<B>arrear, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>something not done or overdue. <BR> <I>Ex. I owe a long arrear of thanks (Dickens).</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>something held in reserve. <BR><I>expr. <B>arrears,</B> <DD><B> a. </B>money due but not paid; debts. </I> <I>Ex. He collected his arrears of pay.</I> <DD><B> b. </B>unfinished work; things not done on time. <BR> <I>Ex. I have arrears of correspondence to catch up on.</I> <BR><I>expr. <B>in arrears,</B> </I>behind in payments, work, or other commitments. <BR> <I>Ex. When this is paid we shall still be in arrears. Spiritual progress is in arrears of material progress.</I> </DL>
<A NAME="arrearage">
<B>arrearage, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> debts; arrears. <BR> <I>Ex. Arrearages in scheduled production were eliminated by the end of the quarter (New York Times).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="arrest">
<B>arrest, </B>verb, noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>v.t. </I> <B>1. </B>to seize by authority of the law; take to jail or court. <BR> <I>Ex. Policemen arrested the thieves.</I> (SYN) apprehend. <DD><B> 2. </B>to stop; check. <BR> <I>Ex. Filling a tooth arrests decay. A driver uses brakes to arrest his car's speed.</I> (SYN) halt. <DD><B> 3. </B>to catch and hold. <BR> <I>Ex. Our attention was arrested by the sound of a shot.</I> (SYN) capture. <DD><I>noun </I> <B>1. </B>a seizing by authority of the law; taking to jail or court. <BR> <I>Ex. We saw the arrest of the burglar.</I> (SYN) detention. <DD><B> 2. </B>the act of seizing; seizure. <DD><B> 3. </B>a stopping of anything in motion or progress; checking. <BR> <I>Ex. Machines can now take over after an arrest of the heart's function during an operation.</I> (SYN) stoppage, pause, check. <DD><B> 4a. </B>a device for stopping the motion of a machine, moving part, or object. <DD><B> b. </B>a device to stop sparks that rise in smoke. <BR><I>expr. <B>under arrest,</B> </I>held by the police; in the custody of the police. <BR> <I>Ex. The burglar has been placed under arrest.</I> adj. <B>arrestable.</B> noun <B>arrester.</B> noun <B>arrestment.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="arrestant">
<B>arrestant, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a substance that checks the spread of destructive insects and larvae. </DL>
<A NAME="arrestation">
<B>arrestation, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a stopping or checking; arrest. <BR> <I>Ex. An interval of puzzled uncertainty naturally follows any sudden arrestation and deflection of the national course (Allan Nevins).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="arrestee">
<B>arrestee, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a person under arrest. <BR> <I>Ex. Arrested ... in 1945, he spent a year in American camps and was eventually released as "an erroneous arrestee" (Atlantic).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="arrestergear">
<B>arrester gear</B> or <B>wire,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> (British.) arresting gear. </DL>
<A NAME="arresting">
<B>arresting, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> that catches and holds the attention; striking. <BR> <I>Ex. The most arresting portrayal of the evening was that given by Irene Hayes, in the role that I somehow think of persistently as Miss Dracula (New Yorker).</I> adv. <B>arrestingly.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="arrestinggear">
<B>arresting gear,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> (Especially U.S.) the wires, hooks, and other devices installed on an aircraft and across a landing surface, especially on an aircraft carrier, to arrest an aircraft's forward motion after landing. </DL>
<A NAME="arrestive">
<B>arrestive, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> serving to arrest. </DL>
<A NAME="arrestor">
<B>arrestor, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> (in Scots law) a person who legally holds money or property that has been attached for payment of a debt or other obligation. </DL>
<A NAME="arret">
<B>arret, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> (French.) <DD><B> 1. </B>a judgment or decision of a court. <DD><B> 2. </B>a decree of a sovereign authority. </DL>
<A NAME="arrhizal">
<B>arrhizal, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> (Botany.) having no root. </DL>
<B>arriere-ban, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>the summons of a feudal lord, calling his vassals to military duty. <DD><B> 2. </B>the group of vassals so summoned. </DL>
<A NAME="arrieregarde">
<B>arriere-garde, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> (French.) <DD><B> 1. </B>any group, especially in the arts, that is behind or backward, as opposed to the avant-garde. <DD><B> 2. </B>(literally) rear guard. </DL>
<A NAME="arrierepensee">
<B>arriere-pensee, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> (French.) a thought kept back; mental reservation. </DL>
<A NAME="arris">
<B>arris, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>a sharp edge, such as of a squared stone. <DD><B> 2. </B>a sharp ridge. <BR> <I>Ex. The fluted shaft of a Doric column has arrises.</I> </DL>
<A NAME="arrival">
<B>arrival, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>the act of arriving; coming. <BR> <I>Ex. She is waiting for the arrival of the train.</I> (SYN) advent, appearance. (Abbr:) arr. <DD><B> 2. </B>a person or thing that arrives. <BR> <I>Ex. The new arrival is a boy.</I> </DL>
<A NAME="arrive">
<B>arrive, </B>verb, <B>-rived,</B> <B>-riving.</B><DL COMPACT><DD><I>v.i. </I> <B>1. </B>to reach the end of a journey; come to a place. <BR> <I>Ex. When did you arrive in town? Two policemen arrived on the scene of the accident.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>to come; occur. <BR> <I>Ex. The time has arrived for you to study.</I> <DD><B> 3. </B>to be successful; establish position or reputation. <BR> <I>Ex. It took years for Beethoven to arrive as a composer.</I> <DD> (Abbr:) arr. <DD><I>v.t. </I> (Archaic.) to reach; come to. <BR><I>expr. <B>arrive at,</B> </I>to come to; reach. <BR> <I>Ex. You should arrive at school before nine o'clock. We must arrive at a decision soon.</I> noun <B>arriver.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="arrive">
<B>arrive, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> (French.) a person who has recently achieved success, especially by unscrupulous means; an upstart; parvenu. </DL>
<A NAME="arrivederci">
<B>arrivederci, </B>interjection, noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> (Italian.) a rivederci. </DL>
<A NAME="arriviste">
<B>arriviste, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> (French.) an upstart; arrive; parvenu. <BR> <I>Ex. Socially he was ... pretty much an arriviste, and in fine company still something of a duffer (Atlantic).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="arroba">
<B>arroba, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>a unit of weight used in Spain, Portugal, and Latin America (25.36 pounds in Mexico; 32.38 pounds in Brazil). <DD><B> 2. </B>a Spanish liquid measure, varying in different places and according to the liquid. </DL>
<A NAME="arrogance">
<B>arrogance, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> too great pride with contempt of others; haughtiness. <BR> <I>Ex. Her arrogance made it hard for us to like her.</I> (SYN) overbearingness. </DL>
<A NAME="arrogancy">
<B>arrogancy, </B>noun. <B>=arrogance.</B></DL>
<A NAME="arrogant">
<B>arrogant, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> too proud and contemptuous of others; haughty. (SYN) presumptuous, overbearing. adv. <B>arrogantly.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="arrogate">
<B>arrogate, </B>transitive verb, <B>-gated,</B> <B>-gating.</B><DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>to claim or take without right. <BR> <I>Ex. The despotic king arrogated to himself the power that belonged to the nobles.</I> (SYN) appropriate, assume, usurp. <DD><B> 2. </B>to claim for another or assign without good reasons. <BR> <I>Ex. He suspiciously arrogated bad motives to other people.</I> (SYN) attribute, ascribe. noun <B>arrogation.</B> noun <B>arrogator.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="arrondissement">
<B>arrondissement, </B>noun, pl. <B>-ments.</B><DL COMPACT><DD> (French.) <DD><B> 1. </B>the largest administrative subdivision of a department in France. Arrondissements are divided into cantons. <DD><B> 2. </B>an administrative district of Paris. </DL>
<A NAME="arrow">
<B>arrow, </B>noun, verb.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>noun </I> <B>1. </B>a slender, pointed shaft or stick for shooting from a bow. <DD><B> 2. </B>anything like an arrow in shape or speed. <BR> <I>Ex. (Figurative.) Arrows of lightning shot across the sky.</I> <DD><B> 3. </B>a sign used to show direction or position in maps, on road signs, on traffic lights, and to mark important items in writing. <DD><I>v.t. </I> <B>1. </B>to mark with an arrow to show direction or importance. <BR> <I>Ex. The most important points are arrowed in the left margin.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>to move swiftly toward and penetrate, like an arrow. <BR> <I>Ex. ... the pickerel would occasionally arrow the surface (Atlantic).</I> <DD><I>v.i. </I> to move very swiftly, like an arrow. <BR> <I>Ex. ... in less than three minutes, the plane arrowed upward to 75,000 feet (Newsweek).</I> adj. <B>arrowlike.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="arrow">
<B>Arrow, </B>noun. <B>=Sagitta.</B></DL>
<A NAME="arrowbackchair">
<B>arrowback chair,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a chair having a back formed by vertical pieces of wood shaped somewhat like arrows. </DL>
<A NAME="arrowhead">
<B>arrowhead, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>the pointed head or tip of an arrow. An arrowhead is usually shaped like a wedge and made of harder material than the shaft. The Indians made arrowheads of flint. <DD><B> 2. </B>a marsh or water plant, many varieties of which have leaves shaped like arrowheads. <DD><B> 3. </B>(Architecture.) the dart-shaped motif in an egg-and-dart molding. <DD><B> 4. </B>a mark like an arrow or arrowhead used to indicate direction, such as on a map or road marker. </DL>
<A NAME="arrowheaded">
<B>arrow-headed, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> shaped like an arrowhead; sagittate; cuneiform. </DL>
<A NAME="arrowoftime">
<B>arrow of time,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> (Physics.) the direction in which time flows. <BR> <I>Ex. In most of the things we experience, the arrow of time, as it is called, is pointed firmly in the future (Science News). Accumulated starlight from the cycle subsequent to the one in which we live ... can arise, it seems, if the "arrow of time" is reversed in each cycle of the universe--that is, time flows backwards (Nature).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="arrowroot">
<B>arrowroot, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1a. </B>an easily digested starch made from the roots of a tropical American plant. <DD><B> b. </B>the plant from which it is made. <DD><B> 2. </B>a similar starch obtained from other plants, used especially in certain cookies and crackers. </DL>
