A D Y 
20 ADV 
ADSTRICTION, among physicians, is', 
-■used to denote the too great rigidity and close- 
ness of the emunetories of the body, particu- 
larly the pores of the skin ; also for the styptic 
quality of medicines. 
AD TERM IN UM qui pr uteri it, in law, a 
writ of entry, that lies for the lessor or his heirs, 
if after the expiration of a term for life or 
a/ears, granted by lease, the tenant or other 
occupier of the lands, Ac. withholds the same 
from such lessor. 
ADVANCE, in the mercantile style, de- 
notes money paid before goods are delivered, 
■work done, or business performed. 
To pay a note of hand, or bill, by advance, 
is to pay the value before it becomes due ; in 
which case it is usual to allow a discount for 
■the time it is pre-advanced. 
Advanced ditch, or moat, fn fortification, 
is that drawn round the glacis or esplanade of 
place. 
Advance o-guard, or Vanguard, in the 
art of war, denotes the first line or division of 
an army, ranged or marching in order of hat- 
tie ; or it is that part which is next the enemy, 
and marches first towards them. 
Advance D-guard is more particularly 
used for a small party of horse stationed before 
the main-guard. 
ADVANCER, among sportsmen, denotes 
•.one of the starts or branches of a buck’s at- 
tire, between the back antler and the palm. 
ADUAR, in the Arabian and Moorish cus- 
toms, a kind of ambulatory village, consisting 
of tents ; which these people remove from 
one place to another, as suits their conveni- 
ence. 
ADVENTITIOUS, among civilians, de- 
notes all such goods as are acquired acciden- 
tally, or by the liberality of a stranger, &e. 
A'd vENTiTious/om'/s', the same with extra- 
neous or foreign ones, found embodied in other 
fossils : such are shells, bones, &c. in stone. 
AD VENTREM impiciendum, in law, a 
writ by which a woman is to be searched whe- 
ther she be with child by a former husband, on 
her withholding lands from the heir. 
ADVENTURE, bill of, among merchants* 
is a writing signed by a merchant, testifying 
that the goods mentioned in it to be shipped on 
board a certain vessel, belong to another per- 
son, who is to run all hazards ; the merchant 
only obliging himself to account to him for tfte 
produce of them, be it what it will. 
ADVENTURER, in a general sense, de- 
notes one who hazards something. By statute 
33 Geo. II. c. 4. adventurers may obtain a 
charter for whatever settlements in America 
they shall take from the enemy. 
Adventurers, or merchant- Adventur- 
ers, a company of merchants formerly erect- 
ed for the discovery of lands, trades, Ac. 
ADVERB, in grammar, a word joined to 
verbs, expressing the manner, time, & c. of an 
•action : thus, in the phrase, it is conducive to 
health to rise early, the word early is an ad- 
verb ; and so of ethers. 
Adverbs are also -added to nouns, and even 
to other adverbs, in order to modify or ascer- 
tain their meaning ; whence some grammarians 
call them modifications : thus, in the phrase, 
he prayed very devoutly, the word devoutly 
qualifies the action- of prayer, and the word 
very does the same in regard to devoutly. 
Adverbs, though very numerous, may be 
reduced to certain classes ; the principal of 
which are those of order, of place, of time, of 
antity, of quality, of manner, of affirmation, 
nbting, comparison, interrogation* diminu- 
tion, Ac. 
Mr. H. Tookehas shown, in his JUitscc Ilrt- 
poeyrx, that most of the English adverbs are 
either corruptions of other words, or abridg- 
ments of sentences: thus the termination ly is 
the corruption of like, as honestly is honest- 
like. Lo is the imperative of look, Ac. 
By others adverbs are derived from three 
sources: (1.) from a species of interjection, de- 
noting an impulse of the mind, as mm:, then, 
not ; (2.) from a composition of two or three 
words into one, as always, altogether, Ac. ; 
and (3.) from adjectives, by adding a syllable 
void ot signification itself, but which seems to 
denote that the word has changed its state into 
that of an adverb, as greatly. The last syllable, 
however, was originally a contraction of some 
word that denoted similitude, or participation ; 
and indeed if we could examine language criti- 
cally, we have no doubt that Mr. Tooke’s 
theory might be demonstrated, and all of them 
proved to be originally words with a full mean- 
mg. 
In the Hebrew most adverbs, particularly 
those of quality, are expressed by nouns, both 
substantives and adjectives, either simply, or 
connected with a preposition. 
ADVERSARIA, among the antients, was a 
book of accounts, not unlike our journals, or 
day-books. The word is more particularly 
used, among men of letters, for a kind of com- 
mon-place-book, wherein they enters whatever 
occurs to them worthy of notice, whether in 
reading or conversation, in the order in which 
it occurs : a method which some persons 
prefer to that of digesting them under regular 
heads. 
ADVERSATIVE, in grammar, is a word 
expressing some difference between what goes 
before and what follows it. Thus in the phrase, 
he loves knozvlege but has no application, the 
word but is an adversative conjunction ; be- 
tween which and a disjunctive one there is this 
difference, that the first sense may hold good 
without the second opposed to it, whicii is 
otherwise in regard to disjunctive conjunc- 
tions. 
Mr. Tooke, in the book above-quoted, ob- 
serves well, tiiat there are two senses to the 
word but ; in the first it is a corruption of hot, 
the imperative of the Saxon verb betan, to boot, 
superadd or supply ; and in the second, it is a 
contraction of bt-utan, to be cut; in illustration 
of this theory is -given the following couplet : 
“ But thy work shall endure in laude and 
glorie. 
But spot or faulte condigne eterne memorie.” 
Tire meaning is “ superadd (to something 
said before) thy work shall endure in laude 
and glorie ; be out or without spot or faulte.” 
ADVERSATOR, in antiquity, a servant 
who attended the rich in returning from sup- 
per, to give them notice of any obstacles in 
tire way, at which they might be apt to 
stumble, 
ADVERTISEMENT is particularly used 
lor a brief account o' an affair inserted in the 
daily or other public papers, for the informa- 
tion of all concerned* or who may find some 
advantage from it. By the statute law the 
penalty of 50/. is inflicted on persons adver- 
tising a reward with u no questions to be ask- 
ed,” for the return of things lost or stolen. 
The same penalty attaches to the printer. 
A D U 
ADVICE, or letter of Advice, a letter 
missive, bv which a merchant, or banker, in- 
forms his correspondent, that he has drawn a 
bill of exchange, that his debtor’s affairs an- in 
a bad state, or that he has sent a quantity of 
merchandize, whereof tire invoice is usually 
annexed. A letter of advice for the payment 
of a bill of exchange should mention the name 
of the person for whose account it is drawn ; 
the day, month, and year; the sum drawn for ; 
the panic of him from whom the value is re- 
ceived ; and the person’s name to whom it is 
pavabie. 
For want of such* advice it is very allowable 
to refuse accepting a bill of exchange. 
Advice boat, a small vessel employed to 
carry expresses or orders with dispatch. 
AD MT'AM av.t culpam, denotes an office 
to be held quamdiu se bene gesstrit, that is, 
till the death or some delinquency of the pos- 
sessor. 
ADULT, among civilians, denotes a youth 
between fourteen and twenty-five yearn of age. 
ADULTERATION, in a general sense, 
denotes the act of debasing, by an improper 
mixture, something that was pure and genuine. 
Thus, 
Adulteration of coin, is the casting or 
making it of a metal inferior in goodness to 
the standard, by using too great a proportion of 
alloy. This is a crime which ail nations liave 
made capital. 
Adulteration, in pharmacy, is the using 
ingredients of less virtue in medicinal compo- 
sitions, to save expence ; a practice with which 
the dealer's in medicine and drugs are but too 
well acquainted. 
Adulteration, among distillers, vintners, 
Ac. is the debasing of brandies or wines, by 
mixing them with some improper liquor. 
By stat. 1. W. and M. c. 34. whoever sells 
adulterated wine, is to forfeit three hundred 
pounds. We have laws also against the adul- 
teration of coffee, tea, tobacco, snuff, beer, 
bread, wax, hair-powder, Ac. 
ADULTERY, tire crime of married per- 
sons, whether husband or wife, who are., guilty 
of a violation of their marriage vow. 
By the law ’of Moses, both man and woman, 
who had been guilty of adultery, were put to 
death. T he antient Romans had no formal 
law against adultery ; Augustus being the first 
who made it punishable by banishment, and 
in some cases by death. By an edict how- 
ever of Antoninus, a husband could not prose- 
cute his wife for adultery, unless he was inno- 
cent himself. And by the regulations of Jus- 
tinian, at the instance of his wife Theodora, 
the punishment of adultery in the woman was 
mitigated; whipping, and shutting up in a 
convent for two years, bring deemed suffi- 
cient, after which time, it the husband did not 
take back his wife, she was shut up for life. 
Among the Greeks, adultery w r as punished 
variously ; sometimes by fine, and at others 
by what they called paraiilmus : nay, the La- 
cedemonians are even said to have permit- 
ted it. Adultery among European nations is 
reckoned a private offence, none but the hus- 
band being suffered to intermeddle in the 
affair; and what is no less remarkable, though 
the husband be guilty of adultery, the wife, 
except in Scotland, is not allowed to prosecute 
him lor the same. 
In England adultery is accounted a spi- 
ritual offence, and therefore the injured party 
can have no other redress but to bring an as- 
