Webster's Unabridged Dictionary - Letter A - Page 38

Aim (v. i.) The pointing of a weapon, as a gun, a dart, or an arrow, in the line of direction with the object intended to be struck; the line of fire; the direction of anything, as a spear, a blow, a discourse, a remark, towards a particular point or object, with a view to strike or affect it.

Aim (v. i.) The point intended to be hit, or object intended to be attained or affected.

Aim (v. i.) Intention; purpose; design; scheme.

Aim (v. i.) Conjecture; guess.

Aimer (n.) One who aims, directs, or points.

Aimless (a.) Without aim or purpose; as, an aimless life.

Aino (n.) One of a peculiar race inhabiting Yesso, the Kooril Islands etc., in the northern part of the empire of Japan, by some supposed to have been the progenitors of the Japanese. The Ainos are stout and short, with hairy bodies.

Ain't () A contraction for are not and am not; also used for is not. [Colloq. or illiterate speech]. See An't.

Air (n.) The fluid which we breathe, and which surrounds the earth; the atmosphere. It is invisible, inodorous, insipid, transparent, compressible, elastic, and ponderable.

Air (n.) Symbolically: Something unsubstantial, light, or volatile.

Air (n.) A particular state of the atmosphere, as respects heat, cold, moisture, etc., or as affecting the sensations; as, a smoky air, a damp air, the morning air, etc.

Air (n.) Any aeriform body; a gas; as, oxygen was formerly called vital air.

Air (n.) Air in motion; a light breeze; a gentle wind.

Air (n.) Odoriferous or contaminated air.

Air (n.) That which surrounds and influences.

Air (n.) Utterance abroad; publicity; vent.

Air (n.) Intelligence; information.

Air (n.) A musical idea, or motive, rhythmically developed in consecutive single tones, so as to form a symmetrical and balanced whole, which may be sung by a single voice to the stanzas of a hymn or song, or even to plain prose, or played upon an instrument; a melody; a tune; an aria.

Air (n.) In harmonized chorals, psalmody, part songs, etc., the part which bears the tune or melody -- in modern harmony usually the upper part -- is sometimes called the air.

Air (n.) The peculiar look, appearance, and bearing of a person; mien; demeanor; as, the air of a youth; a heavy air; a lofty air.

Air (n.) Peculiar appearance; apparent character; semblance; manner; style.

Air (n.) An artificial or affected manner; show of pride or vanity; haughtiness; as, it is said of a person, he puts on airs.

Air (n.) The representation or reproduction of the effect of the atmospheric medium through which every object in nature is viewed.

Air (n.) Carriage; attitude; action; movement; as, the head of that portrait has a good air.

Air (n.) The artificial motion or carriage of a horse.

Aired (imp. & p. p.) of Air

Airing (p. pr. & vb. n.) of Air

Air (n.) To expose to the air for the purpose of cooling, refreshing, or purifying; to ventilate; as, to air a room.

Air (n.) To expose for the sake of public notice; to display ostentatiously; as, to air one's opinion.

Air (n.) To expose to heat, for the purpose of expelling dampness, or of warming; as, to air linen; to air liquors.

Air bed () A sack or matters inflated with air, and used as a bed.

Air bladder () An air sac, sometimes double or variously lobed, in the visceral cavity of many fishes. It originates in the same way as the lungs of air-breathing vertebrates, and in the adult may retain a tubular connection with the pharynx or esophagus.

Air bladder () A sac or bladder full of air in an animal or plant; also an air hole in a casting.

Air brake () A railway brake operated by condensed air.

Air-built (a.) Erected in the air; having no solid foundation; chimerical; as, an air-built castle.

Air cell () A cavity in the cellular tissue of plants, containing air only.

Air cell () A receptacle of air in various parts of the system; as, a cell or minute cavity in the walls of the air tubes of the lungs; the air sac of birds; a dilatation of the air vessels in insects.

Air chamber () A chamber or cavity filled with air, in an animal or plant.

Air chamber () A cavity containing air to act as a spring for equalizing the flow of a liquid in a pump or other hydraulic machine.

Air cock () A faucet to allow escape of air.

Air-drawn (a.) Drawn in air; imaginary.

Air drill () A drill driven by the elastic pressure of condensed air; a pneumatic drill.

Air engine () An engine driven by heated or by compressed air.

Airer (n.) One who exposes to the air.

Airer (n.) A frame on which clothes are aired or dried.

Air gas () See under Gas.

Air gun () A kind of gun in which the elastic force of condensed air is used to discharge the ball. The air is powerfully compressed into a reservoir attached to the gun, by a condensing pump, and is controlled by a valve actuated by the trigger.

Air hole () A hole to admit or discharge air; specifically, a spot in the ice not frozen over.

Air hole () A fault in a casting, produced by a bubble of air; a blowhole.

Airily (adv.) In an airy manner; lightly; gaily; jauntily; flippantly.

Airiness (n.) The state or quality of being airy; openness or exposure to the air; as, the airiness of a country seat.

Airiness (n.) Lightness of spirits; gayety; levity; as, the airiness of young persons.

Airing (n.) A walk or a ride in the open air; a short excursion for health's sake.

Airing (n.) An exposure to air, or to a fire, for warming, drying, etc.; as, the airing of linen, or of a room.

Air jacket () A jacket having air-tight cells, or cavities which can be filled with air, to render persons buoyant in swimming.

Airless (a.) Not open to a free current of air; wanting fresh air, or communication with the open air.

Air level () Spirit level. See Level.

Airlike (a.) Resembling air.

Airling (n.) A thoughtless, gay person.

Airometer (n.) A hollow cylinder to contain air. It is closed above and open below, and has its open end plunged into water.

Air pipe () A pipe for the passage of air; esp. a ventilating pipe.

Air plant () A plant deriving its sustenance from the air alone; an aerophyte.

Air poise () An instrument to measure the weight of air.

Air pump () A kind of pump for exhausting air from a vessel or closed space; also, a pump to condense air or force it into a closed space.

Air pump () A pump used to exhaust from a condenser the condensed steam, the water used for condensing, and any commingled air.

Air sac () One of the spaces in different parts of the bodies of birds, which are filled with air and connected with the air passages of the lungs; an air cell.

Air shaft () A passage, usually vertical, for admitting fresh air into a mine or a tunnel.

Air-slacked (a.) Slacked, or pulverized, by exposure to the air; as, air-slacked lime.

Air stove () A stove for heating a current of air which is directed against its surface by means of pipes, and then distributed through a building.

Air-tight (a.) So tight as to be impermeable to air; as, an air-tight cylinder.

Air-tight (n.) A stove the draft of which can be almost entirely shut off.

Air vessel () A vessel, cell, duct, or tube containing or conducting air; as the air vessels of insects, birds, plants, etc.; the air vessel of a pump, engine, etc. For the latter, see Air chamber. The air vessels of insects are called tracheae, of plants spiral vessels.

Airward (adv.) Alt. of Airwards

Airwards (adv.) Toward the air; upward.

Airy (a.) Consisting of air; as, an airy substance; the airy parts of bodies.

Airy (a.) Relating or belonging to air; high in air; aerial; as, an airy flight.

Airy (a.) Open to a free current of air; exposed to the air; breezy; as, an airy situation.

Airy (a.) Resembling air; thin; unsubstantial; not material; airlike.

Airy (a.) Relating to the spirit or soul; delicate; graceful; as, airy music.

Airy (a.) Without reality; having no solid foundation; empty; trifling; visionary.

Airy (a.) Light of heart; vivacious; sprightly; flippant; superficial.

Airy (a.) Having an affected manner; being in the habit of putting on airs; affectedly grand.

Airy (a.) Having the light and aerial tints true to nature.

Aisle (n.) A lateral division of a building, separated from the middle part, called the nave, by a row of columns or piers, which support the roof or an upper wall containing windows, called the clearstory wall.

Aisle (n.) Improperly used also for the have; -- as in the phrases, a church with three aisles, the middle aisle.

Aisle (n.) Also (perhaps from confusion with alley), a passage into which the pews of a church open.

Aisled (a.) Furnished with an aisle or aisles.

Aisless (a.) Without an aisle.

Ait (n.) An islet, or little isle, in a river or lake; an eyot.

Ait (n.) Oat.

Aitch (n.) The letter h or H.

Aitchbone (n.) The bone of the rump; also, the cut of beef surrounding this bone.

Aitiology (n.) See Aetiology.

Ajar (adv.) Slightly turned or opened; as, the door was standing ajar.

Ajar (adv.) In a state of discord; out of harmony; as, he is ajar with the world.

Ajog (adv.) On the jog.

Ajutage (n.) A tube through which water is discharged; an efflux tube; as, the ajutage of a fountain.

Ake (n. & v.) See Ache.

Akene (n.) Same as Achene.

Aketon (n.) See Acton.

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