<B>escapism, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> the habit of avoiding unpleasant things by daydreaming or by entertainment, such as motion pictures or reading light fiction. <BR> <I>Ex. This "management by escapism" is usually a manifestation of a fearful and insecure society (Atlantic).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="escapist">
<B>escapist, </B>noun, adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>noun </I> a person who habitually seeks escape from unpleasant reality in daydreams or entertainment. <BR> <I>Ex. Escapists ... will find things here that make the idea of life on a South Sea island charming and repellent by turns (Newsweek).</I> <DD><I>adj. </I> of or for escapists. <BR> <I>Ex. escapist fiction.</I> </DL>
<A NAME="escapologist">
<B>escapologist, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> (Especially British.) <DD><B> 1. </B>a performer who escapes or frees himself from specially devised restraints. <BR> <I>Ex. It took ... an escapologist only 50 sec. to escape from a straitjacket while hanging upside down from a crane 75 ft. above Blackpool promenade (London Times).</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>(Figurative.) a person who is adept at extricating himself from difficult situations. </DL>
<A NAME="escapology">
<B>escapology, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> (Especially British.) <DD><B> 1. </B>the art or methods of an escapologist. <BR> <I>Ex. Every week there's that advertisement from the man in Cheshire offering handcuffs, leg-irons and manacles. It's too late now to try escapology (Punch).</I> <DD><B> 2. </B> <BR> <I>Ex. (Figurative.) No beginner when it comes to shooting himself out of a tight corner, this was one of his finest moments in the art of parliamentary escapology (London Times).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="escarbuncle">
<B>escarbuncle, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> (Heraldry.) a charge representing a carbuncle with its rays. </DL>
<A NAME="escargot">
<B>escargot, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> (French.) a snail, especially when edible or served as food. </DL>
<A NAME="escarole">
<B>escarole, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a kind of endive that has broad leaves, used for salads. </DL>
<A NAME="escarp">
<B>escarp, </B>noun, verb.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>noun </I> escarpment. <DD><I>v.t. </I> to make into an escarp; give a steep slope to. </DL>
<A NAME="escarpment">
<B>escarpment, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>a steep slope; cliff. <BR> <I>Ex. a naked escarpment of ice, 1,200 feet high (Elisha K. Kane).</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>ground made into a steep slope as part of a fortification. </DL>
<A NAME="escartele">
<B>escartele, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> (Heraldry.) broken by a square projection or depression. <BR> <I>Ex. an escartele line serving as the division between two parts of the field.</I> </DL>
<A NAME="escent">
<B>-escent,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> (suffix.) coming to be or do something; in the process of ______ing, as in <I>adolescent, convalescent.</I> </DL>
<A NAME="eschalot">
<B>eschalot, </B>noun. <B>=shallot.</B></DL>
<A NAME="eschar">
<B>eschar, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> (Medicine.) a hard crust or scab, as from a burn or caustic. </DL>
<A NAME="escharotic">
<B>escharotic, </B>adjective, noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> (Medicine.) <DD><I>adj. </I> producing a dry crust; caustic. <DD><I>noun </I> a caustic substance or agent. </DL>
<A NAME="eschatocol">
<B>eschatocol, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> the concluding section of a charter or similar document, containing the attestation, date, and other legal fixtures; a concluding clause or formula. </DL>
<A NAME="eschatological">
<B>eschatological, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> of or having to do with eschatology. adv. <B>eschatologically.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="eschatologist">
<B>eschatologist, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> an expert in or student of eschatology. </DL>
<A NAME="eschatology">
<B>eschatology, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>a doctrine of the last or final things, especially death, judgment, heaven, and hell. <BR> <I>Ex. Every eschatology, Brandon concludes, is an effort by man to provide himself with "spiritual security" against the passage of time (Time).</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>the branch of theology dealing with these doctrines. </DL>
<A NAME="escheat">
<B>escheat, </B>noun, verb.<DL COMPACT><DD> (Law.) <DD><I>noun </I> <B>1. </B>a reverting of the ownership of property to the state or to the lord of the manor when there are no legal heirs. <BR> <I>Ex. Abandoned property laws ... are an outgrowth of the ancient law of escheat, which permits states to seize and confiscate unclaimed property (New York Times).</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>property whose ownership has so reverted. <DD><I>v.i. </I> to revert to the state or the lord of the manor. <BR> <I>Ex. The lands must escheat unless the present owner made a will (James Fenimore Cooper).</I> <DD><I>v.t. </I> to transfer (ownership of property) to the state; confiscate. adj. <B>escheatable.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="escheatage">
<B>escheatage, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> the right to appropriate by escheat. </DL>
<A NAME="escheatment">
<B>escheatment, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a loss or forfeiture by escheat. </DL>
<A NAME="escheator">
<B>escheator, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> (formerly, in England) an officer appointed to register escheats. </DL>
<A NAME="escheatorship">
<B>escheatorship, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> (formerly in England) the office of escheator. </DL>
<A NAME="escherichiacoli">
<B>Escherichia coli, =E. coli.</B></DL>
<A NAME="eschew">
<B>eschew, </B>transitive verb.<DL COMPACT><DD> to keep away from; avoid; shun. <BR> <I>Ex. to eschew rich foods. A wise person eschews bad company.</I> noun <B>eschewer.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="eschewal">
<B>eschewal, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> the act of eschewing; avoidance. </DL>
<A NAME="eschscholtzia">
<B>eschscholtzia, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> any one of a group of plants of the poppy family, native in the western United States, such as the California poppy, with finely divided, light bluish-green leaves and showy yellow or orange flowers. </DL>
<A NAME="esclandre">
<B>esclandre, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> (French.) a circumstance that causes scandal; scene. </DL>
<A NAME="escoffier">
<B>Escoffier, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> an expert cook or chef. <BR> <I>Ex. Competition, of course, is traditional in American cookery at the church bazaar or county-fair level ... and there is more than one housewife trying desperately to keep up with the local Escoffier (Harper's).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="escolar">
<B>escolar, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a fish that resembles the mackerel, having an elongate body and swift movements, found in temperate waters; oilfish. It is valued as food and for its oil, which is used as a cathartic. </DL>
<A NAME="escopeta">
<B>escopeta, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a carbine, or short-barreled rifle, formerly common in Mexico and the southwestern United States. </DL>
<A NAME="escopette">
<B>escopette, </B>noun. <B>=escopeta.</B></DL>
<A NAME="escorial">
<B>Escorial, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a huge structure in central Spain near Madrid, containing a palace and tomb for the kings of Spain, a church, a convent, and a monastery. Also, <B>Escurial.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="escort">
<B>escort, </B>noun, verb.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>noun </I> <B>1. </B>a person or a group going with another person or persons, or with valuable goods, to see that they are kept safe or to honor them. <BR> <I>Ex. An escort of ten airplanes greeted the famous aviator. Her escort to the party was a tall young man.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>one or more ships or airplanes serving as a guard. <BR> <I>Ex. During World War II Canada's destroyers served as escorts to many convoys.</I> <DD><B> 3. </B>the act of going with another as an escort. <DD><I>v.t. </I> to go with to keep safe or to honor. <BR> <I>Ex. Warships escorted the troopship. He enjoyed escorting his cousin to the movies.</I> </DL>
<A NAME="escortcarrier">
<B>escort carrier,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> an aircraft carrier of the smallest type. <BR> <I>Ex. For two years the Kalinin Bay escort carrier steamed through the thick of it, in the Marianas, the China Sea, the Battle of Leyte Gulf (Time).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="escortfighter">
<B>escort fighter,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a long-range fighter plane used to escort and protect bombers. </DL>
<B>escritoire, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a writing desk. </DL>
<A NAME="escroll">
<B>escroll</B> or <B>escrol, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> (Heraldry.) a ribbonlike appendage to a coat of arms, on which the motto of a family or house is inscribed. </DL>
<A NAME="escrow">
<B>escrow, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a deed, bond, or other written agreement held by a third person until certain conditions are met by other parties. <BR><I>expr. <B>in escrow,</B> </I>in the care of a third party in accordance with an agreement. <BR> <I>Ex. The SEC will tighten its small-securities regulations by requiring brokers to ... place a certain amount of stock-sale proceeds in escrow to insure that investment money will be used for legitimate business purposes (Time).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="escuage">
<B>escuage, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> in feudal law: <DD><B> 1. </B>military service due a lord from a tenant. <DD><B> 2. </B>a tax levied instead of such military service. </DL>
<A NAME="escudo">
<B>escudo, </B>noun, pl. <B>-dos.</B><DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>the unit of money of Portugal, a coin equal to 100 centavos. <DD><B> 2. </B>the former unit of money of Chile, replaced by the peso in 1975. <DD><B> 3. </B>the former unit of money of Angola, Guinea-Bissau, and Mozambique. <DD><B> 4. </B>a former gold or silver coin of Spain, Portugal, and their colonies. </DL>
<A NAME="esculent">
<B>esculent, </B>adjective, noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>adj. </I> suitable for food; edible. <DD><I>noun </I> anything that is fit for food, especially vegetables. </DL>
<A NAME="esculin">
<B>esculin, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a white, crystalline glucoside obtained from the leaves and bark of the horse chestnut, used in cosmetics to prevent sunburn. </DL>
<A NAME="escurial">
<B>Escurial, </B>noun. <B>=Escorial.</B></DL>
<A NAME="escutcheon">
<B>escutcheon, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>a shield on which a coat of arms is put. <DD><B> 2. </B>a protective metal plate around a keyhole. <DD><B> 3. </B>the panel on a ship's stern bearing her name. <BR><I>expr. <B>blot on the escutcheon.</B> </I>See under <B>blot</B> (1). </DL>
<A NAME="escutcheoned">
<B>escutcheoned, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>having a coat of arms. <DD><B> 2. </B>marked with or as if with an escutcheon. </DL>
<A NAME="escutcheonofpretense">
<B>escutcheon of pretense,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> (Heraldry.) a small escutcheon bearing the arms of an heiress placed in the center of her husband's shield. </DL>
