Emily Dickinson Lexicon
Lexicon: awkward – azure
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awkward, adj. [ON awk, wrong + ward, direction.] (webplay: hands, ungraceful).
- Unready; inexperienced; unprepared; [fig.] human; mortal; imperfect.
- Crossed; obtuse; out of focus; [fig.] blind; dull.
- Unsuitable; inappropriate; not fitting.
- Unlearned; unpolished; unskilled; not elegant; out of practice; [fig.] out of tune.
- Clumsy; ungainly; cumbersome; unbecoming; over-sized.
- Rough; coarse; crude.
- Uncomfortable; insecure; out of place; ill at ease.
axe, n. [OE] (webplay: head, wood).
- Sharp wedge-shaped blade; tree-chopping tool with a wooden handle; [metonymy] person cutting down trees with a sharp instrument.
- Executioner's tool; [personification] person with an instrument for beheading.
axiom, n. [Fr. < L. < Gk 'that which commends itself self evident', 'to hold worthy'.] (webplay: new, head).
Eternal law; established principle; unquestionable premise.
axis, n. [L. 'pivot, axle-tree'.] (webplay: earth, eye, parts, turns, tree, wheel).
- Magnetic pole; straight line around which the world revolves.
- Axle; pivot point; line parallel to the horizon passing through the center.
- Spine; spinal column; central nervous system.
- Equilibrium; support; security; assurance; stability.
axle (-s), n. [ME < ON axel-tre.] (webplay: turn, tree, wheels).
- Pole; magnetic center line around which a heavenly body revolves.
- Bar; hub; slender shaft of metal on which a wheel turns.
- Circuit; gyration; compass point; rotation around an axis; cycle of mechanical parts; [fig.] passage of time.
Ayre, [see Buenos Ayre, proper n.]
Azof, proper n. [Turkish azak, low < Mongolian 'moist place'; variant of Asov, Azoz, Asof.]
Inland sea; body of water northeast of the Black Sea near the Ukraine and Russia; site of Peter the Great's 1696 victory over the Turks in Eurasia; [metonymy] waves; breakers; the oceans; the deep; water currents of the earth; [historical] pen name of a Civil War correspondent for the 59th regiment of Massachusetts.
azure, adj. [OFr < L. < Arab. 'lapis lazuli, blue color'.]
Sky-blue; ultramarine; cobalt blue; [fig.] heavenly.
azure, n. [see azure, adj.]
- Blue sky; aqua-colored atmosphere.
- Lines of blue color; underlying blood vessels.
- Heaven.
- Lapis lazuli; blue-colored mineral; complex silicate containing sulfur.