n. [ The proper name used as an appellative. ] A lady's waiting-maid. Pepys. [ 1913 Webster ]

Her abigail reported that Mrs. Gutheridge had a set of night curls for sleeping in. Leslie. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ L. ab + ligatus, p. p. of ligare to tie. ] To tie up so as to hinder from. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ L. abligurito, fr. abligurire to spend in luxurious indulgence; ab + ligurire to be lickerish, dainty, fr. lingere to lick. ] Prodigal expense for food. [ Obs. ] Bailey. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ See Aborigines. ] 1. First; original; indigenous; primitive; native; as, the aboriginal tribes of America. “Mantled o'er with aboriginal turf.” Wordsworth. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Of or pertaining to aborigines; as, a Hindu of aboriginal blood. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. An original inhabitant of any land; one of the aborigines. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. An animal or a plant native to the region. [ 1913 Webster ]

It may well be doubted whether this frog is an aboriginal of these islands. Darwin. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The quality of being aboriginal. Westm. Rev. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. Primarily. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. pl. [ L. Aborigines; ab + origo, especially the first inhabitants of Latium, those who originally (ab origine) inhabited Latium or Italy. See Origin. ] 1. The earliest known inhabitants of a country; native races. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. The original fauna and flora of a geographical area [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ p. p. Adight. ] [ Pref. a- (intensive) + OE. dihten. See Dight. ] To set in order; to array; to attire; to deck, to dress. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Additional signification. [ R. ] Tooke. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ L. adsignificare to show. ] To denote additionally. [ R. ] Tooke. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ Pref. ad- + freight: cf. F. affréter. See Freight. ] To hire, as a ship, for the transportation of goods or freight. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. One who hires or charters a ship to convey goods. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Cf. F. affrétement. ] The act of hiring, or the contract for the use of, a vessel, or some part of it, to convey cargo. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Affrighted; p. pr. & vb. n. Affrighting. ] [ Orig. p. p.; OE. afright, AS. āfyrhtan to terrify; ā- (cf. Goth. us-, Ger. er-, orig. meaning out) + fyrhto fright. See Fright. ] To impress with sudden fear; to frighten; to alarm. [ 1913 Webster ]

Dreams affright our souls. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

A drear and dying sound
Affrights the flamens at their service quaint. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

Syn. -- To terrify; frighten; alarm; dismay; appall; scare; startle; daunt; intimidate. [ 1913 Webster ]

p. a. Affrighted. [ Obs. ] Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. Sudden and great fear; terror. It expresses a stronger impression than fear, or apprehension, perhaps less than terror. [ 1913 Webster ]

He looks behind him with affright, and forward with despair. Goldsmith. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. The act of frightening; also, a cause of terror; an object of dread. B. Jonson. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. With fright. Drayton. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. To frighten. [ Archaic ] “Fit tales . . . to affrighten babes.” Southey. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. One who frightens. [ Archaic ] [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Terrifying; frightful. -- Af*fright"ful*ly, adv. [Archaic] [1913 Webster]

Bugbears or affrightful apparitions. Cudworth. [1913 Webster]

n. Affright; the state of being frightened; sudden fear or alarm. [ Archaic ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Passionate words or blows . . . fill the child's mind with terror and affrightment. Locke. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. a wig that gives the appearance of an afro hairdo. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

adv. [ Pref. a- + height. ] Aloft; on high. [ Obs. ] “Look up aheight.” Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. On high. [ Obs. ] Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

{ } n. [ F. aiguillette point, tagged point, dim. of aiguilee needle, fr. LL. acucula for acicula, dim. of L. acus needle, pin; cf. OF. agleter to hook on. See Acute, and cf. Aiguillette. ] 1. A tag of a lace or of the points, braids, or cords formerly used in dress. They were sometimes formed into small images. Hence, “aglet baby” (Shak.), an aglet image. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Haberdashery) A round white staylace. Beck. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Same as Aglet. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ F. See Eager. ] Sour. [ Obs. ] Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

‖n. [ F. origin unknown. ] Charcoal prepared for making powder. [ 1913 Webster ]

{ } n. [ F., a sort of white heron, with a tuft of feathers on its head; a tuft of feathers; dim. of the same word as heron. See Heron, and cf. Egret, Egrette. ] 1. (Zool.) The small white European heron. See Egret. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A plume or tuft for the head composed of feathers, or of gems, etc. Prescott. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. A tuft like that of the egret. (Bot.) A feathery crown of seed; egret; as, the aigrette or down of the dandelion or the thistle. [ 1913 Webster ]

‖n. [ F., a needle. See Aglet. ] 1. A needle-shaped peak. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. An instrument for boring holes, used in blasting. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ F. See Aglet. ] 1. A point or tag at the end of a fringe or lace; an aglet. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. One of the ornamental tags, cords, or loops on some military and naval uniforms. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. See Aglet. Spenser. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. 1. So tight as to be impermeable to air or other gases; as, an air-tight cylinder; -- said of containers. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. of such close construction as to have little leakage of air in or out; -- said of structures [ WordNet 1.5 ]

3. so thoroughly convincing as to be insusceptible to doubt; having no apparent counterarguments; -- of arguments or assertions an airtight alibi an airtight argument
Syn. -- airtight, uncontradictable, undeniable. [ PJC ]

n. A stove the draft of which can be almost entirely shut off. [ Colloq. U. S. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Of or pertaining to the Albigenses. [ 1913 Webster ]

{ ‖ } n. pl. [ From Albi and Albigeois, a town and its district in the south of France, in which the sect abounded. ] (Eccl. Hist.) A sect of reformers opposed to the church of Rome in the 12th centuries. [ 1913 Webster ]

The Albigenses were a branch of the Catharists (the pure). They were exterminated by crusades and the Inquisition. They were distinct from the Waldenses. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A pot companion. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. aliger; ala wing + gerere to carry. ] Having wings; winged. [ R. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. [ imp. & p. p. Alighted ometimes Alit p. pr. & vb. n. Alighting. ] [ OE. alihten, fr. AS. ālīhtan; pref. ā- (cf. Goth. us-, G. er-, orig. meaning out) + līhtan, to alight, orig. to render light, to remove a burden from, fr. līht, leoht, light. See Light, v. i. ] 1. To spring down, get down, or descend, as from on horseback or from a carriage; to dismount. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To descend and settle, lodge, rest, or stop; as, a flying bird alights on a tree; snow alights on a roof. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To come or chance (upon). [ R. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ Pref. a- + light. ] Lighted; lighted up; in a flame. “The lamps were alight.” Dickens. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ F. aligner; à (L. ad) + ligne (L. linea) line. See Line, and cf. Allineate. ] To adjust or form to a line; to range or form in line; to bring into line; to aline. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. To form in line; to fall into line. [ 1913 Webster ]

adj. 1. 1 in or brought into line with or into proper relative position; -- of spatial position. well-aligned wheels unaligned
Syn. -- alined [ WordNet 1.5 +PJC ]

2. brought into agreement or cooperation on the side of a faction, party, or cause. Opposite of nonaligned. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

3. brought into a straight or uniformly curved line. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

adj. 1. 1 bringing into alignment
Syn. -- positioning [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. [ F. alignement. ] 1. The act of adjusting to a line; arrangement in a line or lines; the state of being so adjusted; a formation in a straight line; also, the line of adjustment; esp., an imaginary line to regulate the formation of troops or of a squadron. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Engin.) The ground-plan of a railway or other road, in distinction from the grades or profile. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ L. alligatus, p. p. of alligare. See Ally. ] To tie; to unite by some tie. [ 1913 Webster ]

Instincts alligated to their nature. Sir M. Hale. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ L. alligatio. ] 1. The act of tying together or attaching by some bond, or the state of being attached. [ R. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Arith.) A rule relating to the solution of questions concerning the compounding or mixing of different ingredients, or ingredients of different qualities or values. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ The rule is named from the method of connecting together the terms by certain ligature-like signs. Alligation is of two kinds, medial and alternate; medial teaching the method of finding the price or quality of a mixture of several simple ingredients whose prices and qualities are known; alternate, teaching the amount of each of several simple ingredients whose prices or qualities are known, which will be required to make a mixture of given price or quality. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Sp. el lagarto the lizard (el lagarto de Indias, the cayman or American crocodile), fr. L. lacertus, lacerta, lizard. See Lizard. ] 1. (Zool.) A large carnivorous reptile of the Crocodile family, peculiar to America. It has a shorter and broader snout than the crocodile, and the large teeth of the lower jaw shut into pits in the upper jaw, which has no marginal notches. Besides the common species of the southern United States, there are allied species in South America. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Mech.) Any machine with strong jaws, one of which opens like the movable jaw of an alligator; as, (a) (Metal Working) a form of squeezer for the puddle ball; (b) (Mining) a rock breaker; (c) (Printing) a kind of job press, called also alligator press. [ 1913 Webster ]

Alligator apple (Bot.), the fruit of the Anona palustris, a West Indian tree. It is said to be narcotic in its properties. Loudon. --
Alligator fish (Zool.), a marine fish of northwestern America (Podothecus acipenserinus). --
Alligator gar (Zool.), one of the gar pikes (Lepidosteus spatula) found in the southern rivers of the United States. The name is also applied to other species of gar pikes. --
Alligator pear (Bot.), a corruption of Avocado pear. See Avocado. --
Alligator snapper,
Alligator tortoise,
Alligator turtle (Zool.), a very large and voracious turtle (Macrochelys lacertina) inhabiting the rivers of the southern United States. It sometimes reaches the weight of two hundred pounds. Unlike the common snapping turtle, to which the name is sometimes erroneously applied, it has a scaly head and many small scales beneath the tail. This name is sometimes given to other turtles, as to species of Trionyx. --
Alligator wood, the timber of a tree of the West Indies (Guarea Swartzii). [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. & t. [ Because of the resemblance to the pattern on the skin of an alligator. ] to form shallow cracks in a reticulated pattern on the surface, or in a coating on the surface, of an object. [ PJC ]