Noah Webster’s 1828 Dictionary

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ELONGATE — EMBER

ELONGATE, v.t. [Low L. elongo, from longus. See Long.]

1. To lengthen; to extend.

2. To remove farther off.

ELONGATE, v.i. To depart from; to recede; to move to a greater distance; particularly, to recede apparently from the sun, as a planet in its orbit.

ELONGATED, pp. Lengthened; removed to a distance.

ELONGATING, ppr. Lengthening; extending.

1. Receding to a greater distance, particularly as a planet from the sun in its orbit.

ELONGATION, n. The act of stretching or lengthening; as the elongation of a fiber.

1. The state of being extended.

2. Distance; space which separates one thing from another.

3. Departure; removal; recession.

4. Extension; continuation.

May not the mountains of Westmoreland and Cumberland be considered as elongations of these two chains.

5. In astronomy, the recess of a planet from the sun, as it appears to the eye of a spectator on the earth; apparent departure of a planet from the sun in its orbit; as the elongation of Venus or Mercury.

6. In surgery, an imperfect luxation, occasioned by the stretching or lengthening of the ligaments; or the extension of a part beyond its natural dimension.

ELOPE, v.i. [Eng. to leap.]

1. To run away; to depart from one’s proper place or station privately or without permission; to quit, without permission or right, the station in which one is placed by law or duty. Particularly and appropriately, to run away or depart from a husband, and live with an adulterer, as a married woman; or to quit a father’s house, privately or without permission, and marry or live with a gallant, as an unmarried woman.

2. To run away; to escape privately; to depart, without permission, as a son from a father’s house, or an apprentice from his master’s service.

ELOPEMENT, n. Private or unlicensed departure from the place or station to which one is assigned by duty or law; as the elopement of a wife from her husband, or of a daughter from her father’s house, usually with a lover or gallant. It is sometimes applied to the departure of a son or an apprentice, in like manner.

ELOPING, ppr. Running away; departing privately, or without permission, from a husband, father or master.

ELOPS, n. A fish, inhabiting the seas of America and the West Indies, with a long body, smooth head, one dorsal fin, and a deeply furcated tail, with a horizontal lanceolated spine, above and below, at its base.

1. The sea-serpent.

ELOQUENCE, n. [L. eloquentia, from eloquor, loquor, to speak; Gr. to crack, to sound, to speak. The primary sense is probably to burst with a sound; a fissure, from the same root; whence, to open or split; whence L. lacero, to tear; and hence perhaps Eng. a leak.]

1. Oratory; the act or the art of speaking well, or with fluency and elegance. Eloquence comprehends a good elocution or utterance; correct; appropriate and rich expressions, with fluency, animation and suitable action. Hence eloquence is adapted to please, affect and persuade. Demosthenes in Greece, Cicero in Rome, lord Chatham and Burke in Great Britain, were distinguished for their eloquence in declamation, debate or argument.

2. The power of speaking with fluency and elegance.

3. Elegant language, uttered with fluency and animation.

She uttereth piercing eloquence.

4. It is sometimes applied to written language.

ELOQUENT, a. Having the power of oratory; speaking with fluency, propriety, elegance and animation; as an eloquent orator; an eloquent preacher.

1. Composed with elegance and spirit; elegant and animated; adapted to please, affect and persuade; as an eloquent address; an eloquent petition or remonstrance; an eloquent history.

ELOQUENTLY, adv. With eloquence; in an eloquent manner; in a manner to please, affect and persuade.

ELSE, a. or pron. els. [L. alius, alias. See Alien.]

Other; one or something beside. Who else is coming? What else shall I give? Do you expect any thing else? [This word, if considered to be an adjective or pronoun, never precedes its noun, but always follows it.]

ELSE, adv. els. Otherwise; in the other case; if the fact were different. Thou desirest not sacrifice, else would I give it; that is, if thou didst desire sacrifice, I would give it. Psalm 51:16. Repent, or else I will come to thee quickly; that is, repent, or if thou shouldst not repent, if the case or fact should be different, I will come to thee quickly. Revelation 2:5.

1. Beside; except that mentioned; as, no where else.

ELSEWHERE, adv. In any other place; as, these trees are not to be found elsewhere.

1. In some other place; in other places indefinitely. It is reported in town and elsewhere.

ELUCIDATE, v.t. [Low L. elucido, from eluceo, luceo, to shine, or from lucidus, clear, bright. See Light.]

To make clear or manifest; to explain; to remove obscurity from, and render intelligible; to illustrate. An example will elucidate the subject. An argument may elucidate an obscure question. A fact related by one historian may elucidate an obscure passage in another’s writings.

ELUCIDATED, pp. Explained; made plain, clear or intelligible.

ELUCIDATING, ppr. Explaining; making clear or intelligible.

ELUCIDATION, n. The act of explaining or throwing light on any obscure subject; explanation; exposition; illustration; as, one example may serve for an elucidation of the subject.

ELUCIDATOR, n. One who explains; an expositor.

ELUDE, v.t. [L. eludo; e and ludo, to play. The Latin verb forms lusi, lusum; and this may be the Heb. to deride.]

1. To escape; to evade; to avoid by artifice, stratagem, wiles, deceit, or dexterity; as, to elude an enemy; to elude the sight; to elude an officer; to elude detection; to elude vigilance; to elude the force of an argument; to elude a blow or stroke.

2. To mock by an unexpected escape.

Me gentle Delia beckons from the plain,

Then, hid in shades, eludes her eager swain.

3. To escape being seen; to remain unseen or undiscovered. The cause of magnetism has hitherto eluded the researches of philosophers.

ELUDIBLE, a. That may be eluded or escaped.

ELUSION, n. s as z. [L. elusio. See Elude.] An escape by artifice or deception; evasion.

ELUSIVE, a. Practicing elusion; using arts to escape.

Elusive of the bridal day, she gives

Fond hopes to all, and all with hopes deceives.

ELUSORINESS, n. The state of being elusory.

ELUSORY, a. Tending to elude; tending to deceive; evasive; fraudulent; fallacious; deceitful.

ELUTE, v.t. [L. eluo, elutum; qu. e and lavo. See Elutriate.]

To wash off; to cleanse.

ELUTRIATE, v.t. [L. elutrio.] To purify by washing; to cleanse by separating foul matter, and decanting or straining off the liquor. In chimistry, to pulverize and mix a solid substance with water, and decant the extraneous lighter matter that may rise or be suspended in the water.

ELUTRIATED, pp. Cleansed by washing and decantation.

ELUTRIATING, ppr. Purifying by washing and decanting.

ELUTRIATION, n. The operation of pulverizing a solid substance, mixing it with water, and pouring off the liquid, while the foul or extraneous substances are floating, or after the coarser particles have subsided, and while the finer parts are suspended in the liquor.

ELUXATE, v.t. [L. eluxatus.] To dislocate. [See Luxate.]

ELUXATION, n. The dislocation of a bone. [See Luxation.]

ELVELOCKS. [See Elf-lock.]

ELVERS, n. Young eels; young congers or sea-eels.

ELVES, plu. of elf.

ELVISH, a. More properly elfish, which see.

ELYSIAN, a. elyzh’un. [L. elysius.] Pertaining to elysium or the seat of delight; yielding the highest pleasures; deliciously soothing; exceedingly delightful; as elysian fields.

ELYSIUM, n. elyzh’um. [L. elysium.] In ancient mythology, a place assigned to happy souls after death; a place in the lower regions, furnished with rich fields, groves, shades, streams, etc., the seat of future happiness. Hence, any delightful place.

EM, A contraction of them.

They took ‘em.

EMACERATE, v.t. To make lean. [Not in use.]

EMACIATE, v.i. [L. emacio, from maceo, or macer, lean; Gr. small; Eng. meager, meek.] To lose flesh gradually; to become lean by pining with sorrow, or by loss of appetite or other cause; to waste away, as flesh; to decay in flesh.

EMACIATE, v.t. To cause to lose flesh gradually; to waste the flesh and reduce to leanness.

Sorrow, anxiety, want of appetite, and disease, often emaciate the most robust bodies.

EMACIATE, a. Thin; wasted.

EMACIATED, pp. Reduced to leanness by a gradual loss of flesh; thin; lean.

EMACIATING, ppr. Wasting the flesh gradually; making lean.

EMACIATION, n. The act of making lean or thin in flesh; or a becoming lean by a gradual waste of flesh.

1. The state of being reduced to leanness.

EMACULATE, v.t. [infra.] To take spots from. [Little used.]

EMACULATION, n. [L. emaculo, from e and macula, a spot.]

The act or operation of freeing from spots. [Little used.]

EMANANT, a. [L. emanans. See Emanate.] Issuing or flowing from.

EMANATE, v.i. [L. emanano; e and mano, to flow.]

1. To issue from a source; to flow from; applied to fluids; as, light emanates from the sun; perspirable matter, from animal bodies.

2. To proceed from a source of fountain; as, the powers of government in republics emanate from the people.

EMANATING, ppr. Issuing or flowing from a fountain.

EMANATION, n. The act of flowing or proceeding from a fountain-head or origin.

1. That which issues, flows or proceeds from any source, substance or body; efflux; effluvium. Light is an emanation from the sun; wisdom, from God; the authority of laws, from the supreme power.

EMANATIVE, a. Issuing from another.

EMANCIPATE, v.t. [L. emancipo, from e and mancipium, a slave; manus, hand, and capio, to take, as slaves were anciently prisoners taken in war.]

1. To set free from servitude or slavery, by the voluntary act of the proprietor; to liberate; to restore from bondage to freedom; as, to emancipate a slave.

2. To set free or restore to liberty; in a general sense.

3. To free from bondage or restraint of any kind; to liberate from subjection, controlling power or influence; as, to emancipate one from prejudices or error.

4. In ancient Rome, to set a son free from subjection to his father, and give him the capacity of managing his affairs, as if he was of age.

EMANCIIPATE, a. Set at liberty.

EMANCIPATED, pp. Set free from bondage, slavery, servitude, subjection, or dependence; liberated.

EMANCIPATING, ppr. Setting free from bondage, servitude or dependence; liberating.

EMANCIPATION, n. The act of setting free from slavery, servitude, subjection or dependence; deliverance from bondage or controlling influence; liberation; as the emancipation of slaves by their proprietors; the emancipation of a son among the Romans; the emancipation of a person from prejudices, or from a servile subjection to authority.

EMANCIPATOR, n. One who emancipates or liberates from bondage or restraint.

EMANE, v.i. [L. emano.] To issue or flow from.

But this is not an elegant word. [See Emanate.]

EMARGINATE, EMARGINATED, a. [L. margo, whence emargino.]

1. In botany, notched at the end; applied to the leaf, corol or stigma.

2. In mineralogy, having all the edges of the primitive form truncated, each by one face.

EMARGINATELY, adv. In the form of notches.

EMASCULATE, v.t. [Low L. emasculo, from e and masculus, a male. See Male.]

1. To castrate; to deprive a male of certain parts which characterize the sex; to geld; to deprive of virility.

2. To deprive of masculine strength or vigor; to weaken; to render effeminate; to vitiate by unmanly softness.

Women emasculate a monarch’s reign.

To emasculate the spirits.

EM`ASCULATE, a. Unmanned; deprived of vigor.

EMASCULATED, pp. Castrated; weakened.

EMASCULATING, ppr. Castrating; felding; depriving of vigor.

EMASCULATION, n. The act of depriving a male of the parts which characterize the sex; castration.

1. The act of depriving of vigor or strength; effeminacy; unmanly weakness.

EMBALE, v.t.

1. To make up into a bundle, bale or package; to pack.

2. To bind; to inclose.

EMBALM, v.t. emb’am.

1. To open a dead body, take out the intestines, and fill their place with odoriferous and desiccative spices and drugs, to prevent its putrefaction.

Joseph commanded his servants, the physicians, to embalm his father; and the physicians embalmed Israel. Genesis 50:2.

2. To fill with sweet scent.

3. To preserve, with care and affection, from loss or decay.

The memory of my beloved daughter is embalmed in my heart.

Virtue alone, with lasting grace,

Embalms the beauties of the face.

EMBALMED, pp. Filled with aromatic plants for preservation; preserved from loss or destruction.

EMBALMER, n. One who embalms bodies for preservation.

EMBALMING, ppr. Filling a dead body with spices for preservation; preserving with care from loss, decay or destruction.

EMBAR, v.t. [en and bar.] To shut, close or fasten with a bar; to make fast.

1. To inclose so as to hinder egress or escape.

When fast embarr’d in mighty brazen wall.

2. To stop; to shut from entering; to hinder; to block up.

He embarred all further trade.

EMBARCATION, n. Embarkation, which see.

EMBARGO, n. In commerce, a restraint on ships, or prohibition of sailing, either out of port, or into port, or both; which prohibition is by public authority, for a limited time. Most generally it is a prohibition of ships to leave a port.

EMB`ARGO, v.t. To hinder or prevent ships from sailing out of port, or into port, or both, by some law or edict of sovereign authority, for a limited time. Our ships were for a time embargoed by a law of congress.

1. To stop to hinder from being prosecuted by the departure or entrance of ships. The commerce of the United States has been embargoed.

EMBARGOED, pp. Stopped; hindered from sailing; hindered by public authority, as ships or commerce.

EMBARGOING, ppr. Restraining from sailing by public authority; hindering.

EMBARK, v.t.

1. To put or cause to enter on board a ship or other vessel or boat. The general embarked his troops and their baggage.

2. To engage a person in any affair. This projector embarked his friends in the design or expedition.

EMB`ARK, v.i. To go on board of a ship, boat or vessel; as, the troops embarked for Lisbon.

1. To engage in any business; to undertake in; to take a share in. The young man embarked rashly in speculation, and was ruined.

EMBARKATION, n. The act of putting on board of a ship or other vessel, or the act of going aboard.

1. That which is embarked; as an embarkation of Jesuits.

2. A small vessel, or boat. [Unusual.]

EMBARKED, pp. Put on shipboard; engaged in any affair.

EMBARKING, ppr. Putting on board of a ship or boat; going on shipboard.

EMBARRASS, v.t.

1. To perplex; to render intricate; to entangle. We say, public affairs are embarrassed; the state of our accounts is embarrassed; want of order tends to embarrass business.

2. To perplex, as the mind or intellectual faculties; to confuse. Our ideas are sometimes embarrassed.

3. To perplex, as with debts, or demands, beyond the means of payment; applied to a person or his affairs. In mercantile language, a man or his business is embarrassed, when he cannot meet his pecuniary engagements.

4. To perplex; to confuse; to disconcert; to abash. An abrupt address may embarrass a young lady. A young man may be too much embarrassed to utter a word.

EMBARRASSED, pp. Perplexed; rendered intricate; confused; confounded.

EMBARRASSING, ppr. Perplexing; entangling; confusing; confounding; abashing.

EMBARRASSMENT, n. Perplexity; intricacy; entanglement.

1. Confusion of mind.

2. Perplexity arising from insolvency, or from temporary inability to discharge debts.

3. Confusion; abashment.

EMBASE, v.t. [en and base.] To lower in value; to vitiate; to deprave; to impair.

The virtue--of a tree embased by the ground.

I have no ignoble end--that may embase my poor judgment.

1. To degrade; to vilify.

[This word is seldom used.]

EMBASEMENT, n. Act of depraving; depravation; deterioration.

EMBASSADE, n. An embassy.

EMBASSADOR, n.

1. A minister of the highest rank employed by one prince or state, at the court of another, to manage the public concerns of his own prince or state, and representing the power and dignity of his sovereign. Embassadors are ordinary, when they reside permanently at a foreign court; or extraordinary, when they are sent on a special occasion. They are also called ministers. Envoys are ministers employed on special occasions, and are of less dignity.

2. In ludicrous language, a messenger.

EMBASSADRESS, n. The consort of an embassador.

1. A woman sent on a public message.

EMBASSAGE, an embassy, is not used.

EMBASSY, n.

1. The message or public function of an embassador; the charge or employment of a public minister, whether ambassador or envoy; the word signifies the message or commission itself, and the person or persons sent to convey or to execute it. We say the king sent an embassy, meaning an envoy, minister, or ministers; or the king sent a person on an embassy. The embassy consisted of three envoys. The embassy was instructed to inquire concerning the king’s disposition.

2. A solemn message.

Eighteen centuries ago, the gospel went forth from Jerusalem on an embassy of mingled authority and love.

3. Ironically, an errand.

[The old orthography, ambassade, ambassage, being obsolete, and embassy established, I have rendered the orthography of embassador conformable to it in the initial letter.]

EMBATTLE, v.t. [en and battle.] To arrange in order of battle; to array troops for battle.

On their embattled ranks the waves return.

1. To furnish with battlements.

EMBATTLE, v.i. To be ranged in order of battle.

EMBATTLED, pp. Arrayed in order of battle.

1. Furnished with battlements; and in heraldry, having the outline resembling a battlement, as an ordinary.

2. Having been the place of battle; as an embattled plain or field.

EMBATTLING, ppr. Ranging in battle array.

EMBAY, v.t. [en, in, and bay.] To inclose in a bay or inlet; to land-lock; to inclose between capes or promontories.

1. To bathe; to wash. [Not used.]

EMBAYED, pp. Inclosed in a bay, or between points of land, as a ship.

EMBED, v.t. [en, in, and bed.] To lay as in a bed; to lay in surrounding matter; as, to embed a thing in clay or in sand.

EMBEDDED, pp. Laid as in a bed; deposited or inclosed in surrounding matter; as ore embedded in sand.

EMBEDDING, ppr. Laying, depositing or forming, as in a bed.

EMBELLISH, v.t. [L. bellus, pretty.]

1. To adorn; to beautify; to decorate; to make beautiful or elegant by ornaments; applied to persons or things. We embellish the person with rich apparel, a garden with shrubs and flowers, and style with metaphors.

2. To make graceful or elegant; as, to embellish manners.

EMBELLISHED, pp. Adorned; decorated; beautified.

EMBELLISHING, ppr. Adorning; decorating; adding grace, ornament or elegance to a person or thing.

EMBELLISHMENT, n. The act of adorning.

1. Ornament; decoration; any thing that adds beauty or elegance; that which renders any thing pleasing to the eye, or agreeable to the taste, in dress, furniture, manners, or in the fine arts. Rich dresses are embellishments of the person. Virtue is an embellishment of the mind, and liberal arts, the embellishments of society.

EMBER, in ember-days, ember-weeks, is the Saxon emb-ren, or ymb-ryne, a circle, circuit or revolution, from ymb, around, and ren, or ryne, course, from the root of run. Ember-days are the Wednesday, Friday and Saturday, after Quadragesima Sunday, after Whitsunday, after Holyrood day in September, and after St. Lucia’s day in December. Ember-days are days returning at certain seasons; Ember-weeks, the weeks in which these days fall; and formerly, our ancestors used the words Ember-fast and Ember-tide or season.