43Something that surrounds or invests. [Rare.] “Air being a perpetual ambient.” Reliquiæ Wottonianæ.Am-bĭg'e-nal, a. p. 43☞ A word used only in the phrase ambigenal hyperbola, an hyperbola of the third order, having one of its infinite legs falling within an angle formed by the asymptotes, and the other without.Am'bĭ-gū, n. p. 43A medley of dishes set on at the same time. King.Ăm'bi-gŭ'i-ty, n. p. 43The quality or state of being ambiguous; doubtfulness or uncertainty, particularly of signification. The words are of single signification, without any ambiguity. South. No shadow of ambiguity can…Am-bĭg'ū-ous, a. p. 43Doubtful or uncertain, particularly in respect to signification; equivocal; as, an ambiguous course; an ambiguous expression. What have been thy answers, what but dark, Ambiguous, and with double…Am-bĭg'ŭ-oüs-ly, adv. p. 43In an ambiguous manner; with doubtful meaning.Am-big'-u-ous-ness, n. p. 43The quality of being ambiguous; ambiguity; obscurity.Am-bil'e-voŭs, a. p. 43Left-handed on both sides. [Obs.] Browne.Am-bĭl'o-gy, n. p. 43Ambiguous discourse. [Obs.] Bailey.Am-bil'o-quous, a. p. 43Using ambiguous expressions. [Obs.] Bailey.Am-bil'o-quy, n. p. 43Doubtful or ambiguous language. [Obs.] Bailey.Ām'bĭt, n. p. 43Circuit or compass. His great parts did not live within a small ambit. Milward.Am-bī'tion (-bĭsh'un), n. p. 43The act of going about to solicit or obtain an office, or any other object of desire. [Rare.] “[I] used no ambition to commend my deeds.” Milton. 2. An eager and sometimes an inordinate desire of…Am-bĭ'tion, v. t. p. 43Ambitiously to seek after. [Obs.] King. Pausanias, ambitioning the sovereignty of Greece, bargains with Xerxes for his daughter in marriage. Trumbull.Am-bĭ'tion-less, a. p. 43Devoid of ambition. Pollok.Am-bi'tiŏŭs, a. p. 43Possessing, or controlled by, ambition; greatly or inordinately desirous of power, honor, office, superiority, or distinction. Yet Brutus says he was ambitious, And Brutus is an honorable man. Shak.…Am-bĭ'tiŏŭs-ly, adv. p. 43In an ambitious manner.Am-bī'tious-ness, n. p. 43The quality of being ambitious; ambition.Ăm'bĭ-tūde, n. p. 43Circuit; ambit. [Obs.] Blount.Ām'bī-tūs, n. p. 43The circumference or exterior edge or border of a thing, as the border of a leaf, or the outline of a bivalve shell. 2. (Arch.) The open space surrounding a building or tomb. Gavilt. 3. (Com. Hist.)…Ăm'ble, v. i. p. 43To move, as a horse, by lifting together the two legs on one side; to pace. 2. In a ludicrous sense, to move affectedly. “A wanton, ambling nymph.” Shak. Frequent in park, with lady at his side…Ām'ble, n. p. 43A peculiar gait of a horse, in which both legs on one side are moved at the same time. A mule well broken to a pleasant and accommodating amble. W. Scott.Ăm'bler, n. p. 43A horse which ambles; a pacer.Ăm'bling-ly, adv. p. 43With an ambling gait.Ăm'bly-gon, n. p. 43(Geom.) An obtuse-angled triangle; a triangle with one angle of more than ninety degrees. Encyc. Brit.Am-bly'gō-nal, a. p. 43Having an obtuse angle. Hutton.Ăm'bly-o-py, n. p. 43(Med.) Weakness of sight, without any opacity of the cornea, or of the interior of the eye; the first degree of amaurosis. Dunglison.Ăm'bo or Ăm'bon, n. p. 43An oblong pulpit, in the early Christian churches, but disused after the fourteenth century. Gwilt.Ăm'bo-dĕx'ter, n. p. 43One who keeps fair with both parties. See AMBIDEXTER.Am-boy'nă Wood p. 43A beautiful mottled and curled wood, varying in color from orange to chestnut brown;—said to be obtained from the Pterospermum Indicum.Ăm'boy-nēse', n. sing. & pl. p. 43(Geog.) A native or the natives of Amboyna.Am'boy-nēse', a. p. 43(Geog.) Pertaining to Amboyna, or to its inhabitants.Am’bre-ā’dā, n. p. 43A kind of factitious amber, sold by Europeans to the Africans. Encyc.Am'bre-ate, n. p. 43(Chem.) A salt formed by the combination of ambreic acid with a base. Ogilvie.Am-brē'ic, a. p. 43(Chem.) Formed, as a certain acid, by digesting ambreine in nitric acid. Gregory.Am'bre-ine, n. p. 43(Chem.) A fatty substance which is the chief constituent of ambergris. Gregory.Am-brō'siā, n. p. 43(Myth.) The food of the gods, which conferred upon those who partook of it eternal youth. It was also used by the gods to anoint their body and hair. Ambrosia his dewy locks distilled. Milton. 2.…Am-brō'si-ac, a. p. 43Having the qualities of ambrosia. [Obs.] “Ambrosiac odors.” B. Jonson.