n. same as abortionist. [ PJC ]

‖n. The agglutinated seeds and husks of the legumes of a South American tree (Inga Marthae). It is valuable for tanning leather, and as a dye. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. To bend forward. [ R. ] Owen. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Worthy of being approved; meritorious. -- Ap*prov"a*ble*ness, n. [1913 Webster]

n. Approbation; sanction. [ 1913 Webster ]

A censor . . . without whose approval n&unr_; capital sentences are to be executed. Temple. [ 1913 Webster ]

Syn. -- See Approbation. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Approval. [ Archaic ] Thomson. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Approved p. pr. & vb. n. Approving. ] [ OE. aproven, appreven, to prove, OF. aprover, F. approuver, to approve, fr. L. approbare; ad + probare to esteem as good, approve, prove. See Prove, and cf. Approbate. ] 1. To show to be real or true; to prove. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Wouldst thou approve thy constancy? Approve
First thy obedience. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To make proof of; to demonstrate; to prove or show practically. [ 1913 Webster ]

Opportunities to approve . . . worth. Emerson. [ 1913 Webster ]

He had approved himself a great warrior. Macaulay. [ 1913 Webster ]

'T is an old lesson; Time approves it true. Byron. [ 1913 Webster ]

His account . . . approves him a man of thought. Parkman. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To sanction officially; to ratify; to confirm; as, to approve the decision of a court-martial. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. To regard as good; to commend; to be pleased with; to think well of; as, we approve the measured of the administration. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. To make or show to be worthy of approbation or acceptance. [ 1913 Webster ]

The first care and concern must be to approve himself to God. Rogers. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ This word, when it signifies to be pleased with, to think favorably (of), is often followed by of. [ 1913 Webster ]

They had not approved of the deposition of James. Macaulay. [ 1913 Webster ]

They approved of the political institutions. W. Black. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ OF. aprouer; a (L. ad) + a form apparently derived fr. the pro, prod, in L. prodest it is useful or profitable, properly the preposition pro for. Cf. Improve. ] (Eng. Law) To make profit of; to convert to one's own profit; -- said esp. of waste or common land appropriated by the lord of the manor. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. So as to secure approbation; in an approved manner. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Obs. ] 1. Approbation. [ 1913 Webster ]

I did nothing without your approvement. Hayward. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Eng. Law) a confession of guilt by a prisoner charged with treason or felony, together with an accusation of his accomplish and a giving evidence against them in order to obtain his own pardon. The term is no longer in use; it corresponded to what is now known as turning king's (or queen's) evidence in England, and state's evidence in the United States. Burrill. Bouvier. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Old Eng. Law) Improvement of common lands, by inclosing and converting them to the uses of husbandry for the advantage of the lord of the manor. Blackstone. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. One who approves. Formerly, one who made proof or trial. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. An informer; an accuser. [ Obs. ] Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Eng. Law) One who confesses a crime and accuses another. See 1st Approvement, 2. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ See 2d Approve, v. t. ] (Eng. Law) A bailiff or steward; an agent. [ Obs. ] Jacobs. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Expressing approbation; commending; as, an approving smile. -- Ap*prov"ing*ly, adv. [1913 Webster]

A controversy (1886 -- 93) between Great Britain and the United States as to the right of Canadians not licensed by the United States to carry on seal fishing in the Bering Sea, over which the United States claimed jurisdiction as a mare clausum. A court of arbitration, meeting in Paris in 1893, decided against the claim of the United States, but established regulations for the preservation of the fur seal. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

a. Belonging to, or associated in, the same province. [ Obs. ] -- n. One who belongs to the same province. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

The six islands, comprovincial
In ancient times unto Great Britain. Spenser. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. 1. Turning or looking opposite ways. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

The temple of Janus, with his two controversal faces. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Controversial. [ Obs. ] Boyle. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Controversial. [ Obs. ] Bp. Hall. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Cf. F. controverse. ] Controversy. [ Obs. ] Spenser. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ L. controversari, fr. controversus turned against, disputed. ] To dispute; to controvert. [ Obs. ] “Controversed causes.” Hooker. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A disputant. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ Cf. LL. controversialis. ] Relating to, or consisting of, controversy; disputatious; polemical; as, controversial divinity.

[ 1913 Webster ]

Whole libraries of controversial books. Macaulay. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. One who carries on a controversy; a disputant. [ 1913 Webster ]

He [ Johnson ] was both intellectually and morally of the stuff of which controversialists are made. Macaulay. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. In a controversial manner. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Act of controverting; controversy. [ Obs. ] Hooker. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A controverser. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n.; pl. Controversies /plu>. [ L. controversia, fr. controversus turned against, disputed; contro- = contra + versus, p. p. of vertere to turn. See Verse. ] 1. Contention; dispute; debate; discussion; agitation of contrary opinions. [ 1913 Webster ]

This left no room for controversy about the title. Locke. [ 1913 Webster ]

A dispute is commonly oral, and a controversy in writing. Johnson. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Quarrel; strife; cause of variance; difference. [ 1913 Webster ]

The Lord hath a controversy with the nations. Jer. xxv. 31. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. A suit in law or equity; a question of right. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

When any man that had a controversy came to the king for judgment. 2 Sam. xv. 2.

Syn. -- Dispute; debate; disputation; disagreement; altercation; contention; wrangle; strife; quarrel. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Controverted; p. pr. & vb. n. Controverting. ] [ See Controversy. ] To make matter of controversy; to dispute or oppose by reasoning; to contend against in words or writings; to contest; to debate. [ 1913 Webster ]

Some controverted points had decided according to the sense of the best jurists. Macaulay. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. One who controverts; a controversial writer; a controversialist. [ 1913 Webster ]

Some controverters in divinity are like swaggerers in a tavern. B. Jonson. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Capable of being controverted; disputable; admitting of question. -- Con`tro*ver"ti*bly, adv. [1913 Webster]

n. One skilled in or given to controversy; a controversialist. [ 1913 Webster ]

How unfriendly is the controvertist to the discernment of the critic! Campbell. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A dark brown substance of vegetable origin, allied to curare, and used by the natives of New Granada as an arrow poison. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Chem.) A poisonous alkaloid extracted from corroval, and characterized by its immediate action in paralyzing the heart. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Counterproved p. pr. & vb. n. Counterproving. ] To take a counter proof of, or a copy in reverse, by taking an impression directly from the face of an original. See Counter proof, under Counter. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. To divest of provincial quality or characteristics. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Disapprobation; dislike; censure; adverse judgment. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Disapproved p. pr. & vb. n. Disapproving. ] [ Pref. dis- + approve: cf. F. déapprouver. Cf. Disapprobation. ] 1. To pass unfavorable judgment upon; to condemn by an act of the judgment; to regard as wrong, unsuitable, or inexpedient; to censure; as, to disapprove the conduct of others. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To refuse official approbation to; to disallow; to decline to sanction; as, the sentence of the court-martial was disapproved by the commander in chief. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ This verb is often followed by of; as, to disapprove of an opinion, of such conduct. See Approve. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. One who disapproves. [ 1913 Webster ]

adj. expressing disapproval. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

adv. In a disapproving manner. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. To make worse; -- the opposite of improve. [ R. ] Jer. Taylor. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. To grow worse; to deteriorate. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Reduction from a better to a worse state; as, disimprovement of the earth; specific features which are worse than former features; disimprovements in the new Windows operating system. [ 1913 Webster +PJC ]

a. Capable of being disproved or refuted. Boyle. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Act of disproving; disproof. [ R. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Disproved p. pr. & vb. n. Disproving. ] [ Pref. dis- + prove: cf. OF. desprover. ] 1. To prove to be false or erroneous; to confute; to refute. [ 1913 Webster ]

That false supposition I advanced in order to disprove it. Atterbury. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To disallow; to disapprove of. [ Obs. ] Stirling. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. One who disproves or confutes. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. Not to provide; to fail to provide. [ Obs. ] Boyle. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. & i. [ imp. & p. p. Droved p. pr. & vb. n. Droving ] [ Cf. Drove, n., and Drover. ] 1. To drive, as cattle or sheep, esp. on long journeys; to follow the occupation of a drover.

He's droving now with Conroy's sheep along the Castlereagh. Paterson. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

2. To finish, as stone, with a drove or drove chisel. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

imp. of Drive. [ 1913 Webster ]