*adam*

n. 1. same as adamancy.
Syn. -- obstinacy, obduracy, unyieldingness, adamancy [ WordNet 1.5 +PJC ]

n. 1. obstinacy.
Syn. -- obstinacy, obduracy, unyieldingness, adamance [ WordNet 1.5 +PJC ]

n. 1. North American orchid (Aplectrum hyemale) bearing a single leaf and yellowish-brown flowers.
Syn. -- puttyroot. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. [ OE. adamaunt, adamant, diamond, magnet, OF. adamant, L. adamas, adamantis, the hardest metal, fr. Gr. 'ada`mas, -antos; 'a priv. + dama^, n 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 substances 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. [ 1913 Webster ]

Opposed the rocky orb
Of tenfold adamant, his ample shield. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Lodestone; magnet. [ Obs. ] “A great adamant of acquaintance.” Bacon. [ 1913 Webster ]

As true to thee as steel to adamant. Greene. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. adamantēus. ] Of adamant; hard as adamant. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. adamantinus, Gr. &unr_;. ] 1. Made of adamant, or having the qualities of adamant; incapable of being broken, dissolved, or penetrated; as, adamantine bonds or chains. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Min.) Like the diamond in hardness or luster. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. ad + E. ambulacral. ] (Zool.) Next to the ambulacra; as, the adambulacral ossicles of the starfish. [ 1913 Webster ]

{ } a. Of or pertaining to Adam, or resembling him. [ 1913 Webster ]

Adamic earth, a name given to common red clay, from a notion that Adam means red earth. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ From Adam. ] 1. A descendant of Adam; a human being. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Eccl. Hist.) One of a sect of visionaries, who, professing to imitate the state of Adam, discarded the use of dress in their assemblies. [ 1913 Webster ]

See under Adam. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Zool.) See Cerberus. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The broken stone used in macadamized roadways. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

2. A paved surface formed of compressed layers of broken rocks held together with tar.
Syn. -- tartarmac, macadam. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. 1. any tree of the genus Macadamia, especially Macadamia ternifolia.
Syn. -- macadamia tree. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

2. A macadamia nut. [ PJC ]

n. The hard-shelled nut of the Macadamia ternifolia, or the delicious edible nut without its shell; large quantities are produced in Hawaii and sold commercially. [ PJC ]

n. The process or act of macadamizing. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Macadamized p. pr. & vb. n. Macadamizing. ] [ From John Loudon McAdam, who introduced the process into Great Britain in 1816. ] To cover, as a road, or street, parking lot, playground, or other flat area, with macadam, so as to form a smooth, hard, convex surface.
Syn. -- tarmac. [ 1913 Webster ]

adj. 1. paved with macadam{ 2 }.
Syn. -- asphalt, tarmac, tarmacadam. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

[ See Macadamize. ] A macadamized road. [ 1913 Webster ]

n.; pl. Madams, or Mesdames [ See Madame. ] 1. A gentlewoman; -- an appellation or courteous form of address given to a lady, especially an elderly or a married lady; -- much used in the address, at the beginning of a letter, to a woman. The corresponding word in addressing a man is Sir; often abbreviated ma'am when used as a term of address. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. The woman who is in charge of a household. [ PJC ]

3. The woman who is in charge of a brothel. [ PJC ]

‖n.; pl. Mesdames [ F., fr. ma my (L. mea) + dame dame. See Dame, and cf. Madonna. ] My lady; -- a French title formerly given to ladies of quality; now, in France, given to all married women. Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Prior to Adam. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Cf. F. préadamite. ] 1. An inhabitant of the earth before Adam. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. One who holds that men existed before Adam. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Existing or occurring before Adam; preadamic; as, preadamitic periods. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ F. trique-madame. Cf. Tripmadam. ] (Bot.) A name given to several species of stonecrop, used as ingredients of vermifuge medicines. See Stonecrop. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Of or pertaining to Rhadamanthus; rigorously just; as, a Rhadamanthine judgment. [ 1913 Webster ]

prop. n. [ L., fr. Gr. &unr_;&unr_;&unr_;. ] (Greek Mythol.) One of the three judges of the infernal regions; figuratively, a strictly just judge. [ 1913 Webster ]