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 ]

n.; pl. Aces [ OE. as, F. as, fr. L. as, assis, unity, copper coin, the unit of coinage. Cf. As. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

1. A unit; a single point or spot on a card or die; the card or die so marked; as, the ace of diamonds. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Hence: A very small quantity or degree; a particle; an atom; a jot. [ 1913 Webster ]

I 'll not wag an ace further. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Sport) A single point won by a stroke, as in handball, rackets, etc.; in tennis, frequently, a point won by a service stroke. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

To bate an ace, to make the least abatement. [ Obs. ] --
Within an ace of, very near; on the point of. W. Irving. [ 1913 Webster ]

adj. 1. of the highest quality an ace reporter
Syn. -- A-one, first-class, first-rate, super, tip-top, topnotch(predicate) [ WordNet 1.5 ]

v. to get a grade of "A"; as, to ace an exam. [ Colloq. ] [ PJC ]

n. 1. apathy and inactivity in the practice of virtue (personified as one of the deadly sins).
Syn. -- sloth, laziness [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. [ Gr. &unr_;, fr. Syr. ōkēl damō the field of blood. ] The potter's field, said to have lain south of Jerusalem, purchased with the bribe which Judas took for betraying his Master, and therefore called the field of blood. Fig.: A field of bloodshed. [ 1913 Webster ]

The system of warfare . . . which had already converted immense tracts into one universal aceldama. De Quincey. [ 1913 Webster ]

adj. 1. 1 not containing cells cellular
Syn. -- cell-free [ WordNet 1.5 ]

2. not made up of or divided into cells cellular
Syn. -- noncellular [ WordNet 1.5 ]

3. occurring outside of cells or without the participation of cells. Opposite of cellular. [ PJC ]

a. [ Gr. 'a priv. + &unr_; a point, a center. ] Not centered; without a center. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Gr. &unr_;; 'a priv. + &unr_; head: cf. F. acéphale, LL. acephalus. ] (Zool.) One of the Acephala. [ 1913 Webster ]

‖n. pl. [ NL., fr. Gr. &unr_;, adj. neut. pl., headless. See Acephal. ] (Zool.) That division of the Mollusca which includes the bivalve shells, like the clams and oysters; -- so called because they have no evident head. Formerly the group included the Tunicata, Brachiopoda, and sometimes the Bryozoa. See Mollusca. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Same as Acephal. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. (Zool.) Belonging to the Acephala. [ 1913 Webster ]

‖n. pl. [ LL., pl. of acephalus. See Acephal. ] 1. A fabulous people reported by ancient writers to have heads. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Eccl. Hist.) (a) A Christian sect without a leader. (b) Bishops and certain clergymen not under regular diocesan control. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. A class of levelers in the time of K. Henry I. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. One who acknowledges no head or superior. Dr. Gauden. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Gr. 'ake`falos without a head + ky`stis bladder. ] (Zool.) A larval entozoön in the form of a subglobular or oval vesicle, or hydatid, filled with fluid, sometimes found in the tissues of man and the lower animals; -- so called from the absence of a head or visible organs on the vesicle. These cysts are the immature stages of certain tapeworms. Also applied to similar cysts of different origin. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Pertaining to, or resembling, the acephalocysts. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ See Acephal. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

1. Headless. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Zool.) Without a distinct head; -- a term applied to bivalve mollusks. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Bot.) Having the style spring from the base, instead of from the apex, as is the case in certain ovaries. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. Without a leader or chief. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. Wanting the beginning. [ 1913 Webster ]

A false or acephalous structure of sentence. De Quincey. [ 1913 Webster ]

6. (Pros.) Deficient at the beginning, as a line of poetry. Brande. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Sp. ] A canal or trench for irrigating land. [ Sp. Amer. ] [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

n. 1. 1 type genus of the Aceraceae; trees or shrubs having winged fruit.
Syn. -- genus Acer [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. 1. 1 the family of trees including the maples.
Syn. -- family Aceraceae, maple family [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. [ See Aceric. ] (Chem.) A combination of aceric acid with a salifiable base. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Acerose; needle-shaped. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. acerbus, fr. acer sharp: cf. F. acerbe. See Acrid. ] Sour, bitter, and harsh to the taste, as unripe fruit; sharp and harsh. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ L. acerbatus, p. p. of acerbare, fr. acerbus. ] To sour; to imbitter; to irritate. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Sour or severe. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ L. acerbitudo, fr. acerbus. ] Sourness and harshness. [ Obs. ] Bailey. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ F. acerbité, L. acerbitas, fr. acerbus. See Acerb. ] 1. Sourness of taste, with bitterness and astringency, like that of unripe fruit. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Harshness, bitterness, or severity; as, acerbity of temper, of language, of pain. Barrow. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. acer maple. ] Pertaining to, or obtained from, the maple; as, aceric acid. Ure. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ (a) L. acerosus chaffy, fr. acus, gen. aceris, chaff; (b) as if fr. L. acus needle: cf. F. acéreux. ] (Bot.) (a) Having the nature of chaff; chaffy. (b) Needle-shaped, having a sharp, rigid point, as the leaf of the pine. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Same as Acerose. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ Gr. α priv. + ke`ras a horn. ] (Zool.) (a) Destitute of tentacles, as certain mollusks. (b) Without antennæ, as some insects. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. acervalis, fr. acervus heap. ] Pertaining to a heap. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Heaped, or growing in heaps, or closely compacted clusters. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ L. acervatus, p. p. of acervare to heap up, fr. acervus heap. ] To heap up. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ L. acervatio. ] A heaping up; accumulation. [ R. ] Johnson. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Heaped up; tending to heap up. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Full of heaps. [ R. ] Bailey. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Resembling little heaps. [ 1913 Webster ]

{ } n. [ Cf. F. acescence. See Acescent. ] The quality of being acescent; the process of acetous fermentation; a moderate degree of sourness. Johnson. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. acescens, -entis, p. pr. of acescere to turn sour; inchoative of acere to be sour: cf. F. acescent. See Acid. ] Turning sour; readily becoming tart or acid; slightly sour. Faraday. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A substance liable to become sour. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. An acetabulum; or about one eighth of a pint. [ Obs. ] Holland. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Cup-shaped; saucer-shaped; acetabuliform. [ 1913 Webster ]

‖n. pl. [ NL. See Acetabuliferous. ] (Zool.) The division of Cephalopoda in which the arms are furnished with cup-shaped suckers, as the cuttlefishes, squids, and octopus; the Dibranchiata. See Cephalopoda. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. acetablum a little cup + -ferous. ] Furnished with fleshy cups for adhering to bodies, as cuttlefish, etc. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. acetabulum + -form. ] (Bot.) Shaped like a shallow cup; saucer-shaped; as, an acetabuliform calyx. Gray. [ 1913 Webster ]

‖n. [ L., a little saucer for vinegar, fr. acetum vinegar, fr. acere to be sour. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

1. (Rom. Antiq.) A vinegar cup; socket of the hip bone; a measure of about one eighth of a pint, etc. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Anat.) (a) The bony cup which receives the head of the thigh bone. (b) The cavity in which the leg of an insect is inserted at its articulation with the body. (c) A sucker of the sepia or cuttlefish and related animals. (d) The large posterior sucker of the leeches. (e) One of the lobes of the placenta in ruminating animals. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Acetic + alcohol. ] (Chem.) A limpid, colorless, inflammable liquid from the slow oxidation of alcohol under the influence of platinum black. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Acetic aldehyde. See Aldehyde. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Acetyl + amide. ] (Chem.) A white crystalline solid, from ammonia by replacement of an equivalent of hydrogen by acetyl. [ 1913 Webster ]