Emily Dickinson Lexicon

acquaint (-ed), v. [OFr acointe-r, make known.] (webplay: be acquainted with, make familiar, friend).

1. Familiar; associating; relating through personal experience.
2. Knowing each other; accustomed to each other; familiar with each other.

acquaintance (-s), n. [see acquaint, v.] (webplay: acquainted with, friend, know, lover, make, man, success, sorrows).

1. Knowledge through personal experience.
2. Associate; colleague; friend; person known familiarly.

acquiescence, n. [L. acquiesco, be quiet.]

Silent agreement; passive assent.

acquire (-ed), v. [L. acquiro, seek, follow, press, urge.] (webplay: art, habits, skill).

Obtain; permanently gain by various means.

acquisition, n. [see acquire, v.] (webplay: art, attainment, book, death, learning).

Act of obtaining something for oneself.

acquit (-ted), v. [OFr acuiter.]

Exonerate; forgive; pardon; vindicate; justify; absolve; find innocent.

acre (-s), n. [OE æcer; cf. Sanskrit ajras, plain, untenanted land.] (webplay: frontiers, larger, open field, property, sowed, sum).

1. Parcel; division; plot; tract; piece of land.
2. Dwelling place; space for existence; [fig.] graveyard; cemetery.
3. Ground; soil.
4. Earth; world.
5. Sprawling extant; vast amount.
6. Specific location; identifiable territory; particular status.
7. Portion; [fig.] vitality; life.

acrid, adj. [L. acri-s, sharp, pungent.] (webplay: pungent, taste).

Pungent; sharp; bitter tasting; strong to the taste.

across, adv. [Fr. encroix, in + cross.] (webplay: passing over at any angle, as a line passing across another).

1. Draping over; in suspension upon.
2. Communicating; transmitting a message; [word play on making the sign of the cross] possibly “a cross.”
3. From one side to the other; [NW says: “as a bridge is laid across a river”.]

across, prep. [Fr. encroix.] (webplay: length, passing over at any angle, as a line passing across another, side to side).

1. Moving over the surface of.
2. In front of.
3. Throughout; at a certain time in.
4. Above; over.