n.; pl. E. Acanthuses /plu>, L. Acanthi [ L., from Gr. &unr_;. Cf. Acantha. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

1. (Bot.) A genus of herbaceous prickly plants, found in the south of Europe, Asia Minor, and India; bear's-breech. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Arch.) An ornament resembling the foliage or leaves of the acanthus (Acanthus spinosus); -- used in the capitals of the Corinthian and Composite orders. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Same as Ailantus. [ 1913 Webster ]

{ ‖ } n. Same as Amaranth. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ L. amiantus, Gr. &unr_; &unr_; (lit., unsoiled stone) a greenish stone, like asbestus; 'a priv. + &unr_; to stain, to defile; so called from its incombustibility. ] (Min.) Earth flax, or mountain flax; a soft silky variety of asbestus. [ 1913 Webster ]

‖n. [ L. aspalathus, Gr. &unr_;. ] (Bot.) (a) A thorny shrub yielding a fragrant oil. Ecclus. xxiv. 15. (b) A genus of plants of the natural order Leguminosæ. The species are chiefly natives of the Cape of Good Hope. [ 1913 Webster ]

‖n.; pl. Canthi [ NL., fr. Gr. &unr_;. ] (Anat.) The corner where the upper and under eyelids meet on each side of the eye. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ LL. Cartusianus, Cartusiensis, from the town of Chartreuse, in France. ] (Eccl. Hist.) A member of an exceeding austere religious order, founded at Chartreuse in France by St. Bruno, in the year 1086. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Pertaining to the Carthusian. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. a genus of southern European herbs and subshrubs.
Syn. -- genus Centranthus. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. a small genus of Asian deciduous or evergreen shrubs having fragrant flowers: winter sweet.
Syn. -- genus Chimonanthus. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. a genus of deciduous trees or shrubs: fringe tree.
Syn. -- genus Chionanthus. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

‖n. [ NL., fr. Gr. kompo`s elegant, pretty + gna`qos jaw. ] (Zool.) A genus of carnivorous Dinosauria found in the Jurassic formation with a slender body, and remarkable for having several birdlike features. It reached a length of 30 inches when adult. [ 1913 Webster +PJC ]

n. [ NL., fr. Gr. &unr_;, gen. &unr_;, Zeus + 'a`nqos flower. ] (Bot.) A genus of plants containing some of the most popular of cultivated flowers, including the pink, carnation, and Sweet William. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. & i. To make or become enthusiastic. [ Slang ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Gr. &unr_; , fr. &unr_; to be inspired or possessed by the god, fr. &unr_;, &unr_;, inspired: cf. enthousiasme. See Entheal, Theism. ] 1. Inspiration as if by a divine or superhuman power; ecstasy; hence, a conceit of divine possession and revelation, or of being directly subject to some divine impulse. [ 1913 Webster ]

Enthusiasm is founded neither on reason nor divine revelation, but rises from the conceits of a warmed or overweening imagination. Locke. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A state of impassioned emotion; transport; elevation of fancy; exaltation of soul; as, the poetry of enthusiasm. [ 1913 Webster ]

Resolutions adopted in enthusiasm are often repented of when excitement has been succeeded by the wearing duties of hard everyday routine. Froude. [ 1913 Webster ]

Exhibiting the seeming contradiction of susceptibility to enthusiasm and calculating shrewdness. Bancroft. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Enkindled and kindling fervor of soul; strong excitement of feeling on behalf of a cause or a subject; ardent and imaginative zeal or interest; as, he engaged in his profession with enthusiasm. [ 1913 Webster ]

Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm. Emerson. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. Lively manifestation of joy or zeal. [ 1913 Webster ]

Philip was greeted with a tumultuous enthusiasm. Prescott. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Gr. &unr_;: cf. F. enthousiaste. ] One moved or actuated by enthusiasm; as: (a) One who imagines himself divinely inspired, or possessed of some special revelation; a religious madman; a fanatic. (b) One whose mind is wholly possessed and heated by what engages it; one who is influenced by a peculiar; fervor of mind; an ardent and imaginative person. [ 1913 Webster ]

Enthusiasts soon understand each other. W. Irving.

Syn. -- Visionary; fanatic; devotee; zealot.

n. An enthusiast; a zealot. [ Obs. ]

{ } a. [ Gr. &unr_; . ] Filled with enthusiasm; characterized by enthusiasm; zealous; as, an enthusiastic lover of art. “Enthusiastical raptures.” Calamy. -- En*thu`si*as"tic*al*ly, adv. [1913 Webster]

A young man . . . of a visionary and enthusiastic character. W. Irving. [1913 Webster]

n. a genus of reedlike grasses having spikes crowded in a panicle covered with long silky hairs.
Syn. -- genus Erianthus. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. a genus including the bearded seal, Erignathus barbatus.
Syn. -- genus Erignathus. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

‖n. [ NL., fr. Gr. gyro`s round + 'a`kanqa spine. ] (Paleon.) A genus of fossil fishes, found in Devonian and carboniferous strata; -- so named from their round, sculptured spines. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. any plant of the genus Helianthus having large flower heads with dark disk florets and showy yellow rays.
Syn. -- sunflower. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. [ Gr. 'ichqy`s. ] In early Christian and ecclesiastical art, an emblematic fish, or the Greek word for fish, which combined the initials of the Greek words Ihsoy^s, Christo`s, Qeoy^ Gio`s Swth`r, Jesus, Christ, Son of God, Savior. [ 1913 Webster ]

prop. n. Thomas Robert Malthus, an English economist who argued that increases in population would outgrow increases in the means of subsistence (1766-1834).
Syn. -- Thomas Malthus, Thomas Robert Malthus. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

a. Of or pertaining to the political economist, the Rev. T. R. Malthus, or conforming to his views; as, Malthusian theories. See Malthus. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ Malthus held that population tends to increase faster than its means of subsistence can be made to do, and hence that the lower classes must necessarily suffer more or less from lack of food, unless an increase of population be checked by prudential restraint or otherwise. The steadily increasing capacity of world economic systems and food production has proven this theory to be at least premature, since economic production has increased notably faster than population since the time of Malthus. The general notion that there is an ultimate limit on the ability of mankind to continue increasing food and goods in proportion to population is still held by many people, especially environmentalists, some of whom who feel that the chief limiting factor will be the inability to dispose of the waste products of industry, leading to a steady degradation of the environment in the absence of population limitation. However, even those that believe this differ widely in their estimates of when this limit will be reached. [ 1913 Webster +PJC ]

n. A follower of Malthus. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The system of Malthusian doctrines relating to population. See Malthusian. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Malthus' theory that population increase would outpace increases in the means of subsistence; Malthusianism. See Malthusian. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

prop. n. An extinct genus comprising the mammoths.
Syn. -- genus Mammuthus. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

prop. n. (Zool.) The species name for the woolly mammoth, a very hairy mammoth common in colder portions of the Northern hemisphere.
Syn. -- woolly mammoth, northern mammoth. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

a. Designating, or pertaining to, a group of modern economists who hold to the Malthusianism doctrine that permanent betterment of the general standard of living is impossible without decrease of competition by limitation of the number of births. -- Ne`o-Mal*thu"sian, Ne`o-Mal*thu"sian*ism, n. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

prop. n. The Teutonic goddess of fertility; later identified with Norse Njord.
Syn. -- Hertha. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. Excessive enthusiasm. [ PJC ]

adj. unduly enthusiastic. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

adv. In an excessively enthusiastic manner. [ PJC ]

‖n.; pl. Paragnathi [ NL. See Para-, and Gnathic. ] (Zool.) (a) One of the two lobes which form the lower lip, or metastome, of Crustacea. (b) One of the small, horny, toothlike jaws of certain annelids. [ 1913 Webster ]

n.; pl. Polyanthuses [ NL., fr. Gr. poly`anqos rich in flowers; poly`s many + 'a`nqos flower. ] [ Written also polyanthos. ] (Bot.) (a) The oxlip. So called because the peduncle bears a many-flowered umbel. See Oxlip. (b) A bulbous flowering plant of the genus Narcissus (Narcissus Tazetta, or Narcissus polyanthus of some authors). See Illust. of Narcissus. [ 1913 Webster ]

prop. n. [ L., fr. Gr. &unr_;&unr_;&unr_;. ] (Greek Mythol.) One of the three judges of the infernal regions; figuratively, a strictly just judge. [ 1913 Webster ]

‖n. [ NL., fr. Gr. skw`lhx a worm + li`qos a stone. ] (Paleon.) A tubular structure found in Potsdam sandstone, and believed to be the fossil burrow of a marine worm. [ 1913 Webster ]

‖n. [ NL., from Gr. &unr_; a turning + &unr_; a flower. ] (Bot.) A genus of tropical apocynaceous shrubs having singularly twisted flowers. One species (Strophanthus hispidus) is used medicinally as a cardiac sedative and stimulant. [ 1913 Webster ]

‖n. [ L. thus, better tus, frankincense. See Thurible. ] The commoner kind of frankincense, or that obtained from the Norway spruce, the long-leaved pine, and other conifers. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. [ OE. thus, AS. ðus; akin to OFries. & OS. thus, D. dus, and E. that; cf. OHG. sus. See That. ] 1. In this or that manner; on this wise. [ 1913 Webster ]

Thus did Noah; according to all that God commanded him, so did he. Gen. vi. 22. [ 1913 Webster ]

Thus God the heaven created, thus the earth. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To this degree or extent; so far; so; as, thus wise; thus peaceble; thus bold. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

Thus far extend, thus far thy bounds. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. See Tussock. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

prop. n. The Persian name for Zoroaster. [ PJC ]

{ , a. Of or pertaining to Zarathustra, or Zoroaster; Zoroastrian. Tylor. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. See Zoroastrianism. [ 1913 Webster ]

‖n. [ NL. See Zoantharia. ] (Zool.) A genus of Actinaria, including numerous species, found mostly in tropical seas. The zooids or polyps resemble small, elongated actinias united together at their bases by fleshy stolons, and thus forming extensive groups. The tentacles are small and bright colored. [ 1913 Webster ]

[ 1913 Webster ]