n.; pl. Aldermen [ AS. aldormon, ealdorman; ealdor an elder + man. See Elder, n. ] 1. A senior or superior; a person of rank or dignity. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ The title was applied, among the Anglo-Saxons, to princes, dukes, earls, senators, and presiding magistrates; also to archbishops and bishops, implying superior wisdom or authority. Thus Ethelstan, duke of the East-Anglians, was called Alderman of all England; and there were aldermen of cities, counties, and castles, who had jurisdiction within their respective districts. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. One of a board or body of municipal officers next in order to the mayor and having a legislative function. They may, in some cases, individually exercise some magisterial and administrative functions. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The office of an alderman. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Relating to, becoming to, or like, an alderman; characteristic of an alderman. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. Aldermen collectively; the body of aldermen. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. The state of being an alderman. [ Jocular ] [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Like or suited to an alderman. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Pertaining to, or like, an alderman. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Pertaining to, or like, an alderman. “An aldermanly discretion.” Swift. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. The district or ward of an alderman. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. The office or rank of an alderman. [ R. ] B. Jonson. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The condition, position, or office of an alderman. Fabyan. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ See Athermanous. ] Inability to transmit radiant heat; impermeability to heat. Tyndall. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ Gr. 'a priv. + qermai`nein to heat, qe`rma heat: cf. F. athermane. ] (Chem.) Not transmitting heat; -- opposed to diathermanous. [ 1913 Webster ]

(Law) A brother by both the father's and mother's side, in contradistinction to a uterine brother, one by the mother only. Bouvier. [ 1913 Webster ]

n.; pl. Buttermen A man who makes or sells butter. [ 1913 Webster ]

n.; pl. Countermen A man who attends at the counter of a shop to sell goods. [ Eng. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Countermanded; p. pr. & vb. n. Countermanding. ] [ F. contremander; contre (L. contra) + mander to command, fr. L. mandare. Cf. Mandate. ] 1. To revoke (a former command); to cancel or rescind by giving an order contrary to one previously given; as, to countermand an order for goods. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To prohibit; to forbid. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Avicen countermands letting blood in choleric bodies. Harvey. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To oppose; to revoke the command of. [ 1913 Webster ]

For us to alter anything, is to lift ourselves against God; and, as it were, to countermand him. Hooker. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A contrary order; revocation of a former order or command. [ 1913 Webster ]

Have you no countermand for Claudio yet,
But he must die to-morrow? Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Capable of being countermanded; revocable. Bacon. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Cousin + german closely akin. ] A first cousin. See Note under Cousin, 1. [ 1913 Webster ]

{ } n. [ See Diathermanous. ] The property of transmitting radiant heat; the quality of being diathermous. Melloni. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The doctrine or the phenomena of the transmission of radiant heat. Nichol. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ Gr. &unr_; to warm through; dia` through + &unr_; to warm, &unr_; warm. ] Having the property of transmitting radiant heat; diathermal; -- opposed to athermanous. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A sailor belonging to a dogger. [ 1913 Webster ]

{ , n. An alderman. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. That branch of electrical science which treats of the effect of an electric current upon the temperature of a conductor, or a part of a circuit composed of two different metals. [ 1913 Webster ]

n.; pl. Fishermen 1. One whose occupation is to catch fish. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Naut.) A ship or vessel employed in the business of taking fish, as in the cod fishery. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ OE. german, germain, F. germain, fr. L. germanus full, own (said of brothers and sisters who have the same parents); akin to germen germ. Cf. Germ, Germane. ] Nearly related; closely akin. [ 1913 Webster ]

Wert thou a leopard, thou wert german to the lion. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

Brother german. See Brother german. --
Cousins german. See the Note under Cousin. [ 1913 Webster ]

n.; pl. Germans ety>[ L. Germanus, prob. of Celtis origin. ] 1. A native or one of the people of Germany. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. The German language. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (a) A round dance, often with a waltz movement, abounding in capriciosly involved figures. (b) A social party at which the german is danced. [ 1913 Webster ]

High German, the Teutonic dialect of Upper or Southern Germany, -- comprising Old High German, used from the 8th to the 11th century; Middle H. G., from the 12th to the 15th century; and Modern or New H. G., the language of Luther's Bible version and of modern German literature. The dialects of Central Germany, the basis of the modern literary language, are often called Middle German, and the Southern German dialects Upper German; but High German is also used to cover both groups. --
Low German, the language of Northern Germany and the Netherlands, -- including Friesic; Anglo-Saxon or Saxon; Old Saxon; Dutch or Low Dutch, with its dialect, Flemish; and Plattdeutsch (called also Low German), spoken in many dialects. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. Germanus. See German, n. ] Of or pertaining to Germany. [ 1913 Webster ]

German Baptists. See Dunker. --
German bit, a wood-boring tool, having a long elliptical pod and a scew point. --
German carp (Zool.), the crucian carp. --
German millet (Bot.), a kind of millet (Setaria Italica, var.), whose seed is sometimes used for food. --
German paste, a prepared food for caged birds. --
German process (Metal.), the process of reducing copper ore in a blast furnace, after roasting, if necessary. Raymond. --
German sarsaparilla, a substitute for sarsaparilla extract. --
German sausage, a polony, or gut stuffed with meat partly cooked. --
German silver (Chem.), a silver-white alloy, hard and tough, but malleable and ductile, and quite permanent in the air. It contains nickel, copper, and zinc in varying proportions, and was originally made from old copper slag at Henneberg. A small amount of iron is sometimes added to make it whiter and harder. It is essentially identical with the Chinese alloy packfong. It was formerly much used for tableware, knife handles, frames, cases, bearings of machinery, etc., but is now largely superseded by other white alloys. --
German steel (Metal.), a metal made from bog iron ore in a forge, with charcoal for fuel. --
German text (Typog.), a character resembling modern German type, used in English printing for ornamental headings, etc., as in the words, [ 1913 Webster ] ☞ This line is German Text. --
German tinder. See Amadou. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ OE. germaunder, F. germandrée, It. calamandrea, L. chamaedrys, fr. Gr.&unr_;; &unr_; on the earth or ground + &unr_; tree. See Humble, and Tree. ] (Bot.) A plant of the genus Teucrium (esp. Teucrium Chamædrys or wall germander), mintlike herbs and low shrubs. [ 1913 Webster ]

American germander, Teucrium Canadense. --
Germander chickweed, Veronica agrestis. --
Water germander, Teucrium Scordium. --
Wood germander, Teucrium Scorodonia. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ See German akin, nearly related. ] Literally, near akin; hence, closely allied; appropriate or fitting; relevant. [ 1913 Webster ]

The phrase would be more germane to the matter. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

[ An amendment ] must be germane. Barclay (Digest). [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. Germanicus: cf. F. germanique. See German, n. ] 1. Of or pertaining to Germany; as, the Germanic confederacy. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Teutonic. [ A loose sense ] [ 1913 Webster ]

a. (Chem.) Pertaining to, or containing, germanium. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Cf. F. germanisme. ] 1. An idiom of the German language. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A characteristic of the Germans; a characteristic German mode, doctrine, etc.; rationalism. J. W. Alexander. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ NL., fr. L. Germania Germany. ] (Chem.) A rare element, discovered in 1885 in a silver ore (argyrodite) at Freiberg. It is a brittle, silver-white metal, chemically intermediate between the metals and nonmetals, resembles tin, and is in general identical with the predicted ekasilicon. Symbol Ge. Atomic number 32. Atomic weight 72.59. It has excellent semiconductor properties, and is used in transistors and diodes. [ 1913 Webster +PJC ]

n. The act of Germanizing. M. Arnold. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. To reason or write after the manner of the Germans. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Germanized p. pr. & vb. n. Germanizing ] To make German, or like what is distinctively German; as, to Germanize a province, a language, a society. [ 1913 Webster ]

adj. able to communicate in the German language. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n.; pl. Hammermen A hammerer; a forgeman. [ 1913 Webster ]

{ } n. Lack of permanence. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Not permanent. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ Indo- + Germanic. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

1. Same as Aryan, and Indo-European. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Pertaining to or denoting the Teutonic family of languages as related to the Sanskrit, or derived from the ancient Aryan language. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. (Anat.) Between the mandibles; interramal; as, the intermandibular space. [ 1913 Webster ]

‖prop. n.; pl. Jungermanniæ [ NL. Named after Ludwig Jungermann, a German botanist. ] (Bot.) A genus of hepatic mosses, now much circumscribed, but formerly comprising most plants of the family, which is sometimes therefore called Jungermanniaceæ. [ 1913 Webster ]

prop. n. A natural family of plants comprising the leafy members of the order Jungermanniales.
Syn. -- family Jungermanniaceae. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

prop. n. A large order of chiefly tropical liverworts.
Syn. -- order Jungermanniales. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n.; pl. Lightermen A person employed on, or who manages, a lighter. [ 1913 Webster ]

n.; pl. Lumbermen One who is engaged in lumbering as a business or employment. [ U.S. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Zool.) The cicada. [ 1913 Webster ]

n.; pl. Mermen The male corresponding to mermaid; a sea man, or man fish. [ 1913 Webster ]