*ca*

{ } a. Pertaining to Aaron, the first high priest of the Jews. [ 1913 Webster ]

‖n. [ The native name. ] The Manila-hemp plant (Musa textilis); also, its fiber. See Manila hemp under Manila. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Abbatial. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Capable of being abdicated. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. abdicans, p. pr. of abdicare. ] Abdicating; renouncing; -- followed by of. [ 1913 Webster ]

Monks abdicant of their orders. Whitlock. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. One who abdicates. Smart. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Abdicated p. pr. & vb. n. Abdicating. ] [ L. abdicatus, p. p. of abdicare; ab + dicare to proclaim, akin to dicere to say. See Diction. ] 1. To surrender or relinquish, as sovereign power; to withdraw definitely from filling or exercising, as a high office, station, dignity; as, to abdicate the throne, the crown, the papacy. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ The word abdicate was held to mean, in the case of James II., to abandon without a formal surrender. [ 1913 Webster ]

The cross-bearers abdicated their service. Gibbon. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To renounce; to relinquish; -- said of authority, a trust, duty, right, etc. [ 1913 Webster ]

He abdicates all right to be his own governor. Burke. [ 1913 Webster ]

The understanding abdicates its functions. Froude. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To reject; to cast off. [ Obs. ] Bp. Hall. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. (Civil Law) To disclaim and expel from the family, as a father his child; to disown; to disinherit. [ 1913 Webster ]

Syn. -- To give up; quit; vacate; relinquish; forsake; abandon; resign; renounce; desert. -- To Abdicate, Resign. Abdicate commonly expresses the act of a monarch in voluntary and formally yielding up sovereign authority; as, to abdicate the government. Resign is applied to the act of any person, high or low, who gives back an office or trust into the hands of him who conferred it. Thus, a minister resigns, a military officer resigns, a clerk resigns. The expression, “The king resigned his crown, ” sometimes occurs in our later literature, implying that he held it from his people. -- There are other senses of resign which are not here brought into view. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. To relinquish or renounce a throne, or other high office or dignity. [ 1913 Webster ]

Though a king may abdicate for his own person, he cannot abdicate for the monarchy. Burke. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ L. abdicatio: cf. F. abdication. ] The act of abdicating; the renunciation of a high office, dignity, or trust, by its holder; commonly the voluntary renunciation of sovereign power; as, abdication of the throne, government, power, authority. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. abdicativus. ] Causing, or implying, abdication. [ R. ] Bailey. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. One who abdicates. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ L. aberuncare, for aberruncare. See Averruncate. ] To weed out. [ Obs. ] Bailey. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A weeding machine. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ Gr. 'a priv. + E. biological. ] Pertaining to the study of inanimate things. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ L. abjudicatus, p. p. of abjudicare; ab + judicare. See Judge, and cf. Abjudge. ] To reject by judicial sentence; also, to abjudge. [ Obs. ] Ash. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Rejection by judicial sentence. [ R. ] Knowles. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ L. Of unknown origin. ] A mystical word or collocation of letters written as in the figure. Worn on an amulet it was supposed to ward off fever. At present the word is used chiefly in jest to denote something without meaning; jargon. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Antiq.) A roll or bag, filled with dust, borne by Byzantine emperors, as a memento of mortality. It is represented on medals. [ 1913 Webster ]

n.; pl. E. acacias L. acaciae [ L. from Gr. 'akaki`a; orig. the name of a thorny tree found in Egypt; prob. fr. the root ak to be sharp. See Acute. ] 1. [ capitalized ] A genus of leguminous trees and shrubs. Nearly 300 species are Australian or Polynesian, and have terete or vertically compressed leaf stalks, instead of the bipinnate leaves of the much fewer species of America, Africa, etc. Very few are found in temperate climates. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Med.) The inspissated juice of several species of acacia; -- called also gum acacia, and gum arabic. AS [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Gum arabic. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ L. academia. See Academy. ] An academy. [ Poetic ] Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Academic. [ R. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A member of an academy, university, or college. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. One holding the philosophy of Socrates and Plato; a Platonist. Hume. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A member of an academy, college, or university; an academician. [ 1913 Webster ]

{ } a. [ L. academicus: cf. F. académigue. See Academy. ] 1. Belonging to the school or philosophy of Plato; as, the Academic sect or philosophy. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Belonging to an academy or other higher institution of learning; scholarly; literary or classical, in distinction from scientific. “Academic courses.” Warburton. “Academical study.” Berkeley. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. In an academical manner. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. pl. The articles of dress prescribed and worn at some colleges and universities. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ F. académicien. See Academy. ] 1. A member of an academy, or society for promoting science, art, or literature, as of the French Academy, or the Royal Academy of arts. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A collegian. [ R. ] Chesterfield. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. the position or state of being a member of an honorary academy. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. 1. A tenet of the Academic philosophy. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A mannerism or mode peculiar to an academy. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The doctrines of the Academic philosophy. [ Obs. ] Baxter. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ F. academiste. ] 1. An Academic philosopher. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. An academician. [ Obs. ] Ray. [ 1913 Webster ]

n.; pl. Academies [ F. académie, L. academia. Cf. Academe. ] 1. A garden or grove near Athens (so named from the hero Academus), where Plato and his followers held their philosophical conferences; hence, the school of philosophy of which Plato was head. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. An institution for the study of higher learning; a college or a university. Popularly, a school, or seminary of learning, holding a rank between a college and a common school. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. A place of training; a school. “Academies of fanaticism.” Hume. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. A society of learned men united for the advancement of the arts and sciences, and literature, or some particular art or science; as, the French Academy; the American Academy of Arts and Sciences; academies of literature and philology. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. A school or place of training in which some special art is taught; as, the military academy at West Point; a riding academy; the Academy of Music. [ 1913 Webster ]

Academy figure (Paint.), a drawing usually half life-size, in crayon or pencil, after a nude model. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. the French-speaking part of the Canadian Maritime Provinces. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

a. Of or pertaining to Acadia, or Nova Scotia. “Acadian farmers.” Longfellow. -- n. A native of Acadie. [ 1913 Webster ]

Acadian epoch (Geol.), an epoch at the beginning of the American paleozoic time, and including the oldest American rocks known to be fossiliferous. See Geology. --
Acadian owl (Zool.), a small North American owl (Nyctule Acadica); the saw-whet. [ 1913 Webster ]

‖n. [ F. See Cashew. ] (Bot.) (a) The cashew tree; also, its fruit. See Cashew. (b) The mahogany tree; also, its timber. [ 1913 Webster ]

‖n. pl. [ NL., from Gr. &unr_;, a nettle. ] A group of Cœlenterata, including the Medusæ or jellyfishes, and hydroids; -- so called from the stinging power they possess. Sometimes called sea nettles. [ 1913 Webster ]

{ n.; pl. Acalephs Acalephans [ See Acalephæ. ] (Zool.) One of the Acalephæ. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ Acaleph + -oid. ] (Zool.) Belonging to or resembling the Acalephæ or jellyfishes. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ Gr. 'a priv. + &unr_; calyx. ] (Bot.) Without a calyx, or outer floral envelope. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Same as Acanthus. [ 1913 Webster ]

‖n. [ Gr. &unr_; thorn, fr. &unr_; point. See Acute. ] 1. (Bot.) A prickle. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Zool.) A spine or prickly fin. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Anat.) The vertebral column; the spinous process of a vertebra. Dunglison. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. 1. Armed with prickles, as a plant. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Bot.) Of, pertaining to, or resembling, the family of plants of which the acanthus is the type. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. acanthinus, Gr. &unr_;, thorny, fr. &unr_;. See Acanthus. ] Of, pertaining to, or resembling, the plant acanthus. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ Gr. &unr_; thorn + &unr_; fruit. ] (Bot.) Having the fruit covered with spines. [ 1913 Webster ]

‖n. pl. [ NL., from Gr. &unr_; a spine, thorn + &unr_; head. ] (Zool.) A group of intestinal worms, having the proboscis armed with recurved spines. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. (Zool.) Having a spiny head, as one of the Acanthocephala. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. a genus of Australian elapid snakes.
Syn. -- genus Acanthophis. [ WordNet 1.5 ]