<B>academy, </B>noun, pl. <B>-mies.</B><DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>a place for instruction: <DD><B> a. </B>a private high school. <DD><B> b. </B>a school where some special skill or subject can be studied. <BR> <I>Ex. a riding academy. West Point is a military academy.</I> <DD><B> c. </B>(formerly) a college, university, or other institution of higher learning. <DD><B> 2. </B>a group of authors, scholars, artists, musicians, or scientists organized to encourage literature, research, art, music, or science. The Royal Academy of London promotes the arts. <BR><I>expr. <B>the Academy,</B> </I>the park or grove near ancient Athens where Plato taught. <BR> <I>Ex. [The] Academy ... was a large enclosure of ground which was once the property of a citizen at Athens named Academus (John Robinson).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="academyaward">
<B>Academy Award,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> (U.S.) one of the awards made annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences; Oscar. </DL>
<A NAME="acadian">
<B>Acadian, </B>noun, adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>noun </I> <B>1. </B>a native or inhabitant of Acadia (region in southeastern Canada), especially a French settler there or one of his descendants. <BR> <I>Ex. With 230,000 Acadians, New Brunswick is now almost French Canadian ... (Maclean's).</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>a descendant of French Acadians who moved to Louisiana; Cajun. <DD><I>adj. </I> <B>1. </B>of Acadia or Acadians. <DD><B> 2. </B>(Geology.) of or having to do with a time when mountains were formed, in or near the Devonian. </DL>
<A NAME="acajou">
<B>acajou, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1a. </B>the cashew tree. <DD><B> b. </B>its fruit. <DD><B> 2. </B>a gum or resin from its bark. </DL>
<A NAME="acalculia">
<B>acalculia, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a form of aphasia involving loss of ability to solve even simple arithmetic problems. </DL>
<A NAME="acaleph">
<B>acaleph, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> (in early zoological classification) a member of a group of animals including both the coelenterates and the ctenophores. </DL>
<B>acantha, </B>noun, pl. <B>-thae.</B><DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>(Botany.) a prickle. <DD><B> 2. </B>(Zoology.) a spine or prickly fin. <DD><B> 3. </B>(Anatomy.) <DD><B> a. </B>a spinous process of a vertebra. <DD><B> b. </B>the vertebral column. </DL>
<A NAME="acanthaceous">
<B>acanthaceous, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>belonging to the acanthus family of plants. <DD><B> 2. </B>having prickles; being prickly. </DL>
<A NAME="acanthaster">
<B>acanthaster, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> the crown-of-thorns starfish, a large predator of coral islands and reefs throughout the Pacific. <BR> <I>Ex. They can stay alive for six months without eating, but when they eat they eat heartily: a big acanthaster can kill fifty years of coral growth in a night (New Yorker).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="acanthine">
<B>acanthine, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>of an acanthus. <DD><B> 2. </B>resembling an acanthus. </DL>
<A NAME="acanthocephalan">
<B>acanthocephalan, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> any one of a large group of parasitic worms that have backward-curving hooks at their front ends for attaching themselves to the intestines of vertebrates. They lack a digestive tract, food being taken in through the body wall. </DL>
<A NAME="acanthodian">
<B>acanthodian, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> any one of several extinct sharklike fishes, living from the late Silurian into the Permian period, representing the earliest known vertebrates with jaws. </DL>
<A NAME="acanthoid">
<B>acanthoid, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>shaped like a spine. <DD><B> 2. </B>having spines. </DL>
<A NAME="acanthological">
<B>acanthological, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> of or having to do with acanthology. </DL>
<A NAME="acanthology">
<B>acanthology, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> the study of spines. </DL>
<A NAME="acanthopterygian">
<B>acanthopterygian, </B>noun, adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>noun </I> any one of a group of fishes with hard, spiny rays in the dorsal and anal fins, including the sunfish, perch, bass, porgy, mackerel, and swordfish. <DD><I>adj. </I> of or belonging to this group. </DL>
<A NAME="acanthous">
<B>acanthous, </B>adjective. =acanthoid.</DL>
<A NAME="acanthus">
<B>acanthus, </B>noun, pl. <B>-thuses,</B> <B>-thi.</B><DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>any one of several plants somewhat like the thistle, found especially around the Mediterranean. The leaves of the acanthus have many narrow, pointed lobes, and are sometimes spiny. <DD><B> 2. </B>an architectural ornament patterned on the leaves of these plants, popular in ancient Greek and Roman times. </DL>
<A NAME="acanthusfamily">
<B>acanthus family,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a large family of plants found mainly in tropical areas. The leaves of the plants are usually simple, but the petals are irregular and coiled. Many kinds are grown for decoration. The bear's-breech and clockvine are members of the acanthus family. </DL>
<A NAME="acappella">
<B>a cappella</B> or <B>a capella,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> of choral music or singers: <DD><B> 1. </B>without instrumental accompaniment. <DD><B> 2. </B>with an accompaniment in unison with the vocal part, as in early church music. </DL>
<A NAME="acapriccio">
<B>a capriccio,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> (Music.) with the expression and time to be rendered as the performer pleases. </DL>
<A NAME="acarian">
<B>acarian, </B>noun, adjective. =acaridan.</DL>
<A NAME="acariasis">
<B>acariasis, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> an infestation of plant, animal, or man with mites or ticks. </DL>
<A NAME="acaricide">
<B>acaricide, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a substance for killing acarids. </DL>
<A NAME="acarid">
<B>acarid, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> any one of an order of small arachnids that includes the mites and ticks. </DL>
<A NAME="acaridan">
<B>acaridan, </B>noun, adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>noun </I> <B>=acarid.</B> <DD><I>adj. </I> of or belonging to the acarids. </DL>
<A NAME="acarine">
<B>acarine, </B>noun, adjective. =acaridan.</DL>
<A NAME="acaroid">
<B>acaroid, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> of or like an acarid. </DL>
<A NAME="acaroidgum">
<B>acaroid gum</B> or <B>resin,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a red resin obtained especially from the trunk of the Australian grass tree, used in varnishes. </DL>
<A NAME="acarologist">
<B>acarologist, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a person who studies ticks and mites. </DL>
<A NAME="acarology">
<B>acarology, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> the study of ticks and mites. </DL>
<A NAME="acarpelous">
<B>acarpelous</B> or <B>acarpellous, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> (of a flower) having no carpels. </DL>
<A NAME="acarpous">
<B>acarpous, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> (of a plant) not producing fruit; sterile. </DL>
<A NAME="acarus">
<B>acarus, </B>noun, pl. <B>-ari.</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a mite or tick. </DL>
<A NAME="acatalectic">
<B>acatalectic, </B>adjective, noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>adj. </I> (of a line of verse) having the complete number of syllables in the last foot; complete. <DD><I>noun </I> such a line of verse. </DL>
<B>acataleptic, </B>adjective, noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> (Philosophy.) <DD><I>adj. </I> incomprehensible; not to be known with certainty. <DD><I>noun </I> a person who believes that we can know nothing with certainty. </DL>
<A NAME="acaudal">
<B>acaudal, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> without a tail. </DL>
<A NAME="acaudate">
<B>acaudate, </B>adjective. =acaudal.</DL>
<A NAME="acaulescence">
<B>acaulescence, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> the condition of being or appearing to be without a stem. </DL>
<B>acausal, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> not causal; not having to do with cause and effect. </DL>
<A NAME="acausality">
<B>acausality, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> acausal quality or agency. </DL>
<A NAME="acc">
<B>acc.,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> an abbreviation for the following: <DD><B> 1. </B>accompaniment. <DD><B> 2. </B>according. <DD><B> 3. </B>account. <DD><B> 4. </B>(Grammar.) accusative. </DL>
<A NAME="accadian">
<B>Accadian, </B>adjective, noun. =Akkadian.</DL>
<A NAME="accede">
<B>accede, </B>intransitive verb, <B>-ceded,</B> <B>-ceding.</B><DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>to give in; agree; assent (to). <BR> <I>Ex. Please accede to my request.</I> (SYN) yield, acquiesce. <DD><B> 2. </B>to become a party (to). <BR> <I>Ex. Our government acceded to the treaty.</I> <DD><B> 3. </B>to come, attain, or succeed (to an office or dignity). <BR> <I>Ex. When the king died, his oldest son acceded to the throne.</I> noun <B>acceder.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="accedence">
<B>accedence, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> the act of acceding; entering upon or agreeing to. </DL>
