Dictionary: A-MAUS'ITE – AM'BI-DEX-TER

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A-MAUS'ITE, n. [See Petrosilex.]

A-MAZE', n.

Astonishment; confusion; perplexity, arising from fear, surprise or wonder. It is chiefly used in poetry, and is nearly synonymous with amazement.

A-MAZE', v.t. [Qu. Ar. عَمَسَ amasa, to perplex or confuse; or from maze.]

To confound with fear, sudden surprise, or wonder; to astonish. They shall be afraid; they shall be amazed at one another. – Is. xiii. They were all amazed, and glorified God. – Mark ii. Luke v. This word implies astonishment or perplexity, arising from something extraordinary, unexpected, unaccountable, or frightful.

A-MAZ'ED, pp.

Astonished; confounded with fear, surprise or wonder.

A-MAZ'ED-LY, adv.

With amazement; in a manner to confound. [Little used.]

A-MAZ'ED-NESS, n.

The state of being confounded with fear, surprise or wonder; astonishment; great wonder.

A-MAZE'MENT, n.

Astonishment; confusion or perplexity, from a sudden impression of fear, surprise or wonder. It is sometimes accompanied with fear or terror; sometimes merely extreme wonder or admiration at some great, sudden or unexpected event, at an unusual sight, or at the narration of extraordinary events.

A-MAZ'ING, ppr.

  1. Confounding with fear, surprise or wonder.
  2. adj. Very wonderful; exciting astonishment, or perplexity.

A-MAZ'ING-LY, adv.

In an astonishing degree; in a manner to excite astonishment, or to perplex, confound or terrify.

AM'A-ZON, n. [This is said to be formed of α neg. and μαζος, breast. History informs us, that the Amazons cut off their right breast, that it might not incommode them in shooting and hurling the javelin. This is doubtless a fable.]

  1. The Amazons are said by historians, to have been a race of female warriors, who founded an empire on the river Thermodon, in Asia Minor, on the coast of the Euxine. They are said to have excluded men from their society; and by their warlike enterprises, to have conquered and alarmed surrounding nations. Some writers treat these accounts as fables. – Herod. Justin.
  2. By analogy, a warlike or masculine woman; a virago.
  3. This name has been given to some American females, on the banks of the largest river in the world, who joined their husbands in attacking the Spaniards that first visited the country. This trivial occurrence gave the name Amazon to that river, whose real name is Maranon. Garcilasso, p. 606.

AM-A-ZO'NI-AN, a.

  1. Pertaining to or resembling an Amazon. Applied to females, bold; of masculine manners; warlike.
  2. Belonging to the river Maranon in South America, or to Amazonia, the country lying on that river.

AMB, or AM, prep.

About; around; used in composition. Sax. emb, ymb; W. am; Ir. im, um; G. um; D. om; Dan. om; Sw. om; Gr. αμφι; L. am or amb.

AM-BA'GES, n. [L. amb and ago, to drive.]

  1. A circumlocution; a circuit of words to express ideas which may be expressed in fewer words.
  2. A winding or turning.

AM-BA'GI-OUS, a.

Circumlocutory.

AM-BAS'SA-DOR, n. [This is the more common orthography; but good authors write also embassador; and as the orthography of embassy is established, it would be better to write embassador, as it is written by Blackstone. [See Embassador.]

AM'BE, or AM'BI, n. [Gr. αμβη, a brim; from amb, about.]

Literally, a brim; but in surgery, an instrument for reducing dislocated shoulders, so called from the jutting of its extremity. Also the mango tree. – Quincy. Encyc. Coxe.

AM'BER, a.

Consisting of, or resembling amber.

AM'BER, n. [Fr. ambre; Sp. ambar; Port. id; It. ambra; an Oriental word; Pers. عَنَبَرْ anbar or anabar; Ar. عَنْبَرٌ anbaron. In 1 Kings x. 2. 10, the Arabic is rendered, spices. The Arabic word is rendered by Castle, amber, a marine fish, a shield made of skins, crocus and fimus. In Eth. ዐነበረ anbara, is rendered, a whale; and the word is used in Jonah ii. 1. and Matth. xii. 40. This word is placed by Castle under عَنًبَ annaba, to produce grapes, and عَنُب signifies grapes, Ch. and Heb. ענב. The Chaldee verb signifies, to join or connect, and the sense of this worth applied to grapes, is a cluster, like grape in English. It signifies also in Ch. a tumor, a pustule, a mountain, the sense of which is a lump or mass collected and this may be the sense of amber. In German, Dutch, Swedish and Danish, it has the name of burnstone.]

A hard semi-pellucid substance, tasteless and without smell, except when pounded or heated, when it emits a fragrant odor. It is found in alluvial soils, or on the sea shore, in many places; particularly on the shores of the Baltic, in Europe, and at Cape Sable, in Maryland, in the United States. The ancient opinion of its vegetable origin seems now to be established, and it is believed or known to be a fossil resin. It yields by distillation an empyreumatic oil, and the succinic acid, which sublimes in small white needles. Its color usually presents some tinge of yellow. It is highly electrical, and is the basis of a varnish. – Journal of Science. Encyc. Chambers.

AM'BER, v.t.

To scent with amber.

AM'BER-DRINK, n.

A drink resembling amber in color.

AM'BER-DROP-PING, a.

Dropping amber. – Milton.

AM'BER-GRIS, n. [amber and Fr. gris, gray; gray amber.]

A solid, opake, ash-colored inflammable substance, variegated like marble, remarkably light, rugged on its surface, and when heated, it has a fragrant odor. It does not effervesce with acids; it melts easily into a kind of yellow resin, and is highly soluble in spirit of wine. Various opinions have been entertained respecting its origin; but it is well ascertained, that it is a morbid secretion into the intestines of the spermaceti whale, a species of Physeter. It has been found in that species of whale, but usually is found floating on the surface of the ocean, in regions frequented by whales; sometimes in masses of from 60 to 225 lbs. weight. In this substance are found the beaks of the cuttle fish on which that whale is known to feed. It is highly valued as a material in perfumery. – Encyc.

AM'BER-SEED, n.

Musk-seed, resembling millet. It is of a bitterish taste, and brought from Egypt and the West Indies. – Chambers.

AM'BER-TREE, n.

The English name of a species of Anthospermum, a shrub, with evergreen leaves, which, when bruised, emit a fragrant odor. – Miller.

AM'BI-DEX-TER, n. [L. ambo, both, and dexter, the right hand.]

  1. A person who uses both hands with equal facility.
  2. A double dealer; one equally ready to act on either side in party disputes. [This sense is used in ludicrous language.]
  3. In law, a juror who takes money from both parties, for giving his verdict; an embracer. – Cowel.