Emily Dickinson Lexicon

amend, n. [OFr amendes, pecuniary fine, penalties, reparation.]

Rectification; restoration; restitution; [fig.] resurrection; promise of sunrise; [word play on mend, v.] restored health; physical comeback; temporary renewal of strength.

amend (amended), v. [OFr < L. ēmendā-re, remove a fault; correct; improve.]

1. Omit; delete; erase; remove; expunge; take; edit; eliminate.
2. Improve; change by repentance; [word play on mend] fix; reform.

amenity, n. [Fr. < L. amoen-us, pleasant.]

Pleasure; delight; civility; etiquette; refinement; courtesy.

America, proper n. [med. It. < Germanic 'home ruler'.] (webplay: Columbus).

1. Latinized form of Amerigo (Vespucci); name for the West Indies; name of a Florentine who explored the western hemisphere; name that geographer Martin Waldseemuller gave to the western continents; name for North America, Central America, South America, and surrounding regions; name for the United States including ED's home in New England; [fig.] Eden; Columbia; El Dorado; the New World; the Promised Land; land of opportunity; remote paradise with rich natural resources; bedazzling spacious frontier; (see ED letters).
2. Phrase (see North America).
3. Phrase (see South America).

amethyst, adj. [OFr < L. < Gk a, not + mithu, wine = 'not drunken'; NW says: “from some supposed quality in the stone of resisting intoxication … from its color approaching that of wine, but not reaching it.”] (webplay: jewelry).

Violet-colored; clear crystalline purple; [fig.] cherished; dear; noble; precious; valuable.

amethyst, n. [see amethyst, adj.] (webplay: purple).

Purple-colored light; blue-violet colored light at sunrise or sunset; [NW says: a color in heraldry for a nobleman, gentleman, or prince's escutcheon.]

Amherst, proper n. [OE hirst, wooded hill.]

ED's hometown; nineteenth-century western Massachusetts community; village named for Jeffrey Amherst, 1^st Baron and British commander in French and Indian War; (see ED letters).

amid, prep. [ME on, in + middan, middle.]

1. Within; contained in; below the surface of.
2. With; accompanied by.
3. In; among; mingling with; surrounded by; as members of; counted as part of; in the company of.

amiss, adj. /adv. [a + OE miss, absence, loss, failure.]

1. Astray; out of order; in the wrong place; [fig.] in error.
2. Unworthy; unrepentant; unsuitable; [word play: 'a miss'] an unmarried woman; not a bride; [fig.] uncommitted; unfaithful; outside of divine covenants.

amity (amities), n. [Fr. < L. amīc-us, friend.]

Agreement; accord; affinity; pact; understanding; harmonious association; peaceful arrangement; friendly relations.