Emily Dickinson Lexicon

EAVES, n. [plur. Sax. efese. In English the word has plural ending; but not in Saxon.]

The edge or lower border of the roof of a building which overhangs the walls, and casts off the water that falls on the roof.

EAVES'-DROP, v.i. [eaves and drop.]

To stand under the eaves or near the windows of a house, to listen and hear what is said within doors. Milton.

EAVES'-DROP-PER, n.

One who stands under the eaves or near the window or door of a house, to listen and hear what is said within doors, whether from curiosity, or for the purpose of tattling and making mischief. Shak.

EBB, n. [Sax. ebbe, ebba; G. and D. ebbe; Dan. id.; Sw. ebb.]

1. The reflux of the tide; the return of tide-water toward the sea; opposed to flood or flowing.
2. Decline; decay; a falling from a better to a worse state; as, the ebb of life; the ebb of prosperity.

EBB, v.i. [Sax. ebban; D. ebben; W. eb, to go from.]

1. To flow back; to return as the water of a tide toward the ocean; opposed to flow. The tide ebbs and flows twice in twenty-four hours.
2. To decay; to decline; to return or fall back from a better to a worse state. Shak. Halifax.

EBB'ING, n.

The reflux of the tide.

EBB'ING, ppr.

Flowing back; declining; decaying.

EBB'TIDE, n.

The reflux of tide-water; the retiring tide.

EB'I-ON-ITE, n.

The Ebionites were heretics who denied the divinity of Christ and rejected many parts of the Scriptures.

EB'ON, a. [See Ebony.]

Consisting of ebony; like ebony; black.

EB'ON-IZE, v.t. [See Ebony.]

To make black or tawny to tinge with the color of ebony; as, to ebonize the fairest complexion. Walsh.

EB'ON-IZ-ED, pp.

Tinged with the color of ebony.

EB'ON-Y, n. [L. ebenus; Gr. εβενος or εβελος; Fr. ebene; It. and Sp. ebano; D. ebbenhout; G. ebenholz.]

1. The popular name of various species of different genera of plants.
2. A species of hard, heavy and durable wood, which admits of a fine polish or gloss; said to be brought from Madagascar. The most usual color is black, red, or green. The best is a jet black, free from veins and rind, very heavy, a stringent, and of an acrid pungent taste. On burning coals it yields an agreeable perfume, and when green it readily takes fire from its abundance of fat. It is wrought into toys and used for mosaic and inlaid work. Encyc.

EB'ON-Y-TREE, n.

The popular name of a plant, the Anthyllis Cretica, which grows in Crete.

E-BRAC'TE-ATE, a. [e priv. and bractea.]

In botany, without a bractea. Martyn.

E-BRI'E-TY, n. [L. ebrietas, from ebrius, intoxicated. It appears by the Spanish embriagar, and the It. imbriacarsi, that ebrius is contracted by the loss of a palatal, and hence it is obvious that this word is from the Gr. βρεχω, to moisten, to drench. So drunk is from the root of drench.]

Drunkenness; intoxication by spirituous liquors. Brown.

E-BRIL'LADE, n. [Fr.]

A check given to a horse, by a sudden jerk of one rein, when he refuses to turn.

E-BRI-OS'I-TY, n. [L. ebriositas.]

Habitual drunkenness. Brown.

E-BUL'LIEN-CY, n. [See Ebullition.]

A boiling over. Cudworth.

E-BUL-LIENT, a.

Boiling over, as a liquor. Young.

EB-UL-LI'TION, n. [L. ebullitio, from ebullio, bullio, Eng. to boil, – which see.]

1. The operation of boiling; the agitation of a liquor by heat, which throws it up in bubbles; or more properly, the agitation produced in a fluid by the escape of a portion of it, converted into an aeriform state by heat. Ebullition is produced by the heat of fire directly applied, or by the heat or caloric evolved by any substance in mixture. Thus, in slaking time, the caloric set at liberty by the absorption of water, produces ebullition.
2. Effervescence, which is occasioned by fermentation, or by any other process which causes the extrication of an aeriform fluid, as in the mixture of an acid with a carbonated alkali.

E-BUR'NE-AN, a. [L. eburneus, from ebur, ivory.]

Made of ivory.

E-CAU'DATE, a. [e priv. and L. cauda, a tail.]

In botany, without a tail or spur.

EC-CA-LE-O'BI-ON, n. [Gr. εκκαλεω, to call out, and βιος, life.]

A contrivance for hatching eggs by artificial heat.

EC-CEN'TRIC, or EC-CEN'TRIC-AL, a. [L. eccentricus; ex, from, and centrum, center.]

1. Deviating or departing from the center.
2. In geometry, not having the same center; a term applied to circles and spheres which have not the same center, and consequently are not parallel; in opposition to concentric, having a common center. Encyc.
3. Not terminating in the same point, nor directed by the same principle. Bacon.
4. Deviating from stated methods, usual practice or established forms or laws; irregular; anomalous; departing from the usual course; as, eccentric conduct; eccentric virtue; an eccentric genius.