Emily Dickinson Lexicon

alban, adj. [L. alb-us, white + an.]

White; white crystalline resinous substance from a gutta-percha tree; [NW] surplice; vestment of white linen, reaching to the feet, worn by the Romish clergy; [fig.] ashen; pallid; pale-skinned; flesh on a corpse.

album (-s), n. [L. blank tablet for entries < alb-us, white.]

Portfolio; chronicle; register; memory book; sacred record; book of remembrance; record of the histories of famous people.

alcohol, n. [L. < Arab. kahala, Heb. kākhal, stain, paint; fine powder used to stain the eyelids.] (webplay: liquors).

Essence; elixir; quintessence; distillation; intoxicant; drink of spirits obtained by fermentation; [fig.] natural intoxication; source of elation; enchantment; euphoria; captivation; [NW] extraordinary exhilaration gradually increasing to delirium.

Alden, proper n. [OE eald, old + denn, shelter, retreat, town.]

John Alden (c1598-1687); one of the founding fathers of the Plymouth colony; pilgrim who served in numerous public offices; last surviving signer of the Mayflower Compact; main character of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's short story, The Courtship of Miles Standish; proxy for Standish in his marriage proposal to Priscilla; [fig.] God the Son; Jesus Christ; (see ED letters).

ale, n. [OE alu.] (webplay: drunk).

Mead; hock; alcoholic spirits; weak beer made from malt; fermented drink of historical Europe; beverage for a drinking festival; [fig.] natural intoxication.

algebra, n. [It. < Arab. al-jebr, integration or reunion of broken parts, induction of parts to the whole; < Arab. verb meaning restore, consolidate, surgical treatment of fractures, bone-setting.]

Mathematics; process of finding an unknown whole; the calculus of symbols combining laws, relations, and properties of numbers; the science of discovering an unknown quantity by means of one or more known quantities; [fig.] problem-solving mechanism; atonement; redemption; means of healing.

alibi, n. [L. 'elsewhere' < alius, another.] (webplay: time).

Defense; excuse; explanation; pretext; testimony that one was in a different place at the time a crime occurred; allegation that one had been elsewhere during an event.

alien, adj. [OFr < L. aliēn-us, belonging to another person or place.] (webplay: foreign, love, natural, paid).

Strange; unnatural; distant; withdrawn; aloof; detached; unfamiliar; enigmatic; belonging to another place; residing in a different dimension or domain; [fig.] deceased; in a coma; dead to this world; departed from mortal life.

alight (-ing), v. [OE a + líhtan, to spring.] (webplay: bird, carriage).

Land; descend gradually; spring down and stop; jump lightly down; finish a ride or flight.

alighting, adj. [see alight, v.]

Descending; downward flying; lightly falling [as a bird on the wing.]