Emily Dickinson Lexicon

AB-DUC'TOR, n.

In anatomy, a muscle which serves to withdraw, or pull hack a certain part of the body; the abductor oculi, which pulls the eye outward.

A-BEAR', v.t. [abáre; Sax. abæran.]

To bear; to behave. [Obs.] Spenser.

A-BEAR'ANCE, n. [from abear, now disused; from bear, to curry.]

Behavior, demeanor. Blackstone.

A-BE-CE-DA'RI-AN, n. [a word formed from the first four letters of the alphabet.]

One who teaches the letters of the alphabet, or a learner of the letters.

A-BE-CE'DA-RY, a.

Pertaining to, or formed by the letters of the alphabet.

A-BED', adv. [See Bed.]

On or in bed.

A-BELE, or A-BEL-TREE, n.

A name of the white poplar. [See Poplar.]

A-BE'LIANS, n. [or A-BE-LO'NI-ANS, or A'BEL-ITES.]

In Church history, a sect in Africa which arose in the reign of Arcadians; they married, but lived in continence, after the manner, as they pretended, of Abel, and attempted to maintain the sect by adopting the children of others. Encyc.

A'BEL-MOSK, n.

A trivial name of a species of hibiscus, or Syrian mallow. The plant rises on a herbaceous stalk, three or four feet, sending out two or three side branches. The seeds have a musky odor, [whence its name, μοσχος,] for which reason the Arabians mix them with coffee.

A'BER, n.

In Celtic, the mouth of a river.

A-BER'DE-VINE, n.

The European siskin; the Carduelis spinus, a small green and yellow finch.

AB-ER'RANCE, or AB-ER'RAN-CY, n. [L. aberrans, aberro, to wander from; of ab and erro, to wander.]

A wandering or deviating from the right way, but rarely used in a literal sense. In a figurative sense, a deviation from truth, error, mistake; and in morals, a fault, a deviation from rectitude. Brown.

AB-ER'RANT, a.

Wandering, straying from the right way.

AB-ER-RA'TION, n. [L. aberratio.]

1. The act of wandering from the right way; deviation from truth or moral rectitude; deviation from a straight line.
2. In astronomy, a small apparent motion of the fixed stars, occasioned by the progressive motion of light and the earth's annual motion in its orbit. By this, they sometimes appear twenty seconds distant from their true situation. Lunier.
3. In optics, a deviation in the rays of light, when inflected by a lens or speculum, by which they are prevented from uniting in the same point. It is occasioned by the figure of the glass, or by the unequal refrangibility of the rays of light. Encyc. Crown of aberration, a luminous circle surrounding the disk of the sun, depending on the aberration of its rays, by which its apparent diameter is enlarged. Cyc.

AB-ER'RING, a. [ppr. or part.]

Wandering; going astray. Brown.

AB-ER-RUN'CATE, v.t. [L. averrunco.]

To pull up by the roots; to extirpate utterly. [Not used.] Dict.

A-BET', n.

The act of aiding or encouraging in a crime. [Not used.]

A-BET', v.t. [Sax. betan, gebetan; properly to push forward, to advance; hence to amend, to revive, to restore, to make better; and applied to fire, to increase the flame, to excite, to promote. Hence to aid by encouraging or instigating. Hence in Saxon, Na bete nan man the fyr; Let no man bet (better, excite) the fire, LL. Ina. 78.]

1. To encourage by aid or countenance, but now used chiefly in a bad sense. “To abet an opinion,” in the sense of support, is used by Bishop Cumberland; but this use is hardly allowable.
2. In law, to encourage, counsel, incite or assist in a criminal act.

A-BET'MENT, n.

The act of abetting.

A-BET'TED, pp.

Incited, aided, encouraged to a crime.

A-BET'TING, ppr.

Counseling, aiding or encouraging to a crime.

A-BET'TOR, n.

One who abets, or incites, aids or encourages another to commit a crime. In treason, there are no abettors; all persons concerned being principals.

AB-E-VAC-U-A'TION, n. [ab and evacuation.]

In medicine, a partial evacuation of morbid humors of the body, either by nature or art. Cyc.

A-BEY'ANCE, n. [pron. abáyance; Norm. abbaiaunce, or abaizance, in expectation, boyance, expectation. Qu. Fr. bayer, to gape, to look a long a time with the mouth open; to stand looking in a silly manner; It. badare, to amuse one's self, to stand trilling; “tenere a bada,” to keep at bay; “star a bada,” to stand trifling. If Bd are the radical letters, it seems to belong to the root of abide. See Bay.]

In expectation or contemplation of law. The fee simple or inheritance of lands and tenements is in abeyance, when there is no person in being in whom it can vest; so that it is in a state of expectancy or waiting until is proper person shall appear. Thus if land is leased to a man for life, remainder to another for years, the remainder for years is in abeyance, till the death of the lessee, for life. Blackstone.

AB'GRE-GATE, v.t. [L. abgrego, ab and grex.]

To separate from a herd. [Obs.]