AC C 



12 A C C 



AGATHA.' RSI A, from a,a.6m^K, impure. 

 Acatharsy ; an impurity of the blood, &c. 



ACA/TJUM, in archaology, a kind of boat 

 used in military affairs. 



ACA'CLIXE, ACA'ULOBE, or ACA'DLOUS, in 

 botany, plants which have no cauli$ or 

 stem. 



AcA'cLis.from etxetuXos, without stem. 

 Stemless : applied in botany, to those plants 

 whose flowers are without stalks, and 

 rest on the ground, e. g. the Carline thistle 

 fthe term 'A not to be too rigidly under- 

 stood^. 



ACAWMUA, the Ceylonese name of the 

 root of thr- cphyojfyhtm serpfntinwn. It is 

 used in India as a:i antidote against the 

 bite of serpent*. 



ACCAPITA'RK, in old law-books, the act of 

 becoming vassal to a }ord; or of yielding 

 him obedience : hence, 



ACCA'PITUM, money paid by a vassal 

 upon his admission to a f.-u : from accapi- 

 tare, (q. v.'i It is also used for the relief 

 due to the chief loris. 



ACCE'DAS AD COKIAX, inlati, a writ lying 

 where the man has received, or fears, 

 false judgment in an inferior court. It is 

 issued by the chancery, and directed to 

 the sheriff. 



ACCE'LERATE, Lat. accelero (of ad and 

 celero,to hasten), to quicken motion; to 

 add to natural progression. In mechanics, 

 accelerated motion is that in which the 

 Telocity is continually increasing, from 

 the continued action of the force. Uni- 

 formly accelerated motion is that in which 

 the velocity increases equally in equal 

 times; e. g. a new impression being made 

 upon a falling body at every instant, by 

 the continued action of gravity, and the 

 effect of the former still remaining, the 

 velocity continually and uniformly in- 

 creases. Accelerated motion is the opposite 

 of retarded motion. 



ACCELERATION, from accelerate (q. v.), 

 the act of increasing velocity ; the state of 

 being quickened in motion ; the opposite 

 of retardation. The acceleration of the moon 

 is her increase of mean motion from the 

 sun, compared with the diurnal motion 

 of the earth, being about 10" in a hundred 

 years. This arises from the action of the 

 sun upon the moon, combined with the 

 Tariation of the eccentricity of the earth's 

 orbit. The acceleration of a planet is when 

 the real diurnal motion exceeds the mean 

 diurnal motion ; and vice versa, a planet is 

 said to be retarded when the mean diurnal 

 motion exceeds the real diurnal motion. 

 These inequalities of a planet's motions 

 arise from the change in the distance of 

 the planet from the sun. The diurnal 

 acceleration, as applied to the fixed stars, 

 is the time by which they, in one revolu- 

 tion, anticipate the mean diurnal revolu- 

 tion of the sun ; that is. a star rises or sets 



about 3' 56" sooner each day. This appa- 

 rent acceleration is owing to the motion 

 of the earth in its orbit, which is at the 

 rate of 59' 8j^' a day. Therefore, to find 

 the acceleration we have this proportion 

 360 : 59' 8J" : : 24h : 3' 56" nearly. la 

 physiology and pathology, the term is ap - 

 plied to an increased activity of the 

 functions, but particularly of the circula- 

 tion and respiration. 



ACCE'NDENTES, or ACCE'N SORES, from 

 acceiido, to brighten (canus, white). In 

 the Romish church, a lower rank of mi- 

 nisters whose business it is to trim the 

 candles and tapers. Lot. 



AccE'>-DONES,or AccE'woNEs, from accen- 

 do, to kindle. In Roman antiquities, ofhcers 

 in the gladiatorial schools, whose business 

 it was to animate the combatants during 

 the fight. Lot. 



AC'CEXT, Lat. accentus, from ad and cant,, 

 to sing. In a general sense, a tone or 

 manner of speaking peculiar to some 

 country, or province, e. g. the Scotch ac- 

 cent, ic. 2. In eloaition, a particular 



force or stress of the voice in pronouncing 

 certain syllables of words, which distin- 

 guish them from the others. 



Accent is of two kinds, primary and 

 secondary, as in as'pira'tion. In pro- 

 nouncing this word, we observe that 

 the first and third syllables are distin- 

 guished: the third by a full sound, 

 which constitutes the primary accent ; 

 the first by a degree of force in the 

 voice which is less than that of the 

 primary accent, but evidently greater 

 than that which falls on the second or 

 fourth syllables. "When the full accent 

 falls on a vowel, that vowel has its long 

 sound, as in total ; but when it falls on 

 an articulation or consonant, the pre- 

 ceding vowel is short, as in hab'ii. 

 Accent alone regulates English verse. 

 Webster. 



3. A mark or character used in writing, 

 to direct the stress of the voice in pronun- 

 ciation. ~\Ve have three kinds of accents ; 

 the acute ('), the grave C),and the cir- 

 cumflex ( A or ~). The first shows that 

 the voice is to be raised ; the second that 

 it is to be depressed ; and the third, that 

 the vowel is to be uttered with an undu- 

 lating sound, between high and low. 



4. In music, a certain modulation or 

 warbling of the sounds, for the purpose 

 of variety of expression . The principal 

 accent falls on the first, note in the bar, 

 but the third place in common time re- 

 quires also an accent. 



ACCE'NTOR, from accent, (q. v.) In the 

 old music, one of the three singers in 

 parts, or the person who sung the pre- 

 dominant part in a trio. 



ACCEPTANCE, from wept . iq. v.. 1 1. The 



j receiving of a bill of exchange in such a 



way as to bind the acceptor to make pay- 



