n.; E. pl. Abscissas, L. pl. Abscissæ. [ L., fem. of abscissus, p. p. of absindere to cut of. See Abscind. ] (Geom.) One of the elements of reference by which a point, as of a curve, is referred to a system of fixed rectilineal coördinate axes. When referred to two intersecting axes, one of them called the axis of abscissas, or of X, and the other the axis of ordinates, or of Y, the abscissa of the point is the distance cut off from the axis of X by a line drawn through it and parallel to the axis of Y. When a point in space is referred to three axes having a common intersection, the abscissa may be the distance measured parallel to either of them, from the point to the plane of the other two axes. Abscissas and ordinates taken together are called coördinates. -- OX or PY is the abscissa of the point P of the curve, OY or PX its ordinate, the intersecting lines OX and OY being the axes of abscissas and ordinates respectively, and the point O their origin. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ Cf. Abysmal. ] Belonging to, or resembling, an abyss; unfathomable. [ 1913 Webster ]

Abyssal zone (Phys. Geog.), one of the belts or zones into which Sir E. Forbes divides the bottom of the sea in describing its plants, animals, etc. It is the one furthest from the shore, embracing all beyond one hundred fathoms deep. Hence, abyssal animals, plants, etc. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. In the manner of an accessary. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The state of being accessary. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Accompanying, as a subordinate; additional; accessory; esp., uniting in, or contributing to, a crime, but not as chief actor. See Accessory. [ 1913 Webster ]

To both their deaths thou shalt be accessary. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

Amongst many secondary and accessary causes that support monarchy, these are not of least reckoning. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

n.; pl. Accessaries [ Cf. Accessory and LL. accessarius. ] (Law) One who, not being present, contributes as an assistant or instigator to the commission of an offense. [ 1913 Webster ]

Accessary before the fact (Law), one who commands or counsels an offense, not being present at its commission. --
Accessary after the fact, one who, after an offense, assists or shelters the offender, not being present at the commission of the offense. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ This word, as used in law, is spelt accessory by Blackstone and many others; but in this sense is spelt accessary by Bouvier, Burrill, Burns, Whishaw, Dane, and the Penny Cyclopedia; while in other senses it is spelt accessory. In recent text-books on criminal law the distinction is not preserved, the spelling being either accessary or accessory. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ Gr. &unr_;. ] (Zool.) Without tongue; tongueless. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Capable of being amassed. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Of or pertaining to an ambassador. H. Walpole. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The state, office, or functions of an ambassador. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A female ambassador; also, the wife of an ambassador. Prescott. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Same as Embassage. [ Obs. or R. ] Luke xiv. 32. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A cover for the back or arms of a chair or sofa, etc., to prevent them from wear or from being soiled by macassar or other oil from the hair. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. a. See Acescency, Acescent. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Same as Asafetida. [ 1913 Webster ]

‖ [ It., fr. L. ad + satis enough. See Assets. ] (Mus.) A direction equivalent to very; as, adagio assai, very slow. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Assailed p. pr. & vb. n. Assailing. ] [ OE. assailen, asailen, OF. asaillir, assailler, F. assaillir; a (L. ad) + saillir to burst out, project, fr. L. salire to leap, spring; cf. L. assilire to leap or spring upon. See Sally. ] 1. To attack with violence, or in a vehement and hostile manner; to assault; to molest; as, to assail a man with blows; to assail a city with artillery. [ 1913 Webster ]

No rude noise mine ears assailing. Cowper. [ 1913 Webster ]

No storm can now assail
The charm he wears within. Keble. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To encounter or meet purposely with the view of mastering, as an obstacle, difficulty, or the like. [ 1913 Webster ]

The thorny wilds the woodmen fierce assail. Pope. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To attack morally, or with a view to produce changes in the feelings, character, conduct, existing usages, institutions; to attack by words, hostile influence, etc.; as, to assail one with appeals, arguments, abuse, ridicule, and the like. [ 1913 Webster ]

The papal authority . . . assailed. Hallam. [ 1913 Webster ]

They assailed him with keen invective; they assailed him with still keener irony. Macaulay. [ 1913 Webster ]

Syn. -- To attack; assault; invade; encounter; fall upon. See Attack. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Capable of being assailed. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ F. assaillant, p. pr. of assaillir. ] Assailing; attacking. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ F. assaillant. ] One who, or that which, assails, attacks, or assaults; an assailer. [ 1913 Webster ]

An assailant of the church. Macaulay. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. One who assails. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The act or power of assailing; attack; assault. [ R. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

His most frequent assailment was the headache. Johnson. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ L. assare to roast + amarus, bitter. ] (Chem.) The peculiar bitter substance, soft or liquid, and of a yellow color, produced when meat, bread, gum, sugar, starch, and the like, are roasted till they turn brown. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Of or pertaining to Assam, a province of British India, or to its inhabitants. -- n. sing. & pl. A native or natives of Assam. [ 1913 Webster ]

‖‖ n. [ Prob. Indian name. ] (Zool.) The American flying squirrel (Pteromys volucella). [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ OF. essart the grubbing up of trees, fr. essarter to grub up or clear ground of bushes, shrubs, trees, etc., fr. LL. exartum, exartare, for exsaritare; L. ex + sarire, sarrire, saritum, to hoe, weed. ] 1. (Old Law) The act or offense of grubbing up trees and bushes, and thus destroying the thickets or coverts of a forest. Spelman. Cowell. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A piece of land cleared of trees and bushes, and fitted for cultivation; a clearing. Ash. [ 1913 Webster ]

Assart land, forest land cleared of woods and brush. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. To grub up, as trees; to commit an assart upon; as, to assart land or trees. Ashmole. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ F. (cf. It. assassino), fr. Ar. ‘hashishin one who has drunk of the hashish. Under its influence the Assassins of the East, followers of the Shaikh al-Jabal (Old Man of the Mountain), were said to commit the murders required by their chief. ] One who kills, or attempts to kill, by surprise or secret assault; one who treacherously murders any one unprepared for defense. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. To assassinate. [ Obs. ] Stillingfleet. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Assassinated p. pr. & vb. n. Assassinating ] [ LL. assassinatus, p. p. of assassinare. ] 1. To kill by surprise or secret assault; to murder by treacherous violence. [ 1913 Webster ]

Help, neighbors, my house is broken open by force, and I am ravished, and like to be assassinated. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To assail with murderous intent; hence, by extended meaning, to maltreat exceedingly. [ Archaic ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Your rhymes assassinate our fame. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

Such usage as your honorable lords
Afford me, assassinated and betrayed. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

Syn. -- To kill; murder; slay. See Kill. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ F. assassinat. ] 1. An assassination, murder, or murderous assault. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

If I had made an assassinate upon your father. B. Jonson. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. An assassin. [ Obs. ] Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The act of assassinating; a killing by treacherous violence. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. An assassin. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Murderous. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ F., fr. LL. assatio, fr. L. assare to roast. ] Roasting. [ Obs. ] Sir T. Browne. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ OE. asaut, assaut, OF. assaut, asalt, F. assaut, LL. assaltus; L. ad + saltus a leaping, a springing, salire to leap. See Assail. ] 1. A violent onset or attack with physical means, as blows, weapons, etc.; an onslaught; the rush or charge of an attacking force; onset; as, to make assault upon a man, a house, or a town. [ 1913 Webster ]

The Spanish general prepared to renew the assault. Prescott. [ 1913 Webster ]

Unshaken bears the assault
Of their most dreaded foe, the strong southwest. Wordsworth. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A violent onset or attack with moral weapons, as words, arguments, appeals, and the like; as, to make an assault on the prerogatives of a prince, or on the constitution of a government. Clarendon. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Law) An apparently violent attempt, or willful offer with force or violence, to do hurt to another; an attempt or offer to beat another, accompanied by a degree of violence, but without touching his person, as by lifting the fist, or a cane, in a threatening manner, or by striking at him, and missing him. If the blow aimed takes effect, it is a battery. Blackstone. Wharton. [ 1913 Webster ]

Practically, however, the word assault is used to include the battery. Mozley & W. [ 1913 Webster ]

Syn. -- Attack; invasion; incursion; descent; onset; onslaught; charge; storm. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Assaulted; p. pr. & vb. n. Assaulting. ] [ From Assault, n.: cf. OF. assaulter, LL. assaltare. ] 1. To make an assault upon, as by a sudden rush of armed men; to attack with unlawful or insulting physical violence or menaces. [ 1913 Webster ]

Insnared, assaulted, overcome, led bound. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To attack with moral means, or with a view of producing moral effects; to attack by words, arguments, or unfriendly measures; to assail; as, to assault a reputation or an administration. [ 1913 Webster ]

Before the gates, the cries of babes newborn, . . .
Assault his ears. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ In the latter sense, assail is more common. [ 1913 Webster ]

Syn. -- To attack; assail; invade; encounter; storm; charge. See Attack. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Capable of being assaulted. [ 1913 Webster ]

adj. sexually abused; -- a euphemism.
Syn. -- molested, raped, criminally assaulted, sexually assaulted. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. One who assaults, or violently attacks; an assailant. E. Hall. [ 1913 Webster ]

adj. making an assault.
Syn. -- attacking(prenominal). [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. [ OF. asai, essai, trial, F. essa. See Essay, n. ] 1. Trial; attempt; essay. [ Obs. ] Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]

I am withal persuaded that it may prove much more easy in the assay than it now seems at distance. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Examination and determination; test; as, an assay of bread or wine. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

This can not be, by no assay of reason. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Trial by danger or by affliction; adventure; risk; hardship; state of being tried. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Through many hard assays which did betide. Spenser. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. Tested purity or value. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

With gold and pearl of rich assay. Spenser. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. (Metallurgy) The act or process of ascertaining the proportion of a particular metal in an ore or alloy; especially, the determination of the proportion of gold or silver in bullion or coin. [ 1913 Webster ]

6. The alloy or metal to be assayed. Ure. [ 1913 Webster ]

Assay and essay are radically the same word; but modern usage has appropriated assay chiefly to experiments in metallurgy, and essay to intellectual and bodily efforts. See Essay. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ Assay is used adjectively or as the first part of a compound; as, assay balance, assay furnace. [ 1913 Webster ]

Assay master, an officer who assays or tests gold or silver coin or bullion. --
Assay ton, a weight of 29, 1662/3 grams. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Assayed p. pr. & vb. n. Assaying. ] [ OF. asaier, essaier, F. essayer, fr. essai. See Assay, n., Essay, v. ] 1. To try; to attempt; to apply. [ Obs. or Archaic ] [ 1913 Webster ]

To-night let us assay our plot. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

Soft words to his fierce passion she assayed. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To affect. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

When the heart is ill assayed. Spenser. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To try tasting, as food or drink. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

4. To subject, as an ore, alloy, or other metallic compound, to chemical or metallurgical examination, in order to determine the amount of a particular metal contained in it, or to ascertain its composition. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. To attempt, try, or endeavor. [ Archaic. In this sense essay is now commonly used. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

She thrice assayed to speak. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. That may be assayed. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. One who assays. Specifically: One who examines metallic ores or compounds, for the purpose of determining the amount of any particular metal in the same, especially of gold or silver. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The act or process of testing, esp. of analyzing or examining metals and ores, to determine the proportion of pure metal. [ 1913 Webster ]

. A small standard weight used in assaying bullion, etc., sometimes equaling 0.5 gram, but varying with the assayer. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

. A weight of 29.166 + grams used in assaying, for convenience. Since it bears the same relation to the milligram that a ton of 2000 avoirdupois pounds does to the troy ounce, the weight in milligrams of precious metal obtained from an assay ton of ore gives directly the number of ounces to the ton. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

/mhw>, n. [ Pg. azagaia, Sp. azagaya, fr. a Berber word. Cf. Lancegay. ] A spear used by tribes in South Africa as a missile and for stabbing, a kind of light javelin. [ 1913 Webster ]