‖n. [ Sp., prop. p. of adelantar to advance, to promote. ] A governor of a province; a commander. Prescott. [ 1913 Webster ]

(1) v. inf., (2) n. [ OE. at do, northern form for to do. Cf. Affair. ] 1. To do; in doing; as, there is nothing ado. “What is here ado?” J. Newton. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Doing; trouble; difficulty; troublesome business; fuss; bustle; as, to make a great ado about trifles. [ 1913 Webster ]

With much ado, he partly kept awake. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

Let's follow to see the end of this ado. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

‖n. [ Sp. ] 1. An unburnt brick dried in the sun; also used as an adjective, as, an adobe house, in Texas or New Mexico. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Earth from which unburnt bricks are made. [ Western U. S. ] [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

3. (Geol.) Alluvial and playa clays of desert and arid regions, differing from ordinary clays of humid regions in containing carbonates and other soluble minerals. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

n. 1. a California herb (Fritillaria pluriflora) with pinkish purple flowers.
Syn. -- adobe lily, pink fritillary, Fritillaria pluriflora [ WordNet 1.5 +PJC ]

n. 1. a Philippine dish of marinated vegetables and meat or fish; served with rice. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. [ Fr., fr. L. adolescentia. ] The state of growing up from childhood to manhood or womanhood; youth, or the period of life between puberty and maturity, generally considered to be, in the male sex, from fourteen to twenty-one. Sometimes used with reference to the lower animals. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The quality of being adolescent; youthfulness. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A youth. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. adolescens, p. pr. of adolescere to grow up to; ad + the inchoative olescere to grow: cf. F. adolescent. See Adult. ] Growing; advancing from childhood to maturity. [ 1913 Webster ]

Schools, unless discipline were doubly strong,
Detain their adolescent charge too long. Cowper. [ 1913 Webster ]

‖n. [ Heb. adōnāi, lit., my lord. ] A Hebrew name for God, usually translated in the Old Testament by the word “Lord”. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ The later Jews used its vowel points to fill out the tetragrammaton Yhvh, or Ihvh, “the incommunicable name, ” and in reading substituted “Adonai”. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

a. [ L. Adonēus. ] Pertaining to Adonis; Adonic. “Fair Adonean Venus.” Faber. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ F. adonique: cf. L. Adonius. ] Relating to Adonis, famed for his beauty. -- n. An Adonic verse. [ 1913 Webster ]

Adonic verse, a verse consisting of a dactyl and spondee (-- ˘ ˘ | -- --). [ 1913 Webster ]

‖n. [ L., gr. Gr. 'A`dwnis. ] 1. (Gr. Myth.) A youth beloved by Venus for his beauty. He was killed in the chase by a wild boar. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A preëminently beautiful young man; a dandy. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Bot.) A genus of plants of the family Ranunculaceæ, containing the pheasant's eye (Adonis autumnalis); -- named from Adonis, whose blood was fabled to have stained the flower. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Heb. ădōnāi my Lords. ] One who maintains that points of the Hebrew word translated “Jehovah” are really the vowel points of the word “Adonai.” See Jehovist. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ Cf. F. adoniser, fr. Adonis. ] To beautify; to dandify. [ 1913 Webster ]

I employed three good hours at least in adjusting and adonozing myself. Smollett. [ 1913 Webster ]

{ } At the door; of the door; as, out adoors. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

I took him in adoors. Vicar's Virgil (1630). [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Adopted; p. pr. & vb. n. Adopting. ] [ L. adoptare; ad + optare to choose, desire: cf. F. adopter. See Option. ] 1. To take by choice into relationship, as, child, heir, friend, citizen, etc.; esp. to take voluntarily (a child of other parents) to be in the place of, or as, one's own child. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To take or receive as one's own what is not so naturally; to select and take or approve; as, to adopt the view or policy of another; these resolutions were adopted. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Capable of being adopted. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Taken by adoption; taken up as one's own; as, an adopted son, citizen, country, word. -- A*dopt"ed*ly, adv. [1913 Webster]

n. 1. One who adopts. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Chem.) A receiver, with two necks, opposite to each other, one of which admits the neck of a retort, and the other is joined to another receiver. It is used in distillations, to give more space to elastic vapors, to increase the length of the neck of a retort, or to unite two vessels whose openings have different diameters. [ Written also adapter. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ L. adoptio, allied to adoptare to adopt: cf. F. adoption. ] 1. The act of adopting, or state of being adopted; voluntary acceptance of a child of other parents to be the same as one's own child. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Admission to a more intimate relation; reception; as, the adoption of persons into hospitals or monasteries, or of one society into another. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. The choosing and making that to be one's own which originally was not so; acceptance; as, the adoption of opinions. Jer. Taylor. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Eccl. Hist.) One of a sect which maintained that Christ was the Son of God not by nature but by adoption. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Adopted. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. adoptivus: cf. F. adoptif. ] Pertaining to adoption; made or acquired by adoption; fitted to adopt; as, an adoptive father, an child; an adoptive language. -- A*dopt"ive*ly, adv. [1913 Webster]

n. Adorableness. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. adorabilis, fr. adorare: cf. F. adorable. ] 1. Deserving to be adored; worthy of divine honors. [ 1913 Webster ]

The adorable Author of Christianity. Cheyne. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Worthy of the utmost love or respect. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The quality of being adorable, or worthy of adoration. Johnson. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. In an adorable manner. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ L. adoratio, fr. adorare: cf. F. adoration. ] 1. The act of playing honor to a divine being; the worship paid to God; the act of addressing as a god. [ 1913 Webster ]

The more immediate objects of popular adoration amongst the heathens were deified human beings. Farmer. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Homage paid to one in high esteem; profound veneration; intense regard and love; fervent devotion. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. A method of electing a pope by the expression of homage from two thirds of the conclave. [ 1913 Webster ]

[ Pole ] might have been chosen on the spot by adoration. Froude. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. To adorn. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Congealed little drops which do the morn adore. Spenser. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. adored p. pr. & vb. n. adoring ] [ OE. aouren, anouren, adoren, OF. aorer, adorer, F. adorer, fr. L. adorare; ad + orare to speak, pray, os, oris, mouth. In OE. confused with honor, the French prefix a- being confused with OE. a, an, on. See Oral. ] 1. To worship with profound reverence; to pay divine honors to; to honor as a deity or as divine. [ 1913 Webster ]

Bishops and priests, . . . bearing the host, which he [ James II. ] publicly adored. Smollett. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To love in the highest degree; to regard with the utmost esteem and affection; to idolize. [ 1913 Webster ]

The great mass of the population abhorred Popery and adored Monmouth. Macaulay. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The act of adoring; adoration. [ Obs. ] Sir T. Browne. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. One who adores; a worshiper; one who admires or loves greatly; an ardent admirer. “An adorer of truth.” Clarendon. [ 1913 Webster ]

I profess myself her adorer, not her friend. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

adj. 1. 1 feeling or showing profound respect or veneration. Opposite of irreverent.
Syn. -- worshipful, reverent [ WordNet 1.5 ]

2. 1 feeling or showing a deep love and devotion to. her adoring parents
Syn. -- doting, fond, lovesome [ WordNet 1.5 ]

adv. With adoration. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Adorned p. pr. & vb. n. Adorning. ] [ OE. aournen, anournen, adornen, OF. aorner, fr. L. aaornare; ad + ornare to furnish, embellish. See Adore, Ornate. ] To deck or dress with ornaments; to embellish; to set off to advantage; to render pleasing or attractive. [ 1913 Webster ]

As a bride adorneth herself with her jewels. Isa. lxi. 10. [ 1913 Webster ]

At church, with meek and unaffected grace,
His looks adorned the venerable place. Goldsmith. [ 1913 Webster ]

Syn. -- To deck; decorate; embellish; ornament; beautify; grace; dignify; exalt; honor. -- To Adorn, Ornament, Decorate, Embellish. We decorate and ornament by putting on some adjunct which is attractive or beautiful, and which serves to heighten the general effect. Thus, a lady's head-dress may be ornament or decorated with flowers or jewelry; a hall may be decorated or ornament with carving or gilding, with wreaths of flowers, or with hangings. Ornament is used in a wider sense than decorate. To embellish is to beautify or ornament richly, not so much by mere additions or details as by modifying the thing itself as a whole. It sometimes means gaudy and artificial decoration. We embellish a book with rich engravings; a style is embellished with rich and beautiful imagery; a shopkeeper embellishes his front window to attract attention. Adorn is sometimes identical with decorate, as when we say, a lady was adorned with jewels. In other cases, it seems to imply something more. Thus, we speak of a gallery of paintings as adorned with the works of some of the great masters, or adorned with noble statuary and columns. Here decorated and ornamented would hardly be appropriate. There is a value in these works of genius beyond mere show and ornament. Adorn may be used of what is purely moral; as, a character adorned with every Christian grace. Here neither decorate, nor ornament, nor embellish is proper. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Adornment. [ Obs. ] Spenser. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Adorned; decorated. [ Obs. ] Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Adornment. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. He who, or that which, adorns; a beautifier. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. By adorning; decoratively. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Cf. OF. adornement. See Adorn. ] An adorning; an ornament; a decoration. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ L. adosculari, adosculatum, to kiss. See Osculate. ] (Biol.) Impregnation by external contact, without intromission. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. [ OE. adun, adoun, adune. AS. of dūne off the hill. See Down. ] From a higher to a lower situation; downward; down, to or on the ground. [ Archaic ] “Thrice did she sink adown.” Spenser. [ 1913 Webster ]

prep. Down. [ Archaic & Poetic ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Her hair adown her shoulders loosely lay displayed. Prior. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ F. amadou tinder, prop. lure, bait, fr. amadouer to allure, caress, perh. fr. Icel. mata to feed, which is akin to E. meat. ] A spongy, combustible substance, prepared from fungus (Boletus and Polyporus) which grows on old trees; German tinder; punk. It has been employed as a styptic by surgeons, but its common use is as tinder, for which purpose it is prepared by soaking it in a strong solution of niter. Ure. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Of or pertaining to an ambassador. H. Walpole. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The state, office, or functions of an ambassador. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Ambuscade. [ Obs. ] Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

p. p. Posted in ambush; ambuscaded. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]