pr>(&unr_;), n. [ Gr. &unr_;; &unr_; extreme + &unr_; order, line, verse. ] 1. A composition, usually in verse, in which the first or the last letters of the lines, or certain other letters, taken in order, form a name, word, phrase, or motto. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A Hebrew poem in which the lines or stanzas begin with the letters of the alphabet in regular order (as Psalm cxix.). See Abecedarian. [ 1913 Webster ]

Double acrostic, a species of enigma, in which words are to be guessed whose initial and final letters form other words. [ 1913 Webster ]

{ } n. Pertaining to, or characterized by, acrostics. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. After the manner of an acrostic. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ Gr. 'a priv. + &unr_; knowing, &unr_; to know. ] Professing ignorance; involving no dogmatic; pertaining to or involving agnosticism. -- Ag*nos"tic*al*ly adv. [1913 Webster]

n. One who professes ignorance, or denies that we have any knowledge, save of phenomena; one who supports agnosticism, neither affirming nor denying the existence of a personal Deity, a future life, etc. [ 1913 Webster ]

adj. 1. of or pertaining to agnosticism; agnostic.
Syn. -- agnostic. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. That doctrine which, professing ignorance, neither asserts nor denies. Specifically: (Theol.) The doctrine that the existence of a personal Deity, an unseen world, etc., can be neither proved nor disproved, because of the necessary limits of the human mind (as sometimes charged upon Hamilton and Mansel), or because of the insufficiency of the evidence furnished by physical and physical data, to warrant a positive conclusion (as taught by the school of Herbert Spencer); -- opposed alike dogmatic skepticism and to dogmatic theism. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ Gr. &unr_;; 'a priv. + &unr_; to sew together. ] Seamless. [ R. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ Gr. &unr_; able to distinguish, fr. &unr_;: cf. F. diagnostique. ] Pertaining to, or furnishing, a diagnosis; indicating the nature of a disease. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The mark or symptom by which one disease is known or distinguished from others. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. & i. [ From Diagnostic. ] To make a diagnosis of; to recognize by its symptoms, as a disease. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. That part of medicine which has to do with ascertaining the nature of diseases by means of their symptoms or signs. [ 1913 Webster ]

His rare skill in diagnostics. Macaulay. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Gr. &unr_;, &unr_;, year + &unr_; row. ] A kind of chronogram. [ R. ] B. Jonson. [ 1913 Webster ]

{ } a. [ Cf. F. géognostique. ] Of or pertaining to geognosy, or to a knowledge of the structure of the earth; geological. [ R. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

a. 1. Knowing; wise; shrewd. [ Old Slang ] [ 1913 Webster ]

I said you were a gnostic fellow. Sir W. Scott. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Eccl. Hist.) Of or pertaining to Gnosticism or its adherents; as, the Gnostic heresy. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ L. gnosticus, Gr. &unr_; good at knowing, sagacious; as a n., man that claims to have a deeper wisdom, fr. gignw`skein to know: cf. F. gnostique. See Know. ] (Eccl. Hist.) One of the so-called philosophers in the first ages of Christianity, who claimed a true philosophical interpretation of the Christian religion. Their system combined Oriental theology and Greek philosophy with the doctrines of Christianity. They held that all natures, intelligible, intellectual, and material, are derived from the Deity by successive emanations, which they called Eons. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The system of philosophy taught by the Gnostics. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Gr. &unr_;, from &unr_; consisting of one verse; mo`nos single + sti`chos line, verse. ] A composition consisting of one verse only. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ See Monostich. ] (Bot.) Arranged in a single row on one side of an axis, as the flowers in grasses of the tribe Chloridae. [ 1913 Webster ]

{ } n. [ See Maul-stick. ] A painter's maul-stick. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ Octo- + Gr. sti`chos a row. ] (Bot.) In eight vertical ranks, as leaves on a stem. [ 1913 Webster ]

n.; pl. Orthostichies [ Ortho- + Gr. sti`chos row. ] (Bot.) A longitudinal rank, or row, of leaves along a stem. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ From North American Indian oshtegwon a head. ] Pertaining to, or applied to, the language of the Tuscaroras, Iroquois, Wyandots, Winnebagoes, and a part of the Sioux Indians. Schoolcraft. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Pref. para- + acrostic. ] A poetical composition, in which the first verse contains, in order, the first letters of all the verses of the poem. Brande & C. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Penta- + acrostic. ] A set of verses so disposed that the name forming the subject of the acrostic occurs five times -- the whole set of verses being divided into five different parts from top to bottom. [ 1913 Webster ]

‖PROP. n. pl. [ NL., from Gr. pe`talon a leaf + sti`chos a row. ] (Zool.) An order of Echini, including the irregular sea urchins, as the spatangoids. See Spatangoid. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. posticus, fr. post after, behind. ] Backward. [ Obs. ] Sir T. Browne. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. posticus. ] (Bot.) (a) Posterior. (b) Situated on the outer side of a filament; -- said of an extrorse anther. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ L. praenoscere to foreknow; prae before + noscere, notum, to know. ] A prognostic; an omen. [ Obs. ] Gower. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ Gr. prognwstiko`n. See Prognosis. ] Indicating something future by signs or symptoms; foreshowing; aiding in prognosis; as, the prognostic symptoms of a disease; prognostic signs. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ L. prognosticum, Gr. &unr_;: cf. F. pronostic, prognostic. See Prognostic, a. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

1. That which prognosticates; a sign by which a future event may be known or foretold; an indication; a sign or omen; hence, a foretelling; a prediction. [ 1913 Webster ]

That choice would inevitably be considered by the country
as a prognostic of the highest import. Macaulay. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Med.) A sign or symptom indicating the course and termination of a disease. Parr. [ 1913 Webster ]

Syn. -- Sign; omen; presage; token; indication. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. To prognosticate. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Capable of being prognosticated or foretold. Sir T. Browne. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Prognosticated p. pr. & vb. n. Prognosticating. ] [ See Prognostic. ] To indicate as future; to foretell from signs or symptoms; to prophesy; to foreshow; to predict; as, to prognosticate evil. Burke. [ 1913 Webster ]

I neither will nor can prognosticate
To the young gaping heir his father's fate. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

Syn. -- To foreshow; foretoken; betoken; forebode; presage; predict; prophesy. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Cf. F. prognostication. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

1. The act of foreshowing or foretelling something future by present signs; prediction. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. That which foreshows; a foretoken. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. One who prognosticates; a foreknower or foreteller of a future course or event by present signs. Isa. xlvii. 13. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ Pyro- + Gr. &unr_; to know. ] (Min.) Of or pertaining to characters developed by the use of heat; pertaining to the characters of minerals when examined before the blowpipe; as, the pyrognostic characters of galena. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. pl. (Min.) The characters of a mineral observed by the use of the blowpipe, as the degree of fusibility, flame coloration, etc. [ 1913 Webster ]