Emily Dickinson Lexicon

AS-SERT'ED, pp.

Affirmed positively; maintained; vindicated.

AS-SERT'ING, ppr.

Declaring with confidence; maintaining; defending.

AS-SER'TION, n.

1. The act of asserting; the maintaining of a claim.
2. Positive declaration or averment; affirmation; position advanced. – Brown.

AS-SERT'IVE, a.

Positive; affirming confidently; peremptory. – Glanville.

AS-SERT'IVE-LY, adv.

Affirmatively. – Bedell.

AS-SERT'OR, n.

One who affirms positively; one who maintains or vindicates a claim; an affirmer, supporter, or vindicator. – Dryden.

AS-SERT'O-RY, a.

Affirming; maintaining. – Bp. Hall.

AS-SESS', n.

Assessment. [Not used.]

AS-SESS', v.t. [Fr. asseoir; Norm. asser, asseoir; to settle, fix, ascertain, assess; It. assestare, assettare; L. assideo, ad and sedeo; Eng. to sit, or set. See Set and Sit.]

1. To set, fix or charge a certain sum upon one, as a tax; as, to assess each citizen in due proportion.
2. To value; to fix the value of property, for the purpose of being taxed; as by the law of the United States. Also, to value or fix the profits of business, for the purpose of taxation.
3. To set, fix or ascertain; as, it is the province of a jury to assess damages.

AS-SESS'A-BLE, a.

That may be assessed.

AS-SESS'A-BLY, adv.

By assessment.

AS-SESS'ED, pp.

Charged with a certain sum; valued; set; fixed; ascertained.

AS-SESS'ING, ppr.

Charging with a sum; valuing; fixing; ascertaining.

AS-SES'SION, n.

A sitting down by a person. [Not used.]

AS-SES'SION-A-RY, a.

Pertaining to assessors. – Carew.

AS-SESS'MENT, n.

1. A valuation of property or profits of business, for the purpose of taxation. An assessment is a valuation made by authorized persons according to their discretion, as opposed to a sum certain or determined by law. It may be a direct charge of the tax to be paid; or a valuation of the property of those who are to pay the tax, for the purpose of fixing the proportion which each man shall pay; on which valuation the law imposes a specific sum upon a given amount. – Blackstone. Laws of the United States.
2. A tax or specific sum charged on the person or property.
3. The act of assessing; the act of determining the amount of damages by a jury.

AS-SESS'OR, n.

1. One appointed to assess the person or property.
2. An inferior officer of justice, who sits to assist the judge. – Encyc.
3. One who sits by another, as next in dignity. – Milton.

AS-SESS-O'RI-AL, a.

Pertaining to assessors, or a court of assessors. – Coxe.

ASSETS, n. [plur. Fr. assez, enough; It. assai, enough, or many; Ir. sath, sufficiency; sasadh, satisfaction; L. sat, satis, enough.]

1. Goods or estate of a deceased person, sufficient to pay the debts of the deceased. But the word sufficient, though expressing the original signification of assets, is not with us necessary to the definition. In present usage, assets are the money, goods or estate of a deceased person, subject by law to the payment of his debts and legacies. Assets are real or personal; real assets are lands which descend to the heir, subject to the fulfillment of the obligations of the ancestor; personal assets are the money or goods of the deceased, or debts due to him, which come into the hands of the executor or administrator, or which he is bound to collect and convert into money. – Blackstone.
2. Effects of an insolvent debtor.

AS-SEV'ER, or AS-SEV'ER-ATE, v.t. [L. assevero, from ad, and the Teutonic swear; Sax. swerian; Goth. swaran, to swear, to affirm positively.]

To affirm or aver positively, or with solemnity. – Fotherby.

AS-SEV'ER-A-TED, pp.

Affirmed or averred positively.

AS-SEV'ER-A-TING, ppr.

Affirming positively.

AS-SEV-ER-A'TION, n.

Positive affirmation or assertion; solemn declaration. This word is not, generally, if ever, used for a declaration under an official oath, but for a declaration accompanied with solemnity.

ASS-HEAD, n. [ass and head.]

One dull, like the ass; one slow of apprehension; a blockhead.

AS-SID-E'ANS, or CHAS-I-DE'ANS, [Heb. חסד pious.]

A sect of Jews who resorted to Mattathias to fight for the laws of their God and the liberties of their country. They were men of great zeal, and observed the traditions of the elders. From these sprung the Pharisees and Essenes. – Encyc.