1) a 1,a registry mark given by underwriters (as at lloyd's) to ships in first-class condition. inferior grades are indicated by a 2 and a 3.

2) a-,"a, as a prefix to english words, is derived from various sources. (1) it frequently signifies on or in (from an, a forms of as. on), denoting a state, as in afoot, on foot, abed, amiss, asleep, aground, aloft, away (as. onweg), and analogically, ablaze, atremble, etc. (2) as. of off, from, as in adown (as. ofd/ne off the dun or hill). (3) as. a- (goth. us-, ur-, ger. er-), usually giving an intensive force, and sometimes the sense of away, on, back, as in arise, abide, ago. (4) old english y- or i- (corrupted from the as. inseparable particle ge-, cognate with ohg. ga-, gi-, goth. ga-), which, as a prefix, made no essential addition to the meaning, as in aware. (5) french a (l. ad to), as in abase, achieve. (6) l. a, ab, abs, from, as in avert. (7) greek insep. prefix / without, or privative, not, as in abyss, atheist; akin to e. un-."

3) aam,"a dutch and german measure of liquids, varying in different cities, being at amsterdam about 41 wine gallons, at antwerp 36 1/2, at hamburg 38 1/4."

4) accent,"a superior force of voice or of articulative effort upon some particular syllable of a word or a phrase, distinguishing it from the others.-a mark or character used in writing, and serving to regulate the pronunciation; esp.: (a) a mark to indicate the nature and place of the spoken accent; (b) a mark to indicate the quality of sound of the vowel marked; as, the french accents.-modulation of the voice in speaking; manner of speaking or pronouncing; peculiar or characteristic modification of the voice; tone; as, a foreign accent; a french or a german accent.-a word; a significant tone-expressions in general; speech.-stress laid on certain syllables of a verse.-a regularly recurring stress upon the tone to mark the beginning, and, more feebly, the third part of the measure.-a special emphasis of a tone, even in the weaker part of the measure.-the rhythmical accent, which marks phrases and sections of a period.-the expressive emphasis and shading of a passage.-a mark placed at the right hand of a letter, and a little above it, to distinguish magnitudes of a similar kind expressed by the same letter, but differing in value, as y', y''.-a mark at the right hand of a number, indicating minutes of a degree, seconds, etc.; as, 12'27'', i. e., twelve minutes twenty seven seconds.-a mark used to denote feet and inches; as, 6' 10'' is six feet ten inches.-to express the accent of (either by the voice or by a mark); to utter or to mark with accent.-to mark emphatically; to emphasize."

5) acre,"any field of arable or pasture land.-a piece of land, containing 160 square rods, or 4,840 square yards, or 43,560 square feet. this is the english statute acre. that of the united states is the same. the scotch acre was about 1.26 of the english, and the irish 1.62 of the english."

6) aeolic,"aeolian, 1; as, the aeolic dialect; the aeolic mode."

7) albigeois,a sect of reformers opposed to the church of rome in the 12th centuries.

8) alcohol,"an impalpable powder.-the fluid essence or pure spirit obtained by distillation.-pure spirit of wine; pure or highly rectified spirit (called also ethyl alcohol); the spirituous or intoxicating element of fermented or distilled liquors, or more loosely a liquid containing it in considerable quantity. it is extracted by simple distillation from various vegetable juices and infusions of a saccharine nature, which have undergone vinous fermentation.-a class of compounds analogous to vinic alcohol in constitution. chemically speaking, they are hydroxides of certain organic radicals; as, the radical ethyl forms common or ethyl alcohol (c2h5.oh); methyl forms methyl alcohol (ch3.oh) or wood spirit; amyl forms amyl alcohol (c5h11.oh) or fusel oil, etc."

9) aldine,"an epithet applied to editions (chiefly of the classics) which proceeded from the press of aldus manitius, and his family, of venice, for the most part in the 16th century and known by the sign of the anchor and the dolphin. the term has also been applied to certain elegant editions of english works."

10) algum,same as almug (and etymologically preferable).-a tree or wood of the bible (2 chron. ii. 8; 1 k. x. 11).

11) aliquant,"an aliquant part of a number or quantity is one which does not divide it without leaving a remainder; thus, 5 is an aliquant part of 16. opposed to aliquot."

12) aliquot,"an aliquot part of a number or quantity is one which will divide it without a remainder; thus, 5 is an aliquot part of 15. opposed to aliquant."

13) alizarin,"a coloring principle, c14h6o2(oh)2, found in madder, and now produced artificially from anthracene. it produces the turkish reds."

14) allhallows,"all the saints (in heaven).-all saints' day, november 1st."

15) allhallowtide,"the time at or near all saints, or november 1st."