<B>ambrosia, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>(Greek and Roman Mythology.) the food of the gods. It was the substance that gave immortality. <DD><B> 2. </B>(Figurative.) something especially pleasing to taste or smell. <DD><B> 3. </B>a dessert of grated coconut meat and sliced oranges and, sometimes, sliced bananas. <DD><B> 4. </B><B>=beebread.</B> <DD><B> 5. </B>any one of various plants of a genus of weeds allied to wormwood; ragweed. <DD><B> 6. </B>a fungus cultivated as a food by certain burrowing beetles. </DL>
<A NAME="ambrosiabeetle">
<B>ambrosia beetle,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a wood-boring beetle found in tree trunks. </DL>
<A NAME="ambrosiaceous">
<B>ambrosiaceous, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> belonging or related to the genus of plants of the composite family that includes the ragweeds. </DL>
<A NAME="ambrosial">
<B>ambrosial, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>like ambrosia; especially delicious or sweet-smelling. <DD><B> 2. </B>(Figurative.) worthy of the gods; divine. <BR> <I>Ex. The piece de resistance is ambrosial piano ... (New Yorker).</I> adv. <B>ambrosially.</B> </DL>
<B>Ambrosian chant,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a mode of chanting or singing introduced by Saint Ambrose in the cathedral of Milan about 384. </DL>
<A NAME="ambrotype">
<B>ambrotype, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> one of the earliest types of photograph, consisting of a glass negative with a black backing (by means of which the negative was made to appear as a positive). </DL>
<A NAME="ambry">
<B>ambry, </B>noun, pl. <B>-bries.</B><DL COMPACT><DD> (Archaic.) <DD><B> 1. </B>a storehouse. <DD><B> 2. </B>a pantry or cupboard. <DD><B> 3. </B>a locker or recess in a church for storing sacramental vessels, vestments, etc. </DL>
<A NAME="ambsace">
<B>ambsace, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>both aces; double aces, the lowest possible cast at dice. <DD><B> 2. </B>bad luck; misfortune. <DD><B> 3. </B>the smallest point. Also, <B>amesace.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="ambulacral">
<B>ambulacral, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> of or having to do with an ambulacrum or the ambulacra. </DL>
<A NAME="ambulacrum">
<B>ambulacrum, </B>noun, pl. <B>-cra.</B><DL COMPACT><DD> any of the radial areas of an echinoderm, containing perforations through which tubular organs of locomotion are protruded. </DL>
<A NAME="ambulance">
<B>ambulance, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>an automobile, boat, or aircraft equipped to carry sick, injured, or wounded persons. <DD><B> 2. </B>(formerly) a moving hospital accompanying an army; field hospital. </DL>
<A NAME="ambulancechasing">
<B>ambulance-chasing, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> (U.S. Informal.) characteristic of or designating lawyers who encourage accident victims to become their clients and sue for damages. </DL>
<A NAME="ambulant">
<B>ambulant, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>moving about; walking; ambulatory. <DD><B> 2. </B>performed with players in motion. <BR> <I>Ex. the ambulant music of a marching band.</I> <DD><B> 3. </B>(Law.) ambulatory; not fixed. </DL>
<B>ambulatory, </B>adjective, noun, pl. <B>-ries.</B><DL COMPACT><DD><I>adj. </I> <B>1. </B>having to do with walking; fitted for walking. <BR> <I>Ex. the ambulatory life of a sheepherder.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>capable of walking; not bedridden. <BR> <I>Ex. an ambulatory patient.</I> <DD><B> 3. </B>moving from place to place. <BR> <I>Ex. The Lapps live in ambulatory villages, moving with their herds of reindeer.</I> (SYN) itinerant. <DD><B> 4. </B>(Figurative.) not fixed; changeable. <BR> <I>Ex. A man's will is ambulatory until his death.</I> <DD><I>noun </I> a covered place for walking, such as the aisle of a church surrounding the choir and apse or the cloister of a monastery. </DL>
<A NAME="ambulette">
<B>ambulette, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a small bus, van, or similar vehicle designed to carry elderly or handicapped people. </DL>
<A NAME="ambulocetusnatans">
<B>Ambulocetus natans,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> an ancestor of modern whales that lived in the Eocene period and hunted on both land and sea. <BR> <I>Ex. Ambulocetus ... still had four limbs for walking on land ... It could also hunt in the sea, probably swimming by kicking its big feet (John Noble Wilford).</I> </DL>
<B>ambuscado, </B>noun, pl. <B>-dos.</B><DL COMPACT><DD> (Archaic.) an ambuscade (ambush). </DL>
<A NAME="ambush">
<B>ambush, </B>noun, verb.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>noun </I> <B>1. </B>the place where soldiers or other persons are hidden so that they can make a surprise attack on an approaching enemy. <BR> <I>Ex. The soldiers lay in ambush, waiting for the signal to open fire.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>a surprise attack on an approaching enemy from some hiding place; act or condition of lying in wait to attack. <BR> <I>Ex. to trap an enemy by ambush.</I> <DD><B> 3. </B>soldiers or others hidden to make such a surprise attack. <DD><I>v.t. </I> <B>1. </B>to attack unexpectedly and from a hidden position. <BR> <I>Ex. Our men ambushed the retreating enemy.</I> (SYN) waylay, ambuscade. <DD><B> 2. </B>(Archaic.) to put (soldiers or others) in hiding for a surprise attack. <BR> <I>Ex. The major ambushed his troops in the woods on either side of the road.</I> <DD><I>v.i. </I> to wait in hiding to make a surprise attack. noun <B>ambusher.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="ambushbug">
<B>ambush bug,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> any of a group of predatory insects which attack other insects from concealment, especially in flowers. </DL>
<A NAME="ambushment">
<B>ambushment, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> the act or position of ambushing; an ambush. </DL>
<A NAME="ambystoma">
<B>ambystoma, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> any one of a genus of salamanders native to the United States and Central America. </DL>
<A NAME="ambystomid">
<B>ambystomid, </B>noun. <B>=ambystoma.</B></DL>
<A NAME="amdg">
<B>A.M.D.G.,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> ad majorem Dei gloriam (for the greater glory of God; motto of the Society of Jesus). </DL>
<A NAME="ameba">
<B>ameba, </B>noun, pl. <B>-bas,</B> <B>-bae.</B><DL COMPACT><DD> an extremely small and very simple animal made up of only one cell. Amebas are so small that they cannot be seen without a microscope. Many amebas live in fresh and salt water; others live in soil or as parasites in other animals. They move and take in food by forming temporary fingerlike projections (pseudopods) that are constantly changing shape. Amebas are protozoans and are usually classified as rhizopods; they consist of a shapeless mass of protoplasm enclosed by a flexible membrane and contain one or more nuclei. Also, <B>amoeba.</B> adj. <B>amebalike.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="ameban">
<B>ameban, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>of or having to do with an ameba or amebas. <DD><B> 2. </B>like an ameba. Also, <B>amoeban.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="amebean">
<B>amebean, </B>adjective. <B>=amoebean.</B></DL>
<A NAME="amebiasis">
<B>amebiasis, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> an infection or disease caused by amebas, as amebic dysentery. Also, <B>amoebiasis.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="amebic">
<B>amebic, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>of or like an ameba or amebas. <DD><B> 2. </B>characterized or caused by amebas or similar protozoans. <BR> <I>Ex. amebic dysentery.</I> <DD> Also, <B>amoebic.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="amebicdysentery">
<B>amebic dysentery,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a type of dysentery, now widely distributed, caused by a species of ameba and usually accompanied by intestinal ulcers. </DL>
<A NAME="amebicidal">
<B>amebicidal, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> of or designating an amebicide. Also, <B>amoebicidal.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="amebicide">
<B>amebicide, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a substance for killing amebas. Also, <B>amoebicide.</B> </DL>
<B>amebocyte, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> an amebalike cell, as a leucocyte. Also, <B>amoebocyte.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="ameboid">
<B>ameboid, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>of or like an ameba; like that of an ameba. <BR> <I>Ex. ameboid movements.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>related to amebas. Also, <B>amoeboid.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="amebula">
<B>amebula, </B>noun, pl. <B>-las,</B> <B>-lae.</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a microscopically small ameba or amebalike organism. </DL>
<A NAME="amedamnee">
<B>ame damnee,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> (French.) <DD><B> 1. </B>a lost soul; person who is damned. <DD><B> 2. </B>a person who blindly follows another; tool. </DL>
<A NAME="ameer">
<B>ameer, </B>noun. <B>=emir.</B></DL>
<A NAME="amelcorn">
<B>amelcorn, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a kind of wheat (spelt) cultivated to some extent in Europe, especially for its starch. </DL>
<A NAME="ameliorable">
<B>ameliorable, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> that can be improved. </DL>
<A NAME="ameliorant">
<B>ameliorant, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> something that ameliorates. </DL>
<A NAME="ameliorate">
<B>ameliorate, </B>verb, <B>-rated,</B> <B>-rating.</B><DL COMPACT><DD><I>v.t. </I> to make better, especially more tolerable, satisfactory, prosperous, or the like; improve. <BR> <I>Ex. Smoke control has ameliorated living conditions in the city.</I> (SYN) mitigate, relieve. <DD><I>v.i. </I> to become better. <BR> <I>Ex. Living conditions in the city ameliorated with smoke control.</I> noun <B>ameliorator.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="amelioration">
<B>amelioration, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>the process of making better. <DD><B> 2. </B>the condition of being made better; improvement. <DD><B> 3. </B>an improvement. </DL>
<A NAME="ameliorative">
<B>ameliorative, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> tending to ameliorate; improving. adv. <B>amelioratively.</B> </DL>
<B>ameloblast, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a cell which forms dental enamel. <BR> <I>Ex. Yet to make perfect enamel each enamel-forming cell must stay healthy until the work is done, for the ameloblasts, unlike most other cells of the body, cannot reproduce (Scientific American).</I> </DL>
