Loading earlier words…
Ale

An intoxicating liquor made from an infusion of malt by fermentation and the addition of a bitter, usually hops.

Aleak

In a leaking condition.

Aleatory

Depending on some uncertain contingency; as, an aleatory contract.

Alebench

A bench in or before an alehouse.

Aleberry

A beverage, formerly made by boiling ale with spice, sugar, and sops of bread.

Alecithal

Applied to those ova which segment uniformly, and which have little or no food yelk embedded in their protoplasm.

Aleconner

Orig., an officer appointed to look to the goodness of ale and beer; also, one of the officers chosen by the liverymen of London to inspect the measures used in public houses. But the office is a sinecure. [Also called aletaster.]

Alecost

The plant costmary, which was formerly much used for flavoring ale.

Alectorides

A group of birds including the common fowl and the pheasants.

Alectryomancy

Divination by means of a cock and grains of corn placed on the letters of the alphabet, the letters being put together in the order in which the grains were eaten.

Alee

On or toward the lee, or the side away from the wind; the opposite of aweather. The helm of a ship is alee when pressed close to the lee side.

Alegar

Sour ale; vinegar made of ale.

Aleger

Gay; cheerful; sprightly.

Alegge

To allay or alleviate; to lighten.

Alehoof

Ground ivy (Nepeta Glechoma).

Alehouse

A house where ale is retailed; hence, a tippling house.

Alem

The imperial standard of the Turkish Empire.

Alembic

An apparatus formerly used in distillation, usually made of glass or metal. It has mostly given place to the retort and worm still.

Alembroth

The salt of wisdom of the alchemists, a double salt composed of the chlorides of ammonium and mercury. It was formerly used as a stimulant.

Alepidote

Not having scales. A fish without scales.

Alepole

A pole set up as the sign of an alehouse.

Alert

An alarm from a real or threatened attack; a sudden attack; also, a bugle sound to give warning.

alerting

a state of readiness to respond.

Alertness

The quality of being alert or on the alert; briskness; nimbleness; activity.

Alestake

A stake or pole projecting from, or set up before, an alehouse, as a sign; an alepole. At the end was commonly suspended a garland, a bunch of leaves, or a /bush./

Alethiology

The science which treats of the nature of truth and evidence.

Alethoscope

An instrument for viewing pictures by means of a lens, so as to present them in their natural proportions and relations.

Aleurometer

An instrument for determining the expansive properties, or quality, of gluten in flour.

Aleuronat

Flour made of aleurone, used as a substitute for ordinary flour in preparing bread for diabetic persons.

Aleurone

An albuminoid substance which occurs in minute grains (/protein granules/) in maturing seeds and tubers; -- supposed to be a modification of protoplasm.

Aleut

a member of the people inhabiting the Aleutian Islands. Same as Aleutian, n.

Aleutian

a member of the people inhabiting the Aleutian Islands.

Aleutians

an archipelago in the North Pacific extending southwest from Alaska.

Aleutic Aleutian

Of or pertaining to a chain of islands between Alaska and Kamtchatka; also, designating these islands.

Alewife

A North American fish (Clupea vernalis) of the Herring family. It is called also ellwife, ellwhop, branch herring. The name is locally applied to other related species.

Alexander

a European herb (Smyrnium olusatrum) somewhat resembling celery widely naturalized in Britain coastal regions and often cultivated as a potherb.

Alexanders

same as Alexander[wn1]; Smyrnium olusatrum.

Alexandria

a city on the Mediterranean Sea, the chief port of Egypt.

Alexandrian

Of or pertaining to Alexandria in Egypt; as, the Alexandrian library.

Alexandrine

A kind of verse consisting in English of twelve syllables.

Alexia

Inability to read aloud, due to brain disease; the meanings of the words is nevertheless understood. Called also motor alexia. Inability, due to brain disease, to understand written or printed symbols. Called also Word blindness and text blindness.

alexipyretic

Serving to drive off fever; antipyretic; antifebrile. An antipyretic drug; a febrifuge.

alexiteric

A preservative against contagious and infectious diseases, and the effects of poison in general.

Alfa grass Alfa

A plant (Macrochloa tenacissima) of North Africa; also, its fiber, used in paper making.

Alfalfa

The lucern (Medicago sativa), a leguminous plant having bluish purple cloverlike flowers, and cultivated for fodder; -- so called in California, Texas, etc.

Alfenide

An alloy of nickel and silver electroplated with silver.

Alferes

An ensign; a standard bearer.

Alfet

A caldron of boiling water into which an accused person plunged his forearm as a test of innocence or guilt.

Alfilaria

The pin grass (Erodium cicutarium), a weed in California.

Alfione

An edible marine fish of California (Rhacochilus toxotes).

Alga

A kind of seaweed; pl. the class of cellular cryptogamic plants which includes the black, red, and green seaweeds, as kelp, dulse, sea lettuce, also marine and fresh water conferv/, etc. The algae are primitive chlorophyll-containing mainly aquatic eukaryotic organisms lacking true stems and roots and leaves.

Algal

Pertaining to, or like, alg/.

Algaroba

The Carob, a leguminous tree of the Mediterranean region; also, its edible beans or pods, called St. John's bread. The Honey mesquite (Prosopis juliflora), a small tree found from California to Buenos Ayres; also, its sweet, pulpy pods. A valuable gum, resembling gum arabic, is collected from the tree in Texas and Mexico.

algarot algaroth

A term used for the Powder of Algaroth, a white powder which is a compound of trichloride and trioxide of antimony. It was formerly used in medicine as an emetic, purgative, and diaphoretic.

Algarovilla

The agglutinated seeds and husks of the legumes of a South American tree (Inga Marthae). It is valuable for tanning leather, and as a dye.

Algebra

That branch of mathematics which treats of the relations and properties of quantity by means of letters and other symbols. It is applicable to those relations that are true of every kind of magnitude.

Algebraical Algebraic

Of or pertaining to algebra; using algebra; according to the laws of algebra; containing an operation of algebra, or deduced from such operation; as, algebraic characters; algebraical writings; algebraic geometry.

Algebraize

To perform by algebra; to reduce to algebraic form.

Algerian

Of or pertaining to Algeria. A native of Algeria.

Algerine

A native or one of the people of Algiers or Algeria. Also, a pirate.

Algidity

Chilliness; coldness coldness and collapse.

Algiers

The capital city of Algeria. Population (2000) = unk.

Algin

A nitrogenous substance resembling gelatin, obtained from certain alg/.

Algoid

Of the nature of, or resembling, an alga.

Algol

A fixed star, in Medusa's head, in the constellation Perseus, remarkable for its periodic variation in brightness.

Algological

Of or pertaining to algology; as, algological specimens.

Algologist

One learned about alg/; a student of algology.

Algology

The study or science of alg/ or seaweeds.

Algometer

An instrument for measuring sensations of pain due to pressure. It has a piston rod with a blunted tip which is pressed against the skin.

Algonkin Algonquin

One of a widely spread family of Indians, including many distinct tribes, which formerly occupied most of the northern and eastern part of North America. The name was originally applied to a group of Indian tribes north of the River St. Lawrence.

Algonquian

Pertaining to or designating the most extensive of the linguistic families of North American Indians, their territory formerly including practically all of Canada east of the 115th meridian and south of Hudson's Bay and the part of the United States east of the Mississippi and north of Tennessee and Virginia, with the exception of the territory occupied by the northern Iroquoian tribes. There are nearly 100,000 Indians of the Algonquian tribes, of which the strongest are the Ojibwas (Chippewas), Ottawas, Crees, Algonquins, Micmacs, and Blackfeet. An Algonquian Indian.

algorithm

a precise rule (or set of rules) specifying how to solve some problem; a set of procedures guaranteed to find the solution to a problem.

Algorithm Algorism

The art of calculating by nine figures and zero; computation with Arabic figures.

Algous

Of or pertaining to the alg/, or seaweeds; abounding with, or like, seaweed.

Alguazil

An inferior officer of justice in Spain; a warrant officer; a constable.

Algum

Same as Almug (and etymologically preferable).

Algum Almug

A tree or wood of the Bible (2 Chron. ii. 8; 1 K. x. 11).

Alhambra

The palace of the Moorish kings at Granada.

Alhambresque Alhambraic

Made or decorated after the fanciful style of the ornamentation in the Alhambra, which affords an unusually fine exhibition of Saracenic or Arabesque architecture.

Alias

A second or further writ which is issued after a first writ has expired without effect. Another name; an assumed name.

Alibi

The plea or mode of defense under which a person on trial for a crime proves or attempts to prove that he was in another place when the alleged act was committed; as, to set up an alibi; to prove an alibi.

Alicant

A kind of wine, formerly much esteemed; -- said to have been made near Alicant, in Spain.

Alicyclic

pertaining to compounds that have a ring in the structure, but are not aromatic, as cyclohexane or cyclohexene. Compare aliphatic and aromatic.

Alidade

The portion of a graduated instrument, as a quadrant or astrolabe, carrying the sights or telescope, and showing the degrees cut off on the arc of the instrument

Alien

To alienate; to estrange; to transfer, as property or ownership.

Loading more words…