Emily Dickinson Lexicon

anger, n. [ON angr, trouble, affliction < ang, strait.]

Fury; wrath; rage; grievance; unhappy passion of the mind triggered by a real or supposed injury.

angle, n. [OE angul < IE ank- to bend.]

1. Vertex; intersecting point; perpendicular mark; crossing place; meeting of two lines not in the same direction.
2. Perspective; projection; twist; curve; diagonal line; point at which nature intersects itself.
3. Limit; border; boundary; edge; [fig.] veil; point between life and death.
4. Phrase. “Angle Worm”: (see angelworm, n. and worm, n.)

angled, verbal adj. [see angle, n.]

Twisted; slanted; curving; crooked; difficult.

angleworm (Angle Worm), n. [see angle, n. + worm, n.]

Earthworm; tiny soft line-shaped creature that birds like to eat; small segmented creature named for a fishermen's angle-shaped hook.

Anglo-Florentine, proper n. [L. Anglo- < OE Angl-us + L. Flōrentīn-us, of or pertaining to Florence, the chief city of Tuscany.]

Phrase. “The Anglo-Florentine”: Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806-1861); nineteenth-century English poet who lived in Italy, particularly Florence.

anguish, n. [OFr anguisse, the painful sensation of choking < L. angustia, straitness, tightness < ang(u)-ěre, to strangle.] (webplay: agony, despair, mind, narrowness, pain, passion, sorrow, spirit).

1. Expiration; cessation of breathing.
2. Hurt; pain; severe discomfort from a wound; [fig.] torment; torture.
3. Grief; tribulation; distress; extreme suffering of body or mind; keen distress from sorrow, remorse, despair, or similar emotion.
4. Spiritual death; fall into mortality; separation from the presence of God; consequences of Adam and Eve's transgression in the Garden of Eden (see Jeremiah 4:31).
5. Extreme ecstasy; powerful transport; passionate feeling; painfully intense emotion.

animal (-s), n. [L. anima, air, breath, life.]

Creature; beast; living thing, with properties of sensation and movement.

ankle (-es, ancle, ancles), n. [OE oncléow.] (webplay: joint).

1. Topmost part of the foot; connection of the foot to the leg.
2. [Metonymy] body walking; person stepping; someone striding.
3. [Dual number] feet; legs.

anneal (annealed), v. [an- + OE ælan, set on fire; burn; bake (tiles); fuse minerals by heat; burn glaze or enamel on pottery, glass, or metal; NW says: < OE ælan, kindle, inflame, heat, anoint with oil < OE æl, oil.]

Temper; strengthen; fortify; prove; refine by fire; make malleable and less brittle by subjecting to heat; subject to fire for strengthening and beautification; [fig.] anoint as sacred; sanctify by distress; purify by sacrifice.

annihilate (-ing), v. [L. ad, to + nihil, nothing.] (webplay: existence).

1. Remove; abolish; eliminate; erase; take out; [fig.] negate; deny; contradict; disprove.
2. Obliterate; wipe out; completely destroy; totally demolish; reduce to nothing.
3. Completely unsettle; totally disrupt.