v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Acquired p. pr. & vb. n. Acquiring ] [ L. acquirere, acquisitum; ad + quarere to seek for. In OE. was a verb aqueren, fr. the same, through OF. aquerre. See Quest.. ] To gain, usually by one's own exertions; to get as one's own; as, to acquire a title, riches, knowledge, skill, good or bad habits. [ 1913 Webster ]

No virtue is acquired in an instant, but step by step. Barrow. [ 1913 Webster ]

Descent is the title whereby a man, on the death of his ancestor, acquires his estate, by right of representation, as his heir at law. Blackstone. [ 1913 Webster ]

Syn. -- To obtain; gain; attain; procure; win; earn; secure. See Obtain. [ 1913 Webster ]

adj. 1. 1 (Biol.) gotten through environmental forces. Contrasted with inherited. acquired characteristics cannot be passed on noninheritable (vs. inheritable), nonheritable
Syn. -- nurtural [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. The act of acquiring, or that which is acquired; attainment. “Rules for the acquirement of a taste.” Addison. [ 1913 Webster ]

His acquirements by industry were . . . enriched and enlarged by many excellent endowments of nature. Hayward. [ 1913 Webster ]

Syn. -- Acquisition, Acquirement. Acquirement is used in opposition to a natural gift or talent; as, eloquence, and skill in music and painting, are acquirements; genius is the gift or endowment of nature. It denotes especially personal attainments, in opposition to material or external things gained, which are more usually called acquisitions; but this distinction is not always observed. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A person who acquires. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Gr. &unr_; + &unr_; anything twisted. ] (Bot.) The sprout at the end of a seed when it begins to germinate; the plumule in germination; -- so called from its spiral form. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. To put forth the first sprout. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Admired p. pr. & vb. n. Admiring ] [ F. admirer, fr. L. admirari; ad + mirari to wonder, for smirari, akin to Gr. &unr_; to smile, Skr. smi, and E. smile. ] 1. To regard with wonder or astonishment; to view with surprise; to marvel at. [ Archaic ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Examples rather to be admired than imitated. Fuller. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To regard with wonder and delight; to look upon with an elevated feeling of pleasure, as something which calls out approbation, esteem, love, or reverence; to estimate or prize highly; as, to admire a person of high moral worth, to admire a landscape. [ 1913 Webster ]

Admired as heroes and as gods obeyed. Pope. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ Admire followed by the infinitive is obsolete or colloquial; as, I admire to see a man consistent in his conduct. [ 1913 Webster ]

Syn. -- To esteem; approve; delight in. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. To wonder; to marvel; to be affected with surprise; -- sometimes with at. [ 1913 Webster ]

To wonder at Pharaoh, and even admire at myself. Fuller. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. 1. Regarded with wonder and delight; highly prized; as, an admired poem. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Wonderful; also, admirable. [ Obs. ] “Admired disorder.” “ Admired Miranda.” Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. One who admires; one who esteems or loves greatly. Cowper. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. & a. [ Pref. a- + fire. ] On fire. [ 1913 Webster ]

adj. abounding in fresh air.
Syn. -- airy [ WordNet 1.5 ]

2. made public by radio or television. The report was aired on the seven o'clock news.
Syn. -- broadcast [ WordNet 1.5 +PJC ]

n. 1. 1 a breed of large wiry-coated terriers, bred in Yorkshire.
Syn. -- Airedale terrier [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. 1. One who exposes to the air. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A frame on which clothes are aired or dried. [ 1913 Webster ]

‖n. [ Compounded of a la mi re, names of notes in the musical scale. ] The lowest note but one in Guido Aretino's scale of music. [ 1913 Webster ]

See Saint Anthony's Fire, under Saint. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. One opposed to the payment of rent; esp. one of those who in 1840-47 resisted the collection of rents claimed by the patroons from the settlers on certain manorial lands in the State of New York. -- An`ti*rent"ism n. [1913 Webster]

n. A pimp; a kept gallant. [ Obs. ] Beau. & Fl. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A low fire used in chemical operations. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. [ imp. & p. p. Aspired p. pr. & vb. n. Aspiring. ] [ F. aspirer, L. aspirare. See Aspirate, v. t. ] 1. To desire with eagerness; to seek to attain something high or great; to pant; to long; -- followed by to or after, and rarely by at; as, to aspire to a crown; to aspire after immorality. [ 1913 Webster ]

Aspiring to be gods, if angels fell;
Aspiring to be angels, men rebel. Pope. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To rise; to ascend; to tower; to soar. [ 1913 Webster ]

My own breath still foments the fire,
Which flames as high as fancy can aspire. Waller. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. To aspire to; to long for; to try to reach; to mount to. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

That gallant spirit hath aspired the clouds. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Aspiration. [ Obs. ] Chapman. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Aspiration. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. One who aspires. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Attired p. pr. & vb. n. Attiring. ] [ OE. atiren to array, dispose, arrange, OF. atirier; à (L. ad) + F. tire rank, order, row; of Ger. origin: cf. As. tier row, OHG. ziarī, G. zier, ornament, zieren to adorn. Cf. Tire a headdress. ] To dress; to array; to adorn; esp., to clothe with elegant or splendid garments. [ 1913 Webster ]

Finely attired in a robe of white. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

With the linen miter shall he be attired. Lev. xvi. 4. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. Dress; clothes; headdress; anything which dresses or adorns; esp., ornamental clothing. [ 1913 Webster ]

Earth in her rich attire. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

I 'll put myself in poor and mean attire. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

Can a maid forget her ornament, or a bride her attire? Jer. ii. 32. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. The antlers, or antlers and scalp, of a stag or buck. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Bot.) The internal parts of a flower, included within the calyx and the corolla. [ Obs. ] Johnson. [ 1913 Webster ]

p. p. (Her.) Provided with antlers, as a stag. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Attire; adornment. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. One who attires. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Agric.) One of a superior breed of cattle from Ayrshire, Scotland. Ayrshires are notable for the quantity and quality of their milk. [ 1913 Webster ]

. 1. A fire started ahead of a forest or prairie fire to burn only against the wind, so that when the two fires meet both must go out for lack of fuel. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

2. (a) A premature explosion in the cylinder of a gas or oil engine during the exhaust or the compression stroke, tending to drive the piston in a direction reverse to that in which it should travel; also called a knock or ping. (b) an explosion in the exhaust passages of an internal combustion engine. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. +PJC ]

, v. i. 1. (Engin.) To have or experience a back fire or back fires; -- said of an internal-combustion engine. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

2. Of a Bunsen or similar air-fed burner, to light so that the flame proceeds from the internal gas jet instead of from the external jet of mixed gas and air. -- Back"-fir`ing, n. [Webster 1913 Suppl.]

‖n. [ Written also baignoir. ] [ F., lit., bath tub. ] A box of the lowest tier in a theater. Du Maurier. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

n. [ AS. b&aemacr_;lf&ymacr_;r the fire of the funeral pile; b&aemacr_;l fire, flame (akin to Icel. bāl, OSlav. bēlŭ, white, Gr. falo`s bright, white, Skr. bhāla brightness) + f&ymacr_;r, E. fire. ] A signal fire; an alarm fire. [ 1913 Webster ]

Sweet Teviot! on thy silver tide
The glaring balefires blaze no more. Sir W. Scott. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Pref. bel- + sire. Cf. Beldam. ] A grandfather, or ancestor. “His great belsire Brute.” [ Obs. ] Drayton. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Bemired p. pr. & vb. n. Bemiring. ] To drag through, encumber with, or fix in, the mire; to soil by passing through mud or dirt. [ 1913 Webster ]

Bemired and benighted in the dog. Burke. [ 1913 Webster ]

‖ [ Fr., lit. black beast. ] Something especially hated or dreaded; a bugbear. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ Pref. bi- + rectangular. ] Containing or having two right angles; as, a birectangular spherical triangle. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ L. biremis; bis twice + remus oar: cf. F. birème. ] An ancient galley or vessel with two banks or tiers of oars. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Same as Berretta. [ 1913 Webster ]

adj. having black head hair; -- of people.
Syn. -- dark-haired, raven-haired. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. [ OE. bonefire, banefire, orig. a fire of bones; bone + fire; but cf. also Prov. E. bun a dry stalk. ] A large fire built in the open air, as an expression of public joy and exultation, or for amusement. [ 1913 Webster ]

Full soon by bonfire and by bell,
We learnt our liege was passing well. Gay. [ 1913 Webster ]

‖n. [ F., fr. L. bruma winter. ] The second month of the calendar adopted by the first French republic. It began thirty days after the autumnal equinox. See Vendemiaire. [ 1913 Webster ]

prop. n. (Geography) The capital city of Argentina. Population (2000) = 3, 000, 000. [ PJC ]

n. One of the Cabiri. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. An old spelling of Camphor. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ F. capillaire maiden-hair; sirop de capillaire capillaire; fr. L. herba capillaris the maidenhair. ] 1. A sirup prepared from the maiden-hair, formerly supposed to have medicinal properties. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Any simple sirup flavored with orange flowers. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Same as Cœrulignone. [ 1913 Webster ]

. See under Cartridge. [ 1913 Webster ]

‖n.; pl. Chargés d'affaires. [ F., “charged with affairs.” ] A diplomatic representative, or minister of an inferior grade, accredited by the government of one state to the minister of foreign affairs of another; also, a substitute, ad interim, for an ambassador or minister plenipotentiary. [ 1913 Webster ]