Emily Dickinson Lexicon

authorized, verbal adj. [see author, n.] (webplay: place, suppress).

Lawful; established; designated; [fig.] divinely ordained; granted by Deity.

auto, n. [see auto da fe, n.]

autocratic, adj. [Fr. < Gk 'ruling by one's self,' 'absolute might, power, authority'.]

Omnipotent; sovereign; supreme; almighty; divine; godly.

autocratic, adj. [Fr. < Gk 'ruling by one's self,' 'absolute might, power, authority'.]

Omnipotent; sovereign; supreme; almighty; divine; godly.

auto da fe, n. [Port. < Sp. 'act of faith'.]

Death sentence; execution order; trial by fire; conviction by the Spanish Inquisition in medieval times; public burning of a heretic; solemn day for punishing the guilty and absolving the innocent.

autumn, adj. [OFr < L.; see August, adj.] (webplay: Golden, sun).

Fall; pertaining to the harvest period.

autumn (-s, -'s), n. [OFr < L.; see August, adj.] (webplay: sun, summer, winter, year).

1. Harvest; season of maturity; period of gradual decay; [personification] landscape artist who paints the trees with darker fall colors.
2. Fall; third quarter of the year in New England; the months of September, October, and November; season from the fall equinox to the winter solstice; time period between summer and winter in the northern hemisphere.

auxiliary (auxiliaries), n. [L. 'help'.]

1. Adjunct; appendage; accessory; branch; [fig.] rainbow; celestial colors.
2. Ally; cohort; confederate; backup army; company of soldiers; troop of paid foreign fighters; [fig.] validation; confirmation; justification.

avail (availed), v. [Fr. vaille < L. 'to be worth'.]

1. Work; succeed; take effect; have efficacy; be effectual; accomplish the purpose; answer the purpose.
2. Benefit; profit; assist; be of use to; turn to the advantage of.

avalanche (-s), n. [Fr. 'descent'.]

Large snow slide; vast fast-moving body of snow and ice sliding down a mountainside; [fig.] catastrophe; sudden loss; excessive pain; unbearable agony.