v. t.
It gilds all objects, but it alters none. Pope. [ 1913 Webster ]
My covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips. Ps. lxxxix. 34. [ 1913 Webster ]
v. i. To become, in some respects, different; to vary; to change;
n. [ Cf. F. altérabilité. ] The quality of being alterable; alterableness. [ 1913 Webster ]
a. [ Cf. F. altérable. ] Capable of being altered. [ 1913 Webster ]
Our condition in this world is mutable and uncertain, alterable by a thousand accidents. Rogers. [ 1913 Webster ]
n. The quality of being alterable; variableness; alterability. [ 1913 Webster ]
adv. In an alterable manner. [ 1913 Webster ]
a. [ LL. alterans, p. pr.: cf. F. altérant. ] Altering; gradually changing. Bacon. [ 1913 Webster ]
n. An alterative. [ R. ] Chambers. [ 1913 Webster ]
n. [ Cf. F. altération. ]
Alteration, though it be from worse to better, hath in it incoveniences. Hooker. [ 1913 Webster ]
Ere long might perceive
Strange alteration in me. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]
Appius Claudius admitted to the senate the sons of those who had been slaves; by which, and succeeding alterations, that council degenerated into a most corrupt. Swift. [ 1913 Webster ]
n. A medicine or treatment which gradually induces a change, and restores healthy functions without sensible evacuations. [ 1913 Webster ]