Webster's Unabridged Dictionary - Letter A - Page 55

Amphibiological (a.) Pertaining to amphibiology.

Amphibiology (n.) A treatise on amphibious animals; the department of natural history which treats of the Amphibia.

Amphibiotica (n. pl.) A division of insects having aquatic larvae.

Amphibious (a.) Having the ability to live both on land and in water, as frogs, crocodiles, beavers, and some plants.

Amphibious (a.) Pertaining to, adapted for, or connected with, both land and water.

Amphibious (a.) Of a mixed nature; partaking of two natures.

Amphibiously (adv.) Like an amphibious being.

Amphibia (pl. ) of Amphibium

Amphibiums (pl. ) of Amphibium

Amphibium (n.) An amphibian.

Amphiblastic (a.) Segmenting unequally; -- said of telolecithal ova with complete segmentation.

Amphibole (n.) A common mineral embracing many varieties varying in color and in composition. It occurs in monoclinic crystals; also massive, generally with fibrous or columnar structure. The color varies from white to gray, green, brown, and black. It is a silicate of magnesium and calcium, with usually aluminium and iron. Some common varieties are tremolite, actinolite, asbestus, edenite, hornblende (the last name being also used as a general term for the whole species). Amphibole is a constituent of many crystalline rocks, as syenite, diorite, most varieties of trachyte, etc. See Hornblende.

Amphibolic (a.) Of or pertaining to amphiboly; ambiguous; equivocal.

Amphibolic (a.) Of or resembling the mineral amphibole.

Amphibological (a.) Of doubtful meaning; ambiguous.

Amphibologies (pl. ) of Amphibology

Amphibology (n.) A phrase, discourse, or proposition, susceptible of two interpretations; and hence, of uncertain meaning. It differs from equivocation, which arises from the twofold sense of a single term.

Amphibolous (a.) Ambiguous; doubtful.

Amphibolous (a.) Capable of two meanings.

Amphibolies (pl. ) of Amphiboly

Amphiboly (n.) Ambiguous discourse; amphibology.

Amphibrach (n.) A foot of three syllables, the middle one long, the first and last short (~ -- ~); as, h/b/r/. In modern prosody the accented syllable takes the place of the long and the unaccented of the short; as, pro-phet#ic.

Amphicarpic (a.) Alt. of Amphicarpous

Amphicarpous (a.) Producing fruit of two kinds, either as to form or time of ripening.

Amphichroic (a.) Exhibiting or producing two colors, as substances which in the color test may change red litmus to blue and blue litmus to red.

Amphicoelian (a.) Alt. of Amphicoelous

Amphicoelous (a.) Having both ends concave; biconcave; -- said of vertebrae.

Amphicome (n.) A kind of figured stone, rugged and beset with eminences, anciently used in divination.

Amphictyonic (a.) Of or pertaining to the Amphictyons or their League or Council; as, an Amphictyonic town or state; the Amphictyonic body.

Amphictyons (n. pl.) Deputies from the confederated states of ancient Greece to a congress or council. They considered both political and religious matters.

Amphictyonies (pl. ) of Amphictyony

Amphictyony (n.) A league of states of ancient Greece; esp. the celebrated confederation known as the Amphictyonic Council. Its object was to maintain the common interests of Greece.

Amphid (n.) A salt of the class formed by the combination of an acid and a base, or by the union of two oxides, two sulphides, selenides, or tellurides, as distinguished from a haloid compound.

Amphidisc (n.) A peculiar small siliceous spicule having a denticulated wheel at each end; -- found in freshwater sponges.

Amphidromical (a.) Pertaining to an Attic festival at the naming of a child; -- so called because the friends of the parents carried the child around the hearth and then named it.

Amphigamous (a.) Having a structure entirely cellular, and no distinct sexual organs; -- a term applied by De Candolle to the lowest order of plants.

Amphigean (a.) Extending over all the zones, from the tropics to the polar zones inclusive.

Amphigen (n.) An element that in combination produces amphid salt; -- applied by Berzelius to oxygen, sulphur, selenium, and tellurium.

Amphigene (n.) Leucite.

Amphigenesis (n.) Sexual generation; amphigony.

Amphigenous (a.) Increasing in size by growth on all sides, as the lichens.

Amphigonic (a.) Pertaining to amphigony; sexual; as, amphigonic propagation.

Amphigonous (a.) Relating to both parents.

Amphigony (n.) Sexual propagation.

Amphigoric (a.) Nonsensical; absurd; pertaining to an amphigory.

Amphigory (n.) A nonsense verse; a rigmarole, with apparent meaning, which on further attention proves to be meaningless.

Amphilogism (n.) Alt. of Amphilogy

Amphilogy (n.) Ambiguity of speech; equivocation.

Amphimacer (n.) A foot of three syllables, the middle one short and the others long, as in cast/tas.

Amphineura (n. pl.) A division of Mollusca remarkable for the bilateral symmetry of the organs and the arrangement of the nerves.

Amphioxus (n.) A fishlike creature (Amphioxus lanceolatus), two or three inches long, found in temperature seas; -- also called the lancelet. Its body is pointed at both ends. It is the lowest and most generalized of the vertebrates, having neither brain, skull, vertebrae, nor red blood. It forms the type of the group Acrania, Leptocardia, etc.

Amphipneust (n.) One of a tribe of Amphibia, which have both lungs and gills at the same time, as the proteus and siren.

Amphipod (n.) One of the Amphipoda.

Amphipod (a.) Alt. of Amphipodan

Amphipodan (a.) Of or pertaining to the Amphipoda.

Amphipoda (n. pl.) A numerous group of fourteen -- footed Crustacea, inhabiting both fresh and salt water. The body is usually compressed laterally, and the anterior pairs or legs are directed downward and forward, but the posterior legs are usually turned upward and backward. The beach flea is an example. See Tetradecapoda and Arthrostraca.

Amphipodous (a.) Of or pertaining to the Amphipoda.

Amphiprostyle (a.) Doubly prostyle; having columns at each end, but not at the sides.

Amphiprostyle (n.) An amphiprostyle temple or edifice.

Amphirhina (n. pl.) A name applied to the elasmobranch fishes, because the nasal sac is double.

Amphisbaena (n.) A fabled serpent with a head at each end, moving either way.

Amphisbaena (n.) A genus of harmless lizards, serpentlike in form, without legs, and with both ends so much alike that they appear to have a head at each, and ability to move either way. See Illustration in Appendix.

Amphisbaenoid (a.) Like or pertaining to the lizards of the genus Amphisbaena.

Amphiscii (n. pl.) Alt. of Amphiscians

Amphiscians (n. pl.) The inhabitants of the tropic, whose shadows in one part of the year are cast to the north, and in the other to the south, according as the sun is south or north of their zenith.

Amphistomous (a.) Having a sucker at each extremity, as certain entozoa, by means of which they adhere.

Amphistylic (a.) Having the mandibular arch articulated with the hyoid arch and the cranium, as in the cestraciont sharks; -- said of a skull.

Amphitheater (n.) Alt. of Amphitheatre

Amphitheatre (n.) An oval or circular building with rising tiers of seats about an open space called the arena.

Amphitheatre (n.) Anything resembling an amphitheater in form; as, a level surrounded by rising slopes or hills, or a rising gallery in a theater.

Amphitheatral (a.) Amphitheatrical; resembling an amphitheater.

Amphitheatric (a.) Alt. of Amphitheatrical

Amphitheatrical (a.) Of, pertaining to, exhibited in, or resembling, an amphitheater.

Amphitheatrically (adv.) In the form or manner of an amphitheater.

Amphitrocha (n.) A kind of annelid larva having both a dorsal and a ventral circle of special cilia.

Amphitropal (a.) Alt. of Amphitropous

Amphitropous (a.) Having the ovule inverted, but with the attachment near the middle of one side; half anatropous.

Amphiuma (n.) A genus of amphibians, inhabiting the Southern United States, having a serpentlike form, but with four minute limbs and two persistent gill openings; the Congo snake.

Amphopeptone (n.) A product of gastric digestion, a mixture of hemipeptone and antipeptone.

Amophorae (pl. ) of Amphora

Amphora (n.) Among the ancients, a two-handled vessel, tapering at the bottom, used for holding wine, oil, etc.

Amphoral (a.) Pertaining to, or resembling, an amphora.

Amphoric (a.) Produced by, or indicating, a cavity in the lungs, not filled, and giving a sound like that produced by blowing into an empty decanter; as, amphoric respiration or resonance.

Amphoteric (a.) Partly one and partly the other; neither acid nor alkaline; neutral.

Ample (a.) Large; great in size, extent, capacity, or bulk; spacious; roomy; widely extended.

Ample (a.) Fully sufficient; abundant; liberal; copious; as, an ample fortune; ample justice.

Ample (a.) Not contracted of brief; not concise; extended; diffusive; as, an ample narrative.

Amplectant (a.) Clasping a support; as, amplectant tendrils.

Ampleness (n.) The state or quality of being ample; largeness; fullness; completeness.

Amplexation (n.) An embrace.

Amplexicaul (a.) Clasping or embracing a stem, as the base of some leaves.

Ampliate (v. t.) To enlarge.

Ampliate (a.) Having the outer edge prominent; said of the wings of insects.

Ampliation (n.) Enlargement; amplification.

Ampliation (n.) A postponement of the decision of a cause, for further consideration or re-argument.

Ampliative (a.) Enlarging a conception by adding to that which is already known or received.

Amplificate (v. t.) To amplify.

Amplification (n.) The act of amplifying or enlarging in dimensions; enlargement; extension.

Amplification (n.) The enlarging of a simple statement by particularity of description, the use of epithets, etc., for rhetorical effect; diffuse narrative or description, or a dilating upon all the particulars of a subject.

Amplification (n.) The matter by which a statement is amplified; as, the subject was presented without amplifications.

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