A G W 



ACUTE, Jharp, fomething drat terminates in a point, or 

 C(i;;e ; difpofcd eitlier for piercing' or cutting. 



In tliis i'ciift the word ufually ftands oppolcd to ohiufe. 



Acute au^k, in Geometry, is tiuit wliich is lefs than a 

 right angle, or which does not fubtcnd 90 degrees. 



Such is the angle ACB {Phite Ceomelry,fi^. 1.) 



Acvr t.-nngled trhw^le, is that whofc three angles are all 

 acute ; called alio an oxy«onous triatv^le. 



Such is the triangle ACB {Ttil/.Geomelry,JiZ; ••) . 



Acvrt-im^/ed Cone, is that whofe oppofite lides tbrm an 

 acute angle at the vertex ; or whofe axis, in a right cone, 

 makes leli than half a right angle with the fide. See cone. 

 Pappus, in his mathematical collettions, p. 164. Ed. Pi- 

 faur. 1588, fays, that this name was given to fuch a cone 

 by Euclid, and tlie ancients before the time of Apollonius ; 

 and they called an 



AcuTE-.7;.'j,r„/rt;-.5f^7/'oH of a Cone, which was made by a 

 plane, cutting both fides of an acute-angled cone, an E l l i p s r. ; 

 but they did nut confider, before it was pointed out by 

 Apollonius, that fuch a fettion might be obtained in any 

 cone whatever. See Conic Sei/ion. 



Aci'TF, in Miific, is underftood of a found, or tone, 

 which is (harp, flinll, or high, in rcfpeCl of fome other : in 

 which fenfe the word Hands oppolcd to gt\m\: Both thcfe 

 properties of found depend on the quicknefs or flownefs of 

 the vibrations by \vhich they are produced ; and are inde- 

 pendent of loudnefs or force ; for a tone may be acute or 

 high, without being loud, and vice verfa. There are de- 

 grees of acutencfs and gravity beyond our powers of appre- 

 ciation. The warbhng of birds is of that kind. No birds 

 but the nightingale and cuckoo produce mufical tones 

 which we can imitate, or compare with thofe of our mufical 

 inftruments. A bullfinch and canary bird can be taught 

 tunes by our flageolets and bird-pipes ; but their natural 

 warble is incommenfuiatc with our fcale. Tlie grave addi- 

 tional tones in our large piano-fortes become the more difficult 

 to tune as they defcend. The oflave below double C can, with 

 the utmoft difficulty, be made to fatisfy a nice ear by the 

 moil experienced tuner. 



Sounds confidered as acute and grave, that is, in the re- 

 lation of gravity and acutenefs, conititute what we call tune, 

 the foundation of all harmony. 



Acute j1ccent,in Grammar. See Accent. 



Acute Leaf. See Leaf. 



Acute Difeafe. See Disease. 



ACUTELLA, in Botany, a name ufed by fome to ex- 

 prefs the common anonis, or REST-harrow, a fmall prickly 

 plant, with red or white flowers, and famous for its fpread- 

 ing and tough root. Ger. Emac. Ind. 2. 



ACUTIATOR, in writers of the barbarous ages, de- 

 notes a perfon that whets, or grinds cutting inftruments : 

 called alfo in ancient glolTaries, acutor, aMnir.r, famiar'ms, co- 

 hariiis, &c. Du-Cange. 



In the ancient armies there were aculiatorcs, a kind of 

 fmiths, retained for whetting or keeping the arms Iharp. 

 Aquin, 



ACUTITION, or AcuiTiON, in a general fenfe, the 

 fame with acuating or fharpening. 



AcuTiTiON, in Grammar, denotes the pronouncing, or 

 marking a fyllable with an acute accent. 



AcuTiTiON, or acuition, in Medicine and Chemlflry, is 

 lifed for fliarpening or increafing the force of any medicine. 



AC WORTH, in Geography, a townfhip 'of Cheniire 

 county, in New Hamplhire, incorporated in 1 766, and 

 containing 704 inhabitants. It is eight miles eaft-by-north 

 from Charlellown, aad 73 north-weft-by-weil from Portf- 

 mouth, 2 



A D 



ACY, a town of France, in the department of the Aifne, 

 one league louth-eall of Soiffons. 



ACYLIA, in Ancient Geography, a town of Italy, built 

 by the Romans, to reftrain the barbarians who inhabited the 

 Aljjs. It was a Roman colony. 



ACYPHAS, a city of the Doric Tctrapolis, called by 

 Stiabo and others Pindtis. 



ACYROLOGIA, compounded of ay.u;oj, improper, and 

 ?.o-,o,-, difcourfe, denotes an improper acceptation, or expref- 

 fion, by wliich a word or phrale is ufed in ionic unufual or 

 oblique fenfe, hardly reducible to the rules of language. 

 Such, e. g. is the. word Jpero, fometimes ufed in Roman 

 writers for timeo. The acyrologia bears a near affinity to 

 the CATACHREsis, infomuch that many terms and exprcf- 

 fions alleged as inftances of the latter, are by others brought 

 as examples of the former. 



ACYTUS, a fmall ifland near Cvdonia, in the ifle of 

 Crete. 



ACZUD, in Geography, a town of Moldavia, in Euro- 

 pean Turkey. N. lat. 47" 20'. E. long. 29° 10'. 



AD, in Grammar, a Latin propoiition fignifying to, and 

 often ufed fingly, and in compofition to exprels the relation 

 of one thing to another. Among all the eailcrn nations, 

 Ad was a pv-culiar title j and, according to the learned Mr. 

 Bryant's opinion, was originally conferred upon the fun. 

 Analyf. of Anc. Mythol. vol. i. p. 24. 



An bejiins, in Antiquity, is underftood of a kind of 

 punilhment ot criminals, condemned to be thrown to wild 

 beafts. The term was alfo applied to a fort ot gladiators 

 hired to fight with wild beafts. 



Thefe are otherwife called hejliarii, Calv. I^ex. Jur. p. 36. 



An extra, a term ufed among School Divines, in iptak- 

 ing of the external operations of the Godhead. 



Afts or operations ad extra, are properly thofe whofe 

 teiTn or efl^ect is not within the divine efience ; by which 

 they ftand expofed to operations ad intra. Creation, pre- 

 fervation, regeneration, converiion, renovation, &c. are ac- 

 tions of God ad extra. 



Ad intra, among School Divines, is underftood of thofe 

 afts of the Divine Being, whofe term and effect is within 

 his own eflfence. In which fenfe, adts or operations ad in- 

 tra, ftand oppofed to thofe ad extra. 



Ad hotninem, among Logicians, is underftood of a kind of 

 ARGUMENT drawn from the belief or principles of thofe we 

 argue with, and which of confequence inuft be conclufive 

 to them, though otherwife diftjeheved by us ; or, it is 

 where a difputant quits his own language and fyftem, and 

 borrows that of his opponent to con^^nce him, by turning 

 his own prejudices or errors againft himfelf. This the 

 fchoolmen call argumentum ad hominem. 



Ad libitum, ufed in hlujic, for a piacere, when the prin- 

 cipal performer is at liberty to give way to his conceptions, 

 to change the meafure from quick to (low, or the contraiy, 

 without accompaniment, and to manifeft his abihties in 

 eiTufions of fancy, tafte, and brilliant paffages. But this 

 privilege is often abufcd in the length and dulnefs of thefe 

 extemporaneous flights, as they are called, though generally 

 prepared at home with great pains and application to very 

 little purpofe. None but performers of (Irft-rate abilities 

 ftiould be permitted to obtrude their crude, and often 

 clumfy attempts on the public, interrupting the progrefs 

 of, perhaps, an elegant or ingenious compolition. 



Ad ludos, in Antiquity, a Roman fentence, whereby cri- 

 minals were condemned to entertain the people, either by 

 fighting with beafts, or with each other, and thus executing 

 juftice on themfelves. Kennet. Rom. Ant. 



Ad metalla, the puiiiftunent of being doomed to vvoik 



