n. 1. 1 filamentous or rod-shaped bacteria.
Syn. -- order Actinomycetales [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. 1. branched gram-positive bacteria, often found in soil, some of which are pathogenic for humans and animals. some species have been found to produce metabolites which are useful in medicine. Many species of these bacteria have been isolated and extensively screened by pharmaceutical companies and university research groups for production of useful therapeutic agents. Among the agent produced by actinomycetes are tetracyclines, streptomycin, avermectin, and thienamycin [ WordNet 1.5 ]

adj. 1. of or pertaining to actinomycetes.
Syn. -- actinomycetal [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. [ From actinomyces, the genus of the organism in which they were first found. ] 1. any of various red antibiotics isolated from soil bacteria with a three-ring heterocyclic nucleus with an attached peptide chain. Actinomycin D is the most well-known and has been used to treat certain tumors. They act by binding to DNA and inhibiting the transcription of RNA. Their binding to DNA has been much studied.
Syn. -- actinomycin actinomycin C actinomycin F1 actinomycin D [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. [ From actinomyces, the genus of the organism in which they were first found. ] The most well-known of the actinomycins (C62H86N12O16), a class of antibiotics which act by binding to DNA and inhibiting synthesis of RNA; they act agains gram-positive bacteria and many eukaryotic organisma. Actinomycin D has been used in human medicine to treat certain tumors.
Syn. -- dactinomycin, actinomycin IV, Cosmegen[ trade name ], actinomycin C1, actinomycin I1 [ PJC ]

n. [ NL. ] (Med.) A chronic infectious disease of cattle and man due to infection with actinomycetes, especially by Actinomyces bovis in cattle and by Actinomyces israeli or Arachnia propionica in man. It is characterized by hard swellings usually in the mouth and jaw. In man the disease may also affect the abdomen or thorax. In cattle it is called also lumpy jaw or big jaw. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. + AS ]

adj. (Med.) Of or pertaining to actinomycosis. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. 1. an order comprising parasites of worms.
Syn. -- order Actinomyxidia. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. 1. a type of parasite of worms. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. [ Gr. &unr_; rural; as a noun, an overseer of the public lands; &unr_; field + &unr_; usage, &unr_; to deal out, manage: cf. F. agronomie. ] The management of land; rural economy; agriculture. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Gr. &unr_;. See Anomia. ] Disregard or violation of law. [ R. ] Glanvill. [ 1913 Webster ]

{ , n. } [ Gr. 'a`nqrwpos man + &unr_; usage, law, rule. ] The science of the laws of the development of the human organism in relation to other organisms and to environment. -- An`thro*po*nom"ic*al a. [Webster 1913 Suppl.]

n.; pl. Antinomies [ L. antinomia, Gr. &unr_;; 'anti` against + &unr_; law. ] 1. Opposition of one law or rule to another law or rule. [ 1913 Webster ]

Different commentators have deduced from it the very opposite doctrines. In some instances this apparent antinomy is doubtful. De Quincey. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. An opposing law or rule of any kind. [ 1913 Webster ]

As it were by his own antinomy, or counterstatute. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Metaph.) A contradiction or incompatibility of thought or language; -- in the Kantian philosophy, such a contradiction as arises from the attempt to apply to the ideas of the reason, relations or attributes which are appropriate only to the facts or the concepts of experience. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ OE. astronomie, F. astronomie, L. astronomia, fr. Gr. &unr_;, fr. &unr_; astronomer; 'asth`r star + &unr_; to distribute, regulate. See Star, and Nomad. ] 1. Astrology. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Not from the stars do I my judgment pluck;
And yet methinks I have astronomy. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. The science which treats of the celestial bodies, of their magnitudes, motions, distances, periods of revolution, eclipses, constitution, physical condition, and of the causes of their various phenomena. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. A treatise on, or text-book of, the science. [ 1913 Webster ]

Physical astronomy. See under Physical. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Gr. &unr_;: cf. F. autonomie. See Autonomous. ] 1. The power or right of self-government; self-government, or political independence, of a city or a state. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Metaph.) The sovereignty of reason in the sphere of morals; or man's power, as possessed of reason, to give law to himself. In this, according to Kant, consist the true nature and only possible proof of liberty. Fleming. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Gr. bi`os life + no`mos law. ] Physiology. [ R. ] Dunglison. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Gr. chei`r hand + &unr_; understanding. ] The art of judging character by the shape and appearance of the hand. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Gr. &unr_;; chei`r hand + &unr_; to manage. ] The art of moving the hands in oratory or in pantomime; gesture [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Gr. &unr_; inheritance + &unr_; to possess. ] Inheritance; heritage. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Cranium + Gr. &unr_;&unr_;&unr_;&unr_;, &unr_;&unr_;&unr_;&unr_;&unr_;. to know. ] The science of the form and characteristics of the skull. [ R. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. a genus of mammals comprising the prairie dogs.
Syn. -- genus Cynomys. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. (Biology) A branch of taxonomy which uses the characteristics of cellular structures, such as somatic chromosomes, to classify organisms. [ PJC ]

-- cy`to*tax*on"o*mist, n. -- cy`to*tax`o*nom"ic, a. -- cy`to*tax`o*nom"ic*al*ly, adv. [PJC]

n. [ Gr. da`ktylos finger + no`mos law, distribution. ] The art of numbering or counting by the fingers. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Gr. dai`mwn demon + no`mos law. ] The dominion of demons. [ R. ] Sir T. Herbert. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Gr. &unr_;; &unr_; second + &unr_; law: cf. L. Deuteronomium. ] (Bibl.) The fifth book of the Pentateuch, containing the second giving of the law by Moses.

n. [ Gr. &unr_;; dys- ill, bad + &unr_; law. ] Bad legislation; the enactment of bad laws. Cockeram. [ 1913 Webster ]

n.; pl. Economies [ F. économie, L. oeconomia household management, fr. Gr. o'ikonomi`a, fr. o'ikono`mos one managing a household; o'i^kos house (akin to L. vicus village, E. vicinity) + no`mos usage, law, rule, fr. ne`mein to distribute, manage. See Vicinity, Nomad. ] 1. The management of domestic affairs; the regulation and government of household matters; especially as they concern expense or disbursement; as, a careful economy. [ 1913 Webster ]

Himself busy in charge of the household economies. Froude. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Orderly arrangement and management of the internal affairs of a state or of any establishment kept up by production and consumption; esp., such management as directly concerns wealth; as, political economy. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. The system of rules and regulations by which anything is managed; orderly system of regulating the distribution and uses of parts, conceived as the result of wise and economical adaptation in the author, whether human or divine; as, the animal or vegetable economy; the economy of a poem; the Jewish economy. [ 1913 Webster ]

The position which they [ the verb and adjective ] hold in the general economy of language. Earle. [ 1913 Webster ]

In the Greek poets, as also in Plautus, we shall see the economy . . . of poems better observed than in Terence. B. Jonson. [ 1913 Webster ]

The Jews already had a Sabbath, which, as citizens and subjects of that economy, they were obliged to keep. Paley. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. Thrifty and frugal housekeeping; management without loss or waste; frugality in expenditure; prudence and disposition to save; as, a housekeeper accustomed to economy but not to parsimony. [ 1913 Webster ]

Political economy. See under Political.

Syn. -- Economy, Frugality, Parsimony. Economy avoids all waste and extravagance, and applies money to the best advantage; frugality cuts off indulgences, and proceeds on a system of saving. The latter conveys the idea of not using or spending superfluously, and is opposed to lavishness or profusion. Frugality is usually applied to matters of consumption, and commonly points to simplicity of manners; parsimony is frugality carried to an extreme, involving meanness of spirit, and a sordid mode of living. Economy is a virtue, and parsimony a vice. [ 1913 Webster ]

I have no other notion of economy than that it is the parent to liberty and ease. Swift. [ 1913 Webster ]

The father was more given to frugality, and the son to riotousness [ luxuriousness ]. Golding. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Gr. &unr_;; e'y^ well + &unr_; law. ] Equal law, or a well-adjusted constitution of government. [ R. ] Mitford. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Gr. &unr_;: cf. F. gastronomie. ] The art or science of good eating; epicurism; the art of good cheer. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. Subordination or subjection to the law of another; political subjection of a community or state; -- opposed to autonomy. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Metaph.) A term applied by Kant to those laws which are imposed on us from without, or the violence done to us by our passions, wants, or desires. Krauth-Fleming. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Gr. "isto`s tissue + &unr_; to distribute, regulate.] The science which treats of the laws relating to organic tissues, their formation, development, functions, etc. [1913 Webster]

n. [ Homo- + Gr. &unr_; law. ] (Biol.) The homology of parts arranged on transverse axes. Haeckel. [ 1913 Webster ]

‖n. pl. [ NL., fr. Gr. &unr_; a membrane + &unr_;, &unr_;, a mushroom. ] (Bot.) One of the great divisions of fungi, containing those species in which the hymenium is completely exposed. M. J. Berkley. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Ignominy. [ R. & Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

I blush to think upon this ignomy. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Gr. &unr_;: cf. F. isonomie. See Isonomic. ] Equal law or right; equal distribution of rights and privileges; similarity. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A non-market economy in which government intervention is important in allocating goods and resources and determining prices. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. [ See Metronome. ] Measurement of time by an instrument. [ 1913 Webster ]

{ ‖‖ } n. pl. [ NL., fr. Gr. mo`nos single + &unr_;, &unr_;, muscle. ] (Zool.) An order of lamellibranchs having but one muscle for closing the shell, as the oyster. [ 1913 Webster ]

{ } a. (Zool.) Of or pertaining to the Monomya. -- n. One of the Monomya. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Gr. morfh` form + &unr_; a law. ] (Biol.) The laws of organic formation. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. See Economy. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Pref. para- + electro- + Gr. &unr_; law. ] (Physiol.) A condition of the muscles induced by exposure to severe cold, in which the electrical action of the muscle is reversed. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Gr. &unr_; passion + &unr_; a judgment, fr. &unr_;, &unr_;, to know. ] Expression of the passions; the science of the signs by which human passions are indicated. [ 1913 Webster ]

n.; pl. Physiognomies [ OE. fisonomie, phisonomie, fisnamie, OF. phisonomie, F. physiognomie, physiognomonie, from Gr. fysiognwmoni`a; fy`sis nature + gnw`mwn one who knows or examines, a judge, fr. gnw^mai, gignw`skein, to know. See Physic, and Know, and cf. Phiz. ] 1. The art and science of discovering the predominant temper, and other characteristic qualities of the mind, by the outward appearance, especially by the features of the face. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. The face or countenance, especially viewed as an indication of the temper of the mind; particular configuration, cast, or expression of countenance, as denoting character. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. The art telling fortunes by inspection of the features. [ Obs. ] Bale. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. The general appearance or aspect of a thing, without reference to its scientific characteristics; as, the physiognomy of a plant, or of a meteor. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Physiogmony. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Phyto- + Gr. &unr_; law: cf. F. phytonomie. ] The science of the origin and growth of plants. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Cf. Gr. &unr_; a multitude of names. ] The use of a variety of names for the same object. G. S. Faber. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Gr. ta`xis an arrangement, order + no`mos a law. ] 1. That division of the natural sciences which treats of the classification of animals and plants, primarily by consideration of their natural relationships with respect to their structure or genetic origin; the laws or principles of classification; systematics. [ 1913 Webster +PJC ]

2. A systematic arrangement of objects or concepts showing the relations between them, especially one including a hierarchical arrangement of types in which categories of objects are classified as subtypes of more abstract categories, starting from one or a small number of top categories, and descending to more specific types through an arbitrary number of levels. An ontology usually contains a taxonomy as one of the important principles of organization. [ 1913 Webster +PJC ]

n. [ Gr. &unr_; place + &unr_; to distribute. ] The designation of position and direction. B. G. Wilder. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Contr. fr. physiognomy. ] Face; countenance. [ Colloq. ] Spenser. Lamb. [ 1913 Webster ]