Emily Dickinson Lexicon

auctioneer, n. [L. auctionarius.] (webplay: sale).

Dealer; peddler; merchant; salesman; one who conducts sales by seeking the highest bid; [kenning phrase “Auctioneer of Parting”] death.

audacious, adj. [L. audax, bold, daring.]

Bold; brazen; impudent; disrespectful; impetuous; irreverent; presumptuous; rash; hasty; heedless; impulsive; foolishly unprepared.

audacity, n. [see audacious, adj.]

Pomposity; arrogance; presumption; nerve; reckless courage; lack of concern about what others think.

audible (-er), adj. [Med. L. < L. audīre, to hear.] (webplay: ear, hear, heard; loud enough).

Discernable; clearly heard; perceptible to the ear; sufficient in volume to hear.

audience (-s), n. [Fr. < L. audīre, to hear.] (webplay: sounds).

1. Assembly for entertainment; people who gather to hear a program; group of people who meet to see a show.
2. Group of observers; assembly of listeners and viewers; persons within hearing; assembly of listeners; auditory; [fig.] group of creatures in nature.
3. Judgment; judicial hearing; ecclesiastical court in front of auditors; [fig.] judgment day interview.
4. Court; place where an archbishop considers consecrations, elections, institutions, marriages, and so forth.
5. Formal interview; communication between a superior and an inferior.

audit (-s), v. [L. audīre, to hear.]

Examine; probe; verify; adjust the account of.

auditor (-s), n. [OF < L. audīre, to hear.]

Listener; audience; [word play] accountant; finance examiner; official whose duty it is to verify accounts by reference to vouchers; one who has power to disallow improper charges.

auger, [see augur, n.]

aught, n. [OE aeht, possession, property.]

Anything; something; any part; a jot or tittle.

augment (-ed), v. [Fr. < L. augment-um, increase.]

Intensify; magnify; make greater; enlarge in size; extend by addition; expand the degree of; [philology] add a prefix to a word; increase the quality of a vowel.