n. [ LL., from p. p. accensus. See Accend. ] (R. C. Ch.) One of the functionaries who light and trim the tapers. [ 1913 Webster ]

‖n. [ From Adanson, a French botanist. ] (Bot.) A genus of great trees related to the Bombax. There are two species, Adansonia digitata, the baobab or monkey-bread of Africa and India, and Adansonia Gregorii, the sour gourd or cream-of-tartar tree of Australia. Both have a trunk of moderate height, but of enormous diameter, and a wide-spreading head. The fruit is oblong, and filled with pleasantly acid pulp. The wood is very soft, and the bark is used by the natives for making ropes and cloth. D. C. Eaton. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Meteor.) The upper, contrary-moving current of the atmosphere over a monsoon. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

a. Grievous to be borne; causing uneasiness or fatigue; oppressive. [ 1913 Webster ]

The debt immense of endless gratitude
So burdensome. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

Syn. -- Heavy; weighty; cumbersome; onerous; grievous; oppressive; troublesome. [ 1913 Webster ]

-- Bur"den*some*ly, adv. -- Bur"den*some*ness, n. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ L. censor, fr. censere to value, tax. ] 1. (Antiq.) One of two magistrates of Rome who took a register of the number and property of citizens, and who also exercised the office of inspector of morals and conduct. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. One who is empowered to examine manuscripts before they are committed to the press, and to forbid their publication if they contain anything obnoxious; -- an official in some European countries. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. One given to fault-finding; a censurer. [ 1913 Webster ]

Nor can the most circumspect attention, or steady rectitude, escape blame from censors who have no inclination to approve. Rambler. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. A critic; a reviewer. [ 1913 Webster ]

Received with caution by the censors of the press. W. Irving. [ 1913 Webster ]

adj. suppressed or subjected to censorship; as, the censored press in some countries. Opposite of uncensored. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

a. 1. Belonging to a censor, or to the correction of public morals. Junius. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Full of censure; censorious. [ 1913 Webster ]

The censorial declamation of Juvenal. T. Warton. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Censorial. [ R. ] Bacon. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. censorius pertaining to the censor. See Censor. ] 1. Addicted to censure; apt to blame or condemn; severe in making remarks on others, or on their writings or manners. [ 1913 Webster ]

A dogmatical spirit inclines a man to be consorious of his neighbors. Watts. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Implying or expressing censure; as, censorious remarks.

Syn. -- Fault-finding; carping; caviling; captious; severe; condemnatory; hypercritical.

-- Cen*so"ri*ous*ly, adv. -- Cen*so"ri*ous*ness, n. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The office or power of a censor; as, to stand for a censorship. Holland. [ 1913 Webster ]

The press was not indeed at that moment under a general censorship. Macaulay. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ F., fr. L. cantion song. See Cantion, Canzone. ] A song. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

‖ [ F., prop., song of history. ] Any Old French epic poem having for its subject events or exploits of early French history, real or legendary, and written originally in assonant verse of ten or twelve syllables. The most famous one is the Chanson de Roland.

Langtoft had written in the ordinary measure of the later chansons de geste. Saintsbury. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

‖n.; pl. Chansonnettes [ F., dim. of chanson. ] A little song. [ 1913 Webster ]

These pretty little chansonnettes that he sung. Black. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. One who comprehends; one who has attained to a full knowledge. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

When I shall have dispatched this weary pilgrimage, and from a traveler shall come to be a comprehensor, farewell faith and welcome vision. Bp. Hall. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ L. consociatus, p. p. of consociare to associate, unite; con- + sociare to join, unite. See Social. ] An associate; an accomplice. [ Archaic ] “Wicked consociates.” Bp. Hall. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Consociated p. pr. & vb. n. Consociating. ] 1. To bring into alliance, confederacy, or relationship; to bring together; to join; to unite. [ R. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Join pole to pole, consociate severed worlds. Mallet. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To unite in an ecclesiastical consociation. [ U.S. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. 1. To be allied, confederated, or associated; to coalescence. [ R. ] Bentley. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To form an ecclesiastical consociation. [ U.S. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ L. consociatio. ] 1. Intimate union; fellowship; alliance; companionship; confederation; association; intimacy. [ 1913 Webster ]

A friendly consociation with your kindred elements. Warburton. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A voluntary and permanent council or union of neighboring Congregational churches, for mutual advice and cooperation in ecclesiastical matters; a meeting of pastors and delegates from churches thus united. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ In Connecticut some of the Congregational churhes are associated in consociations and the others in conferences. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Of or pertaining to a consociation. [ U.S. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A consolidated annuity (see Consols); -- chiefly in combination or attributively. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

a. [ L. consolabilis: cf. F. consolable. ] Capable of receiving consolation. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ L. consolatus, p. p. See Console, v. t. ] To console; to comfort. [ Obs. ] Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ L. consolatio: cf. F. consolation. ] The act of consoling; the state of being consoled; allevation of misery or distress of mind; refreshment of spirit; comfort; that which consoles or comforts the spirit. [ 1913 Webster ]

Against such cruelties
With inward consolations recompensed. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

Are the consolations of God small with thee? Job xv. 11.

Syn. -- Comfort; solace; allevation. See Comfort. [ 1913 Webster ]

‖ [ It., the consulate of the sea. ] A collection of maritime laws of disputed origin, supposed to have been first published at Barcelona early in the 14th century. It has formed the basis of most of the subsequent collections of maritime laws. Kent. Bouvier. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ L. ] One who consoles or comforts. Johnson. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. consolatorius. ] Of a consoling or comforting nature. [ 1913 Webster ]

The punishment of tyrants is a noble and awful act of justice; and it has with truth been said to be consolatory to the human mind. Burke. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. That which consoles; a speech or writing intended for consolation. [ R. ] Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Consoled p. pr. & vb. n. Consoling. ] [ L. consolari, . p. p. consolatus; con- + solari to console, comfort: cf. F. consoler. See Solace. ] To cheer in distress or depression; to alleviate the grief and raise the spirits of; to relieve; to comfort; to soothe. [ 1913 Webster ]

And empty heads console with empty sound. Pope. [ 1913 Webster ]

I am much consoled by the reflection that the religion of Christ has been attacked in vain by all the wits and philosophers, and its triumph has been complete. P. Henry.

Syn. -- To comfort; solace; soothe; cheer; sustain; encourage; support. See Comfort. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ F. ] 1. (Arch.) (a) A bracket whose projection is not more than half its height. (b) Any small bracket; also, a console table. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Computers) The keyboard and monitor of a computer considered together. [ GG ]

3. (Engineering) The controlling portion of an electrical, electronic, or mechanical device or system, from which the operator may observe the state of the system as indicated by gauges or on some form of display{ n3 }, and may direct or control the action of the system. [ GG +PJC ]

4. the desklike controlling unit of an organ containing the keyboard, pedals, stops, etc. by means of which the organ is played. [ PJC ]

5. a home entertainment device such as a television, radio, phonograph, CD player, or combination of these, designed as a piece of furniture, to stand on the floor rather than on a table or in a separate cabinet; -- also used attributively in the phrase console model. [ PJC ]

Console table, a table whose top is supported by two or more consoles instead of legs. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. One who gives consolation. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. consolidans, p. pr. of consolidare: cf. F. consolidant. ] Serving to unite or consolidate; having the quality of consolidating or making firm. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. consolidatus, p. pr. of consolidare to make firm; con- + solidare to make firm; solidus solid. See Solid, and cf. Consound. ] Formed into a solid mass; made firm; consolidated. [ R. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

A gentleman [ should learn to ride ] while he is tender and the brawns and sinews of his thighs not fully consolidate. Elyot. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Consolidated p. pr. & vb. n. Consolidating ] 1. To make solid; to unite or press together into a compact mass; to harden or make dense and firm. [ 1913 Webster ]

He fixed and consolidated the earth. T. Burnet. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To unite, as various particulars, into one mass or body; to bring together in close union; to combine; as, to consolidate the armies of the republic. [ 1913 Webster ]

Consolidating numbers into unity. Wordsworth. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Surg.) To unite by means of applications, as the parts of a broken bone, or the lips of a wound. [ R. ]

Syn. -- To unite; combine; harden; compact; condense; compress. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. To grow firm and hard; to unite and become solid; as, moist clay consolidates by drying. [ 1913 Webster ]

In hurts and ulcers of the head, dryness maketh them more apt to consolidate. Bacon. [ 1913 Webster ]

p. p. & a. 1. Made solid, hard, or compact; united; joined; solidified. [ 1913 Webster ]

The Aggregate Fund . . . consisted of a great variety of taxes and surpluses of taxes and duties which were [ in 1715 ] consolidated. Rees. [ 1913 Webster ]

A mass of partially consolidated mud. Tyndall. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Bot.) Having a small surface in proportion to bulk, as in the cactus. [ 1913 Webster ]

Consolidated plants are evidently adapted and designed for very dry regions; in such only they are found. Gray. [ 1913 Webster ]

The Consolidated Fund, a British fund formed by consolidating (in 1787) three public funds (the Aggregate Fund, the General Fund, and the South Sea Fund). In 1816, the larger part of the revenues of Great Britian and Ireland was assigned to what has been known as the Consolidated Fund of the United Kingdom, out of which are paid the interest of the national debt, the salaries of the civil list, etc. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ L. consolidatio a confirming: cf. F. consolidation. ] 1. The act or process of consolidating, making firm, or uniting; the state of being consolidated; solidification; combination. [ 1913 Webster ]

The consolidation of the marble and of the stone did not fall out at random. Woodward. [ 1913 Webster ]

The consolidation of the great European monarchies. Hallam. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Bot.) To organic cohesion of different circled in a flower; adnation. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Law) The combination of several actions into one. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ Cf. F. consolidatif. ] Tending or having power to consolidate; healing. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Adapted to console or comfort; cheering; as, this is consoling news. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. pl. [ A contraction of consolidated (annuities). ] The leading British funded government security. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ A considerable part of the public debt of Great Britian, which had been contracted in the form of annuities yielding various rates of interest, was, in 1757, consolidated into one fund at 3 per cent interest, the account of which is kept at the Bank of England. This debt has been diminished and increased at different times, and now constitutes somewhat more than half of the entire national debt. The stocks are transferable, and their value in the market constantly fluctuates; the price at any time being regarded as a gauge of the national prosperity and public confidence. [ 1913 Webster ]

‖n. [ F., lit. p. p. of consommer to finish. ] (Cookery) A clear soup or bouillion boiled down so as to be very rich. [ 1913 Webster ]

{ , n. [ L. consonantia: cf. F. consonnance. ] 1. (Mus.) Accord or agreement of sounds produced simultaneously, as a note with its third, fifth, and eighth. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Agreement or congruity; harmony; accord; consistency; suitableness. [ 1913 Webster ]

The perfect consonancy of our persecuted church to the doctrines of Scripture and antiquity. Hammond. [ 1913 Webster ]

The optic nerve responds to the waves with which it is in consonance. Tyndall. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Friendship; concord. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

By the consonancy of our youth. Shak.

Syn. -- Agreement; accord; consistency; unison; harmony; congruity; suitableness; agreeableness. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. consonans, -antis; p. pr. of consonare to sound at the same time, agree; con- + sonare to sound: cf. F. consonnant. See Sound to make a noise. ] 1. Having agreement; congruous; consistent; according; -- usually followed by with or to. [ 1913 Webster ]

Each one pretends that his opinion . . . is consonant to the words there used. Bp. Beveridge. [ 1913 Webster ]

That where much is given there shall be much required is a thing consonant with natural equity. Dr. H. More. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Having like sounds. [ 1913 Webster ]

Consonant words and syllables. Howell. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Mus.) harmonizing together; accordant; as, consonant tones, consonant chords. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. Of or pertaining to consonants; made up of, or containing many, consonants. [ 1913 Webster ]

No Russian whose dissonant consonant name
Almost shatters to fragments the trumpet of fame. T. Moore. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ L. consonans, -antis. ] An articulate sound which in utterance is usually combined and sounded with an open sound called a vowel; a member of the spoken alphabet other than a vowel; also, a letter or character representing such a sound. [ 1913 Webster ]

Consonants are divided into various classes, as mutes, spirants, sibilants, nasals, semivowels, etc. All of them are sounds uttered through a closer position of the organs than that of a vowel proper, although the most open of them, as the semivowels and nasals, are capable of being used as if vowels, and forming syllables with other closer consonants, as in the English feeble taken All the consonants excepting the mutes may be indefinitely, prolonged in utterance without the help of a vowel, and even the mutes may be produced with an aspirate instead of a vocal explosion. Vowels and consonants may be regarded as the two poles in the scale of sounds produced by gradual approximation of the organ, of speech from the most open to the closest positions, the vowel being more open, the consonant closer; but there is a territory between them where the sounds produced partake of the qualities of both. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ “A consonant is the result of audible friction, squeezing, or stopping of the breath in some part of the mouth (or occasionally of the throath.) The main distinction between vowels and consonants is, that while in the former the mouth configuration merely modifies the vocalized breath, which is therefore an essential element of the vowels, in consonants the narrowing or stopping of the oral passage is the foundation of the sound, and the state of the glottis is something secondary.” H. Sweet. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Of the nature of a consonant; pertaining to consonants. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. To change into, or use as, a consonant. “The vowel is consonantized, that is, made closer in position.” Peile. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. In a consonant, consistent, or congruous manner; agreeably. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The quality or condition of being consonant, agreeable, or consistent. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. consonus. See Consonant. ] Agreeing in sound; symphonious. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The act of sleeping, or of lulling, to sleep. [ Obs. ] Pope. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. consopitus, p. p. of consopire. ] Lulled to sleep. [ Obs. ] Dr. H. More. [ 1913 Webster ]