*em*

n. [ OF. abatement, F. abattement. ] 1. The act of abating, or the state of being abated; a lessening, diminution, or reduction; removal or putting an end to; as, the abatement of a nuisance is the suppression thereof. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. The amount abated; that which is taken away by way of reduction; deduction; decrease; a rebate or discount allowed. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Her.) A mark of dishonor on an escutcheon. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. (Law) The entry of a stranger, without right, into a freehold after the death of the last possessor, before the heir or devisee. Blackstone. [ 1913 Webster ]

Defense in abatement,
Plea in abatement, (Law), plea to the effect that from some formal defect (e.g. misnomer, lack of jurisdiction) the proceedings should be abated. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Renunciation. [ R. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ Gr. 'a priv. + &unr_; growth. ] (Biol.) Non-germinal. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A foreboding; an omen. [ Obs. ] “Abodements must not now affright us.” Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Abortment; abortion. [ Obs. ] Bp. Hall. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. a shortened version .
Syn. -- condensation, abridgment [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. (Physics) A unit of conductance equal to 109 mhos; -- the inverse of the abohm.
Syn. -- abmho [ WordNet 1.5 ]

a. [ L. abstemius; ab, abs + root of temetum intoxicating drink. ] 1. Abstaining from wine. [ Orig. Latin sense. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Under his special eye
Abstemious I grew up and thrived amain. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Sparing in diet; refraining from a free use of food and strong drinks; temperate; abstinent; sparing in the indulgence of the appetite or passions. [ 1913 Webster ]

Instances of longevity are chiefly among the abstemious. Arbuthnot. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Sparingly used; used with temperance or moderation; as, an abstemious diet. Gibbon. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. Marked by, or spent in, abstinence; as, an abstemious life. “One abstemious day.” Pope. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. Promotive of abstemiousness. [ R. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Such is the virtue of the abstemious well. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The quality of being abstemious, temperate, or sparing in the use of food and strong drinks. It expresses a greater degree of abstinence than temperance. [ 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. Acclimation. [ R. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

‖n. [ F., fr. accoucher to be delivered of a child, to aid in delivery, OF. acouchier orig. to lay down, put to bed, go to bed; L. ad + collocare to lay, put, place. See Collate. ] Delivery in childbed [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Cf. F. accouplement. ] 1. The act of coupling, or the state of being coupled; union. [ R. ] Caxton. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. That which couples, as a tie or brace. [ R. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. an item of clothing that is worn or carried, but not part of one's main clothing.
Syn. -- accessory, accouterment [ WordNet 1.5 ]

{ } n. pl. [ F. accoutrement, earlier also accoustrement, earlier also accoustrement. See Accouter. ] Dress; trappings; equipment; specifically, the devices and equipments worn by soldiers. [ 1913 Webster ]

How gay with all the accouterments of war! [ 1913 Webster ]

a. (Physiol.) Pertaining to accremention. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ See accresce, Increment. ] (Physiol.) The process of generation by development of blastema, or fission of cells, in which the new formation is in all respects like the individual from which it proceeds. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ OF. acusement. See Accuse. ] Accusation. [ Obs. ] Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]

‖ n. [ NL. See Acetone; Hæma-. ] (Med.) A morbid condition characterized by the presence of ketone bodies (including acetone, acetoacetic acid and beta-hydroxybutyric acid) in the blood, as in diabetes. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. + AS ]

‖n. [ F. ] Savage fierceness; ferocity. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Cf. F. achèvement, E. Hatchment. ] 1. The act of achieving or performing; an obtaining by exertion; successful performance; accomplishment; as, the achievement of his object. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A great or heroic deed; something accomplished by valor, boldness, or praiseworthy exertion; a feat. [ 1913 Webster ]

[ The exploits ] of the ancient saints . . . do far surpass the most famous achievements of pagan heroes. Barrow. [ 1913 Webster ]

The highest achievements of the human intellect. Macaulay. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Her.) An escutcheon or ensign armorial; now generally applied to the funeral shield commonly called hatchment. Cussans. [ 1913 Webster ]

/mhw>, n. 1. The act of acknowledging; admission; avowal; owning; confession. “An acknowledgment of fault.” Froude. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. The act of owning or recognizing in a particular character or relationship; recognition as regards the existence, authority, truth, or genuineness; a statement acknowledging something or someone. [ 1913 Webster +WordNet 1.5 ]

Immediately upon the acknowledgment of the Christian faith, the eunuch was baptized by Philip. Hooker. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. The owning of a benefit received; courteous recognition; the state or quality of being recognized or acknowledged; an expression of thanks. Shak.
Syn. -- recognition [ 1913 Webster +WordNet 1.5 ]

4. Something given or done in return for a favor, message, etc. Smollett. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. A declaration or avowal of one's own act, to give it legal validity; as, the acknowledgment of a deed before a proper officer. Also, the certificate of the officer attesting such declaration. [ 1913 Webster ]

Acknowledgment money, in some parts of England, a sum paid by copyhold tenants, on the death of their landlords, as an acknowledgment of their new lords. Cowell. [ 1913 Webster ]

Syn. -- Confession; concession; recognition; admission; avowal; recognizance. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The act of acquiring, or that which is acquired; attainment. “Rules for the acquirement of a taste.” Addison. [ 1913 Webster ]

His acquirements by industry were . . . enriched and enlarged by many excellent endowments of nature. Hayward. [ 1913 Webster ]

Syn. -- Acquisition, Acquirement. Acquirement is used in opposition to a natural gift or talent; as, eloquence, and skill in music and painting, are acquirements; genius is the gift or endowment of nature. It denotes especially personal attainments, in opposition to material or external things gained, which are more usually called acquisitions; but this distinction is not always observed. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Chemistry in its relations to actinism. Draper. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ Pref. a- + deem. ] To award; to adjudge. [ Obs. ] “Unto him they did addeem the prise.” Spenser. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ L. adimere. See Ademption. ] (Law) To revoke, as a legacy, grant, etc., or to satisfy it by some other gift. [ 1913 Webster ]

p. p. [ L. ademptus, p. p. of adimere to take away. ] Taken away. [ Obs. ]

Without any sinister suspicion of anything being added or adempt. Latimer. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ L. ademptio, fr. adimere, ademptum, to take away; ad + emere to buy, orig. to take. ] (Law) The revocation or taking away of a grant, donation, legacy, or the like. Bouvier. [ 1913 Webster ]

‖ [ L., to the man. ] A phrase applied to an appeal or argument addressed to the principles, interests, or passions of a man. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The act of adoring; adoration. [ Obs. ] Sir T. Browne. [ 1913 Webster ]

‖ [ L., according to the value. ] (Com.) A term used to denote a duty or charge laid upon goods, at a certain rate per cent upon their value, as stated in their invoice, -- in opposition to a specific sum upon a given quantity or number; as, an ad valorem duty of twenty per cent. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ OE. avancement, F. avancement. See Advance, v. t. ] 1. The act of advancing, or the state of being advanced; progression; improvement; furtherance; promotion to a higher place or dignity; as, the advancement of learning. [ 1913 Webster ]

In heaven . . . every one (so well they love each other) rejoiceth and hath his part in each other's advancement. Sir T. More. [ 1913 Webster ]

True religion . . . proposes for its end the joint advancement of the virtue and happiness of the people. Horsley. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. An advance of money or value; payment in advance. See Advance, 5. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Law) Property given, usually by a parent to a child, in advance of a future distribution. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. Settlement on a wife, or jointure. [ Obs. ] Bacon. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ F. avertisement, formerly also spelled advertissement, a warning, giving notice, fr. avertir. ] 1. The act of informing or notifying; notification. [ Archaic ] [ 1913 Webster ]

An advertisement of danger. Bp. Burnet. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Admonition; advice; warning. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Therefore give me no counsel:
My griefs cry louder than advertisement. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. A public notice, especially a paid notice in some public print; anything that advertises; as, a newspaper containing many advertisements. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ OE. avisement, F. avisement, fr. aviser. See Advise, and cf. Avisement. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

1. Counsel; advice; information. [ Archaic ] [ 1913 Webster ]

And mused awhile, waking advisement takes of what had passed in sleep. Daniel. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Consideration; deliberation; consultation. [ 1913 Webster ]

Tempering the passion with advisement slow. Spenser. [ 1913 Webster ]

‖ [ F., shaded enamel. ] (Fine Arts) An art or process of flooding transparent colored glaze over designs stamped or molded on earthenware or porcelain. Ure. [ 1913 Webster ]