Dictionary: AT-TRACT'ING – A-TWAIN'

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AT-TRACT'ING, pp.

Drawing to or toward; inviting; alluring; engaging.

AT-TRACT'ING-LY, adv.

In an attracting manner.

AT-TRAC'TION, n.

  1. The power in bodies which is supposed to draw them together; or the tendency or principle which inclines them to unite or cohere; called by Copernicus, appetence. – Encyc. This power, principle or tendency in bodies to unite, is distinguished by philosophers into attraction of gravity or gravitation, which extends to a sensible distance, such as the tendency of the planets to the sun, or of a stone, when raised in the air, to fall to the earth, and of which kind is the attraction of magnetism, and of electricity; and into attraction of cohesion, or that tendency which is manifested between small particles of matter, at insensible distances, or near the point of contact, to unite them in coherence. The attraction of gravity is supposed to be the great principle that confines the planets in their orbits. Its power or force is directly as the quantity of matter in a body, and inversely as the square of the distances of the attracting bodies. – Newton. Encyc.
  2. The act of attracting; the effect of the principle of attraction. Attraction may be performed by impulse or other means. Newton's Optics.
  3. The power or act of alluring, drawing to, inviting or engaging; as, the attraction of beauty or eloquence. Contiguous attraction is that which is exerted between minute particles or atoms, at insensible distances. When this principle unites particles of the same kind, it is called aggregation, or cohesion. When it operates on dissimilar particles, producing union, it is distinguished as heterogeneous, and called chimical attraction, or affinity. Elective attraction, in chimistry, a variety of affinity. It is that power in substances, which elects or selects from a mixture those elements with which they have the strongest tendency to combine.

AT-TRACT'IVE, a. [Fr. attractif.]

  1. Having the quality of attracting; drawing to; as, the attractive force of bodies.
  2. Drawing to by moral influence; alluring; inviting; engaging; as, the attractive graces. An attractive undertaking. – Roscoe.

AT-TRACT'IVE-LY, adv.

With the power of attracting or drawing to.

AT-TRACT'IVE-NESS, n.

The quality of being attractive, or engaging.

AT-TRACT'OR, n.

The person or thing that attracts.

AT-TRA'HENT, a. [L. attrahens.]

Drawing to; or as a noun, that which draws to. – Glanville.

AT-TRAP', v.t. [Qu. Fr. drap, cloth.]

To clothe; to dress. [Not in use.] – Barret.

AT-TRECT-A'TION, n. [L. attrectatio.]

Frequent handling. – Dict.

AT-TRIB'U-TA-BLE, a. [See Attribute.]

That may be ascribed, imputed or attributed; ascribable; imputable; as, the fault is not attributable to the author.

AT'TRIB-UTE, n.

  1. That which is attributed; that which is considered as belonging to, or inherent in; as, power and wisdom are attributes of the Supreme Being; or a quality determining something to be after a certain manner; as, extension is an attribute of body. – Encyc.
  2. Quality; characteristic disposition; as bravery and generosity in men. – Bacon.
  3. A thing belonging to another; an appendant; as the arms of a warrior. In painting and sculpture; a symbol of office or character, added to the principal figure; as, a club is the attribute of Hercules. – Encyc.
  4. Reputation; honor. – Shak. [Not a proper sense of this word.]

AT-TRIB'UTE, v.t. [L. attribuo; ad and tribuo, to divide, to bestow, to assign; tribus, a tribe, division or ward; Fr. attribuer; Sp. atribuir, tribuir; It. attribuire. See Tribe.]

  1. To allot or attach, in contemplation; to ascribe; to consider as belonging. We attribute nothing to God, that contains a contradiction. – Tillotson.
  2. To give as due; to yield as an act of the mind; as, to attribute to God all the glory of redemption.
  3. To impute, as to a cause; as, our misfortunes are generally to be attributed to our follies or imprudence.

AT-TRIB'U-TED, pp.

Ascribed; yielded as due; imputed.

AT-TRIB'U-TING, ppr.

Ascribing; yielding or giving as due; imputing.

AT-TRI-BU'TION, n.

The act of attributing, or the quality ascribed; commendation.

AT-TRIB'U-TIVE, a.

Pertaining to or expressing an attribute. – Harris.

AT-TRIB'U-TIVE, n.

In grammar, a word significant of an attribute; as an adjective, verb or particle, which is the attribute of a substance. – Harris's Hermes.

AT-TRITE, a. [L. attritus, worn, of ad and tero, to wear; Gr. τειρω. See Trite.]

Worn by rubbing or friction. Milton. [See Trite, which is now generally used.]

AT-TRITE'NESS, n.

The being much worn. – Johnson.

AT-TRI'TION, n.

  1. Abrasion; the act of wearing by friction, or rubbing substances together. The change of aliment is effected by the attrition of the stomach. – Arbuthnot.
  2. The state of being worn. – Johnson.
  3. With divines, grief for sin arising from fear of punishment; the lowest degree of repentance. – Wallis.

AT-TUNE', v.t. [of ad and tune. See Tone and Tune.]

  1. To make musical. Vernal airs attune the trembling leaves. – Milton.
  2. To tune, or put in tune; to adjust one sound to another; to make accordant; as, to attune the voice to a harp.

AT-TUN'ED, pp.

Made musical or harmonious; accommodated in sound.

AT-TUN'ING, ppr.

Putting in tune; making musical, or accordant in sound.

A-TWAIN', adv.

In twain; asunder. [Obs.] – Shak.