Ø AÏcu¶leÏus (#), n.; pl. Aculei (#). [L., dim. of acus needle.] 1. (Bot.) A prickle growing on the bark, as in some brambles and roses.
Lindley.
2. (Zo”l.) A sting.
AÏcu¶men (#), n. [L. acumen, fr. acuere to sharpen. Cf. Acute.] Quickness of perception or discernment; penetration of mind; the faculty of nice discrimination.
Selden.
Syn. Ð Sharpness; sagacity; keenness; shrewdness; acuteness.
AÏcu¶miÏnate (#), a. [L. acuminatus, p. p. of acuminare to sharpen, fr. acumen. See Acumen.] Tapering to a point; pointed; as, acuminate leaves, teeth, etc.
AÏcu¶miÏnate (#), v. t. To render sharp or keen. [R.] ½To acuminate even despair.¸
Cowper.
AÏcu¶miÏnate, v. i. To end in, or come to, a sharp point. ½Acuminating in a cone of prelacy.¸
Milton.
AÏcu·miÏna¶tion (#), n. A sharpening; termination in a sharp point; a tapering point.
Bp. Pearson.
AÏcu¶miÏnose· (#), a. Terminating in a flat, narrow end.
Lindley.
AÏcu¶miÏnous (#), a. Characterized by acumen; keen.
Highmore.
Ac·uÏpres¶sure (#), n. [L. acus needle + premere, pressum, to press.] (Surg.) A mode of arresting hemorrhage resulting from wounds or surgical operations, by passing under the divided vessel a needle, the ends of which are left exposed externally on the cutaneous surface.
Simpson.
Ac·uÏpunc·tuÏra¶tion (#), n. See Acupuncture.
Ac·uÏpunc¶ture (#), n. [L. acus needle + punctura a pricking, fr. pungere to prick: cf. F. acuponcture.] Pricking with a needle; a needle prick. Specifically (Med.): The insertion of needles into the living tissues for remedial purposes.
Ac·uÏpunc¶ture (#), v. t. To treat with acupuncture.
AÏcus¶tumÏaunce (#), n. See Accustomance. [Obs.]
AÏcut¶an·guÏlar (#), a. AcuteÐangled.
AÏcute¶ (#), a. [L. acutus, p. p. of acuere to sharpen, fr. a root ak to be sharp. Cf. Ague, Cute, Edge.] 1. Sharp at the end; ending in a sharp point; pointed; Ð opposed to blunt or obtuse; as, an acute angle; an acute leaf.
2. Having nice discernment; perceiving or using minute distinctions; penetrating; clever; shrewd; Ð opposed to dull or stupid; as, an acute observer; acute remarks, or reasoning.
3. Having nice or quick sensibility; susceptible to slight impressions; acting keenly on the senses; sharp; keen; intense; as, a man of acute eyesight, hearing, or feeling; acute pain or pleasure.
4. High, or shrill, in respect to some other sound; Ð opposed to grave or low; as, an acute tone or accent.
5. (Med.) Attended with symptoms of some degree of severity, and coming speedily to a crisis; Ð opposed to chronic; as, an acute disease.
Acute angle (Geom.), an angle less than a right angle.
Syn. Ð Subtile; ingenious; sharp; keen; penetrating; sagacious; sharp Ð witted; shrewd; discerning; discriminating. See Subtile.
AÏcute¶, v. t. To give an acute sound to; as, he acutes his rising inflection too much. [R.]
Walker.
AÏcute¶Ïan·gled (#), a. Having acute angles; as, an acuteÐangled triangle, a triangle with every one of its angles less than a right angle.
AÏcute¶ly, adv. In an acute manner; sharply; keenly; with nice discrimination.
AÏcute¶ness, n. 1. The quality of being acute or pointed; sharpness; as, the acuteness of an angle.
2. The faculty of nice discernment or perception; acumen; keenness; sharpness; sensitiveness; Ð applied to the senses, or the understanding. By acuteness of feeling, we perceive small objects or slight impressions: by acuteness of intellect, we discern nice distinctions.
Perhaps, also, he felt his professional acuteness interested in bringing it to a successful close.
Sir W. Scott.
3. Shrillness; high pitch; Ð said of sounds.
4. (Med.) Violence of a disease, which brings it speedily to a crisis.
Syn. Ð Penetration; sagacity; keenness; ingenuity; shrewdness; subtlety; sharpÐwittedness.
AÏcu·tiÏfo¶liÏate (#), a. [L. acutus sharp + folium leaf.] (Bot.) Having sharpÐpointed leaves.
AÏcu·tiÏlo¶bate (#), a. [L. acutus sharp + E. lobe.] (Bot.) Having acute lobes, as some leaves.
Ø AdÏ(#). [A Latin preposition, signifying to. See At.] As a prefix adÐ assumes the forms acÐ, afÐ, agÐ, alÐ, anÐ, apÐ, arÐ, asÐ, atÐ, assimilating the d with the first letter of the word to which adÐ is prefixed. It remains unchanged before vowels, and before d, h, j, m, v. Examples: adduce, adhere, adjacent, admit, advent, accord, affect, aggregate, allude, annex, appear, etc. It becomes acÐ before qu, as in acquiesce.
AdÏact¶ (#), v. t. [L. adactus, p. p. of adigere.] To compel; to drive. [Obs.]
Fotherby.
AÏdac¶tyl (#), AÏdac¶tylÏous (#),} a. [Gr. ? priv. + ? finger.] (Zo”l.) (a) Without fingers or without toes. (b) Without claws on the feet (of crustaceous animals).
Ad¶age (#), n. [F. adage, fr. L. adagium; ad + the root of L. aio I say.] An old saying, which has obtained credit by long use; a proverb.
Letting ½I dare not¸ wait upon ½I would,¸
Like the poor cat i' the adage.
Shak.
Syn. Ð Axiom; maxim; aphorism; proverb; saying; saw; apothegm. See Axiom.
AÏda¶giÏal (#), a. Pertaining to an adage; proverbial. ½Adagial verse.¸
Barrow.
Ø AÏda¶gio (#), a. & adv. [It. adagio; ad (L. ad) at + agio convenience, leisure, ease. See Agio.] (Mus.) Slow; slowly, leisurely, and gracefully. When repeated, adagio, adagio, it directs the movement to be very slow.
Ø AÏda¶gio, n. A piece of music in adagio time; a slow movement; as, an adagio of Haydn.
Ad¶am (#), n. 1. The name given in the Bible to the first man, the progenitor of the human race.
2. (As a symbol) ½Original sin;¸ human frailty.
And whipped the offending Adam out of him.
Shak.
Adam's ale, water. [Colloq.] Ð Adam's apple. 1. (Bot.) (a) A species of banana (Musa paradisiaca). It attains a height of twenty feet or more. Paxton. (b) A species of lime (Citris limetta). 2. The projection formed by the thyroid cartilage in the neck. It is particularly prominent in males, and is so called from a notion that it was caused by the forbidden fruit (an apple) sticking in the throat of our first parent. Ð Adam's flannel (Bot.), the mullein (Verbascum thapsus). Ð Adam's needle (Bot.), the popular name of a genus (Yucca) of liliaceous plants.
Ad¶aÏmant (#), n. [OE. adamaunt, adamant, diamond, magnet, OF. adamant, L. adamas, adamantis, the hardest metal, fr. Gr. ?, ?; ? priv. + ? to tame, subdue. In OE., from confusion with L. adamare to love, be attached to, the word meant also magnet, as in OF. and LL. See Diamond, Tame.] 1. A stone imagined by some to be of impenetrable hardness; a name given to the diamond and other substance of extreme hardness; but in modern mineralogy it has no technical signification. It is now a rhetorical or poetical name for the embodiment of impenetrable hardness.
Opposed the rocky orb
Of tenfold adamant, his ample shield.
Milton.
2. Lodestone; magnet. [Obs.] ½A great adamant of acquaintance.¸