v. i. To compose alliteratively; also, to constitute alliteration. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. To employ or place so as to make alliteration. Skeat. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ L. ad + litera letter. See Letter. ] The repetition of the same letter at the beginning of two or more words immediately succeeding each other, or at short intervals; as in the following lines: - [ 1913 Webster ]

Behemoth, biggest born of earth, upheaved
His vastness. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

Fly o'er waste fens and windy fields. Tennyson. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ The recurrence of the same letter in accented parts of words is also called alliteration. Anglo-Saxon poetry is characterized by alliterative meter of this sort. Later poets also employed it. [ 1913 Webster ]

In a somer seson whan soft was the sonne,
I shope me in shroudes as I a shepe were. P. Plowman. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Pertaining to, or characterized by, alliteration; as, alliterative poetry. -- Al*lit"er*a*tive*ly, adv. -- Al*lit"er*a*tive*ness, n. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. One who alliterates. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. illiteratus: pref. il- not + literatus learned. See In- not, and Literal. ] Unable to read or write; ignorant of letters or books; unlettered; uninstructed; uneducated; as, an illiterate man, or people.

Syn. -- Ignorant; untaught; unlearned; unlettered; unscholary. See Ignorant.

-- Il*lit"er*ate*ly, adv. -- Il*lit"er*ate*ness, n. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Lack of learning; illiteracy. [ R. ] Ayliffe. Southey. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. By way of iteration. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. iteratus, p. p. of iterare to repeat, fr. iterum again, prop. a compar. from the stem of is he, that; cf. L. ita so, item likewise, also, Skr. itara other, iti thus. Cf. Identity, Item. ] Uttered or done again; repeated. [ Obs. ] Bp. Gardiner. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Iterated p. pr. & vb. n. Iterating. ] To utter or do a second time or many times; to repeat; as, to iterate advice. [ 1913 Webster ]

Nor Eve to iterate
Her former trespass feared. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ L. iteratio. ] 1. Recital or performance a second time; repetition. Bacon. [ 1913 Webster ]

What needs this iteration, woman? Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Computers) The execution of a statement or series of statements in a loop which is repeated in a computer program; as, at each iteration, the counter is incremented by 2. [ PJC ]

a. [ L. iterativus: cf. F. itératif. ] Repeating. Cotgrave. -- It"er*a*tive*ly, adv. [1913 Webster]

a. [ L. litteratus, literatus. See Letter. ] Instructed in learning, science, or literature; learned; lettered. [ 1913 Webster ]

The literate now chose their emperor, as the military chose theirs. Landor. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. One educated, but not having taken a university degree; especially, such a person who is prepared to take holy orders. [ Eng. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A literary man. [ 1913 Webster ]

‖n. pl. [ See Literatus. ] Learned or literary men. See Literatus. [ 1913 Webster ]

Shakespearean commentators, and other literati. Craik. [ 1913 Webster ]

‖adv. [ LL., fr. L. littera, litera, letter. ] Letter for letter. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ L. littera, litera, letter. ] The act or process of representing by letters. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ L. litterator, literator. See Letter. ] 1. One who teaches the letters or elements of knowledge; a petty schoolmaster. Burke. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A person devoted to the study of literary trifles, esp. trifles belonging to the literature of a former age. [ 1913 Webster ]

That class of subjects which are interesting to the regular literator or black-letter “ bibliomane, ” simply because they have once been interesting. De Quincey. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. A learned person; a literatus. Sir W. Hamilton. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ F. littérature, L. litteratura, literatura, learning, grammar, writing, fr. littera, litera, letter. See Letter. ] 1. Learning; acquaintance with letters or books. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. The collective body of literary productions, embracing the entire results of knowledge and fancy preserved in writing; also, the whole body of literary productions or writings upon a given subject, or in reference to a particular science or branch of knowledge, or of a given country or period; as, the literature of Biblical criticism; the literature of chemistry. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. The class of writings distinguished for beauty of style or expression, as poetry, essays, or history, in distinction from scientific treatises and works which contain positive knowledge; belles-lettres. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. The occupation, profession, or business of doing literary work. Lamb.

Syn. -- Science; learning; erudition; belles-lettres. See Science. -- Literature, Learning, Erudition. Literature, in its widest sense, embraces all compositions in writing or print which preserve the results of observation, thought, or fancy; but those upon the positive sciences (mathematics, etc.) are usually excluded. It is often confined, however, to belles-lettres, or works of taste and sentiment, as poetry, eloquence, history, etc., excluding abstract discussions and mere erudition. A man of literature (in this narrowest sense) is one who is versed in belles-lettres; a man of learning excels in what is taught in the schools, and has a wide extent of knowledge, especially, in respect to the past; a man of erudition is one who is skilled in the more recondite branches of learned inquiry. [ 1913 Webster ]

The origin of all positive science and philosophy, as well as of all literature and art, in the forms in which they exist in civilized Europe, must be traced to the Greeks. Sir G. C. Lewis. [ 1913 Webster ]

Learning thy talent is, but mine is sense. Prior. [ 1913 Webster ]

Some gentlemen, abounding in their university erudition, fill their sermons with philosophical terms. Swift. [ 1913 Webster ]

‖n.; pl. Literati [ L. litteratus, literatus. ] A learned man; a man acquainted with literature; -- chiefly used in the plural. [ 1913 Webster ]

Now we are to consider that our bright ideal of a literatus may chance to be maimed. De Quincey. [ 1913 Webster ]

adj. not using a writing system; -- of societies, cultures, or tribes. [ Narrower terms: uncivilized (vs. civilized) ]
Syn. -- preliterate. [ WordNet 1.5 +PJC ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Obliterated p. pr. & vb. n. Obliterating. ] [ L. obliteratus, p. p. of obliterare to obliterate; ob (see Ob-) + litera, littera, letter. See Letter. ] 1. To erase or blot out; to efface; to render undecipherable, as a writing. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To wear out; to remove or destroy utterly by any means; to render imperceptible; as, to obliterate ideas; to obliterate the monuments of antiquity. [ 1913 Webster ]

The harsh and bitter feelings of this or that experience are slowly obliterated. W. Black. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. (Zool.) Scarcely distinct; -- applied to the markings of insects. [ 1913 Webster ]

adj. 1. destroyed so thoroughly as to be unrecognizable or imperceptible.
Syn. -- wiped out, obliterate. [ WordNet 1.5 +PJC ]

2. made illegible or imperceptible by erasing or abrading away; -- of writing or surface designs on objects.
Syn. -- blotted out, obliterated. [ PJC ]

adj. making undecipherable or imperceptible; as, obliterating mists.
Syn. -- obscurant. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. [ L. obliteratio: cf. F. oblitération. ] The act of obliterating, or the state of being obliterated; extinction. Sir. M. Hale. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Tending or serving to obliterate. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Reiterated p. pr. & vb. n. Reiterating. ] [ Pref. re- + iterate: cf. F. réitérer, LL. reiterare to question again. ] To repeat again and again; to say or do repeatedly; sometimes, to repeat. [ 1913 Webster ]

That with reiterated crimes he might
Heap on himself damnation. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

You never spoke what did become you less
Than this; which to reiterate were sin. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

Syn. -- To repeat; recapitulate; rehearse. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Reiterated; repeated. [ R. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. Repeatedly. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Cf. F. réitération. ] The act of reiterating; that which is reiterated. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. (Gram.) A word expressing repeated or reiterated action. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A word formed from another, or used to form another, by repetition; as, dillydally. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. To reiterate many times. [ R. ] “My re-reiterated wish.” Tennyson. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ Pref. trans- + L. litera, littera letter. ] To express or represent in the characters of another alphabet; as, to transliterate Sanskrit words by means of English letters. A. J. Ellis. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The act or product of transliterating, or of expressing words of a language by means of the characters of another alphabet. [ 1913 Webster ]

. The class of ancient Hebrew writings which deal reflectively with general ethical and religious topics, as distinguished from the prophetic and liturgical literature, and from the law. It is comprised chiefly in the books of Job, Proverbs, Ecclesiasticus, Ecclesiastes, and Wisdom of Solomon. The “wisdom” (Hokhmah) of these writings consists in detached sage utterances on concrete issues of life, without the effort at philosophical system that appeared in the later Hellenistic reflective writing beginning with Philo Judaeus. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]