assignation 
2. An appointment of time and place for meet- 
ing: used chiefly of love-meetings, and now 
generally in a bad sense. 3. The legal trans- 
fer of a right or title, or the deed by which this 
is made ; an assignment. 4f. Paper currency ; 
a bill ; an assiguat. 
assignee (as-i-ne'), . [< F. assiyne, pp. of *- 
sii/ner, assign : see assign, r.] A person to whom 
a transfer of some right or interest is made, 
either for his own enjoyment or in trust. An 
assignee may take title by act of the previous owner nr by 
operation of law, as in the case of an administrator. See 
note under amim-. i. Assignee in bankruptcy, or 
assignee in insolvency, a person to whom is transferred 
the title to the estate of a bankrupt or insolvent, for the 
purpose of its preservation and proper distribution among 
creditors. 
assignor (a-si'ner), H. One who assigns, ap- 
points, or allots. See assignor. [Rare.] 
assignment (a-sm'ment), . [< ME. assigne- 
n/nit, < OF. assii/iiement, < ML. assignamentum, 
< L. assignare: see assign, >'., and -ment.] 1. 
The act of apportioning or allotting; allot- 
ment. 2. The act of setting apart, appoint- 
ing, designating, or specifying. 
The only thing that niaketh any place public is the public 
assignment thereof unto snch duties. Uooktr. 
3. That which has been assigned, as a particu- 
lar task or duty. 4. Specifically, in law : (a) 
The transference of a right or an interest. See 
assign, i\, 6 (a), (b) A pointing out or setting 
forth: as, the assignment of error. 5. The 
writing by which an interest is transferred. 
6f. An allotment, allowance, or pension; a 
sum allowed. 7. Formerly, in Australia, the 
allotting of convicts as unpaid servants to colo- 
nists, in order to relieve the authorities of the 
expense of the convict establishments. 
The expense of the Australian convict establishments 
was enormous, and some change in system was inevitable. 
These were the conditions that brought about the plan of 
atttffnmffntt, in other words, of freely lending the convicts 
to any one who would relieve the authorities of the bur- 
densome charge. Encyc. Brit., XIX. 760. 
Assignment of dower. See assign, . Assignment 
of errors. See error. General assignment (more 
fully, amr/nmetit for benefit of creditors), an assignment 
of all the assignor's property not exempt from execution, 
in trust to pay his creditors. New assignment, a 
method of pleading at common law to which the plaintiff 
was obliged to resort in his replication, for the purpose 
of setting the defendant right where the latter, through 
misapprehension of the real cause of complaint as stated 
in the declaration, had been led to apply his plea to a dif- 
ferent matter from that which the plaintiff had in view. 
Stephen. Also called novel assignment. 
assignor (as-i-uor'), re. In law, one who makes 
an assignment, or assigns an interest. 
assilag (as'i-lag), re. [E. dial.] A local Brit- 
ish name of the petrel, Procellaria pelagica. 
Montagu. 
assimilability (a-sim"i-la-biri-ti), n. [< assimi- 
lable : see -biUty.'] The quality of being assimi- 
lable. Coleridge. 
assimilable (a-sim'i-la-bl), a. and n. [< ML. 
assimilabilis, that can be made like, < L. assimi- 
lare: see assimilate.] I. a. Capable of being 
assimilated, in any sense of that word. 
II. n. That which can be assimilated. [Bare.] 
Meeting no asshnilables wherein to re-act their natures. 
Sir T. Browne, Vulg. Err., vii. 19. 
assimilate (a-sim'i-lat), f. ; pret. and pp. assimi- 
lated, ppr. iinsimilating. [< L. assimilatm, pp. 
of assimilare, adsimilare, mixed with assimulare, 
adsimulare, make alike, compare, more fre- 
quently imitate, feign, simulate; < ad, to, + 
similis, like (related to simul, together): see 
simulate, similar. To an erroneous supposition 
that the ancients used assimilare for the sense 
'make like,' and assimulare for the sense 'coun- 
terfeit,' is due the existence of the correspond- 
ing E. forms assimilate and assimulate, with the 
same distinction of sense : see assimulate. Cf . 
assemble 2 , also ult. < L. assimilare.'] I. trans. 
1. To make alike; cause to resemble. 
Fast falls a fleecy shower ; the downy flakes . . . 
Assimilate all objects. Coirper, Task, iv. 328. 
A mouse's squeak assimilates itself in thought with 
sounds of high pitch, and not with sounds like the bellow- 
ing of a bull. II. Spencer, Prin. of Psychol., 114. 
2. In pJiilol., to render accordant, or less dis- 
cordant, in sound ; bring to or toward agree- 
ment in mode of utterance : said of alphabetic 
sounds as affected by other neighboring sounds, 
generally (but not always) in the same word. 
See assimilation, (d). 3. To compare; liken; 
class. 
He assimilated the relation between teacher and pupil 
to that between two lovers or two intimate friends. 
Orate, Hist. Greece, II. 67. 
4. To convert into a substance suitable for ab- 
sorption by an animal or vegetable system; ab- 
348 
sorb and incorporate into the system; incorpo- 
rate with organic tissues : as, to assimilate food. 
Hence, in general, to appropriate and incorporate, us the 
body does food : as, such ideas cannot be imiinilaleil by 
the mind. 
5. To bring into conformity ; adapt. 
By religion the truths thus obtained [from theology] are 
turned over in the mind ami attimUated by the imagina- 
tion and the feelings. J. R. Saeley, Nat. Religion, p. 50. 
6. To conform to; make one's own; adopt. 
The ease with which she assimilates the city life when in 
it, making it a part of her imaginative tapestry, is a sign of 
the power to which she has grown. 
Mary, fuller, Woman in 19th Cent,, p. 274. 
II. intrans. 1. To become similar; become 
like something or somebody else ; harmonize. 
Do but put them in relationship, and no division into 
castes, no differences of wealth, can prevent men from 
assimilating. H. Spencer, Social Statics, p. 254. 
A people whose differences of religion, language, and 
general habits made them not only incapable of aaimilot- 
ing with their Christian neighbors, but almost their natu- 
ral enemies. Prescolt, Ferd. and Isa., i. 15. 
2. To be taken into and incorporated with an- 
other body ; be converted into the substance of 
another body, as food by digestion. 
For whatsoever assimilateth not to flesh turneth either 
to sweat or fat. Bacon, Nat. Hist., 899. 
3. To perform the act of converting anything, 
as food, into the substance of that which con- 
verts it: as, "birds assimilate . . . less than 
beasts," Bacon, Nat. Hist., $ 680. 
No organs which are destitute of chlorophyll can assimi- 
late. Saths, Botany (trans.), p. 62ti. 
assimilateness (a-sim'i-lat-nes), n. [< "assimi- 
late, a. (< L. assiniilatus, pp.), + -ness.] Like- 
ness. Bailey. 
assimilation (a-sim-i-la'shon), . [=F. assimi- 
tation, < L. assimilatio(n-j, assim ulatio(n-), a 
being similar, < assimilare, assimulare: see as- 
similate.] The act or process of assimilating 
or of being assimilated. Specifically (a) The act or 
process of making or becoming like or identical ; the act or 
process of bringing into harmony : followed by fa or with. 
It is as well the instinct as duty of our nature to aspire 
to an assimilation with God. Decay of Christ. I'iety. 
In this long stillness the fusion of conquerors and con- 
quered, the Christianization and civilization of the Nor- 
man, his assimilation in political and social temper to the 
France beside him, went steadily on. 
J. Jt. Green, Conq. of Eng., p. 374. 
(b) In phyxiul., the act or process by which organisms con- 
vert and absorb nutriment, so that it becomes part of the 
fluid or solid substances composing them. 
To these preparatory changes, which fit the crude food 
materials for protoplasmic food, the general name of as- 
si.milation has been given. Bessey, Botany, p. 178. 
Plants and animals increase by assimilation and trans- 
formation, minerals by attraction and aggregation. Pane. 
(c) In pathol., the supposed conversion, according to an 
obsolete theory, of the fluids of the body to the nature of 
any morbific matter, (d) In philol., the act or process by 
which one alphabetic sound is rendered like, or less un- 
like, another neighboring sound ; a lightening of the 
effort of utterance by lessening or removing the discor- 
dance of formation between different sounds in a word, or 
in contiguous words. The kinds and degrees of assimila- 
tion are very various, and include a large part of the his- 
torical changes in the phonetic form of words. Examples 
are assimilate from L. ad-ximilare, correction from L. con- 
rectio, impend from L. in-pendere, L. recius from reg-tus, L. 
rex(reks) from reg-tt, E. legs (pronounced legz), reaped (pro- 
nounced reapt), and so on. Little assimilations, in 
Oxford, a meeting of the masters and two proctors, called 
by the vice-chancellor, in the congregation house, on the 
ringing of the little bell. This meeting is authorized to 
read, approve, and seal any letters concerning the public 
laws of the university, written conformably to the decree 
of Convocation, and also to set seal to decrees of Convoca- 
tion, and to despatch minor matters. 
assimilative (a-sim'i-la-tiv), a. [= F. assimila- 
tif; < assimilate + -ivel] Characterized by as- 
similation ; capable of assimilating or of caus- 
ing assimilation: as, assimilative substances or 
organs. 
The desert birds are still more remarkably protected by 
their assimilative hues. A. R. Wallace, Nat. Selec., p. 50. 
A bookishness as asuimilatioe as that of Hunt or Lamb. 
Stedman, Poets of America, p. 184. 
assimilatory (a-sim'i-la-to-ri), a. [< assimilate 
+ -ory.] Tending to assimilate ; producing 
assimilation; assimilative: as, assimilatory or- 
gans. 
The assimilatory cells, though the most important mem- 
bers of the society of cells, are not the only ones, by any 
means, essential to the welfare of the body corporate. 
S. B. Herrick, Plant Life, p. 24. 
Assiminia (as-i-min'i-ii), n. [NL.] A genus of 
gastropodous mollusks, giving name to the fam- 
ily Assiminiida;, by some referred to the family 
Littorinida;, or periwinkles. Also spelled Assi- 
minea. 
assiminiid (as-i-min'i-id), n. A gastropod of 
the family Assiminiida*. 
Assiminiidse (as"i-mi-ni'i-de), n. pi. [NL., < 
Assiminia + -ida;.] A family of teenioglossate 
assistance 
gastropods, typified by the genus Assimiiiin. 
The eyes are at the tips of special peduncles which are 
connate with the tentacles. The shell is conical, with an 
oral aperture. Progression is effected by a looping move- 
ment, the rostrum and small foot being alternately applied 
to the ground. The species are of small size, and terres- 
trial or imipliibiiiiis. 
assimulatet (a-sim'u-lat), r. t. ; pret. and pp. as- 
Kimitlated, ppr. attxiiitiilatina. [< L. axsimHlatim, 
pp. of assimidarc, adsimulare, also axxiinilurr, 
adximiJarc, make alike, feign, counterfeit, etc. : 
see assimilate. Cf. assemble 2 , also ult. < L. assi- 
mulare.] To feign ; simulate. Coles, 1717. 
assimulationt (a-siin-u-la'shon), re. [< L. assi- 
nilatio(n-), aflxiinulatio(n-), < axximulare, etc.: 
see assimulate.] A counterfeiting ; simulation. 
assinegot, . Sec nxinego. 
assis (as'is; F. pron. a-se'), a. [F., pp. of as- 
seoir, sit: see iixsize.] In her., sitting; same as 
sejant. 
assiset, and r. t. See assize. 
assiser, . Sec itxsize-r. 
assish (as'ish), (i. [< rt** 1 + -islt 1 .] Pertain- 
ing to or resembling an ass ; asinine ; absurd- 
ly stupid or obstinate: as, "the assish kind," 
Cdall, Luke xix. ; "an assish phrase," Mrs. 
Cowden Clarke. 
assisor, . See assizer. 
assist (a-sisf), r. [< F. assister (= Sp. asistir 
= Pg. as8i&tir=It. assistere), help, attend, etc., 
< L. assistere, stand at or by, < ad, at, to, + 
sistere, place, stand, a redupl. form of stare, 
stand : see stand. Cf . consist, desist, insist, per- 
sist, resist.] I. trans. If. To attend; be present 
at or with ; take part with. 
The king and prince at prayers ! let's assist them. 
Sliak., Tempest, i. 1. 
2. To help; aid; succor; give support to in some 
undertaking or effort, or in time of distress. 
Assist her in whatsoever business she hath need of you. 
Rom. xvi. 2. 
Soon after Christianity had achieved its triumph, the 
principle which had assisted it began to corrupt it. 
Macaulay, Milton. 
3. To be associated with as an assistant. = Syn. 
2. To second, back, support, further, sustain, serve; be- 
friend, relieve. 
II. intrans. 1. To lend aid or help. 
In every turn of state, without meddling on either side, 
he [Lord Leicester] has always been favourable and assist- 
ing to oppressed merit, bryden, Ded. of Don Sebastian. 
God . . . constituted several ranks and qualities of 
men, that they might mutually assist to the support of 
each other. R. Nelson, Fasts and Festivals. 
2. To be present, as at a public meeting; take 
part, as in a ceremony or discussion. [A Galli- 
cism.] 
It would require the pen of Tacitus (if Tacitus had as- 
sisted at this assembly) to describe the various emotions 
of the senate. Gibbon. 
In our age all the nation may be said to assijtt at every 
deliberation of the Lords and Commons. 
Maaiulay, Hist. Eng., vi. 
3. In euchre, to order the adoption of the suit 
to which the card turned up as trump belongs, 
when this order is given by the partner of the 
dealer. 
assistance (a-sis'tans), . [Early mod. E. and 
ME. assistence, later, after F., assistance, < ML. 
assistentia, (. L. assistere: see assist and assis- 
tant.] 1. (a) A being present ; presence; at- 
tendance, (b) The persons present ; specta- 
tors ; audience. [In these uses obsolete, or in 
conscious imitation of the French.] 2. Help; 
aid; furtherance; succor; a contribution in 
aid, by bodily strength or other means. 
Where we do reign, we will alone uphold, 
Without the assistance of a mortal hand. 
Shak., K. John, iii. 1. 
3t. An assistant or helper; assistants collec- 
tively. 
Wat Tyler [was] killed by valiant Walworth ... and 
his assistance . . . John Cavendish. Fuller. 
Hence, specifically 4. In Eng. common law and 
Amer. colonial laic, a general name for a some- 
what undefined body of subordinate parish or 
town officers or auxiliaries, apparently includ- 
ing, as .sometimes used, the ex-officers, in their 
customary function of advisers Court of as- 
sistance. See court. Divine assistance, in Cartesian 
philosophy, the act of God in moving the body when 
the soul forms a volition. See occasionalism. Writ Of 
assistance. () A writ commanding the sheriff to put 
into possession the successful party in a decree of chan- 
cery awarding possession of land : so called because it was 
in assistance of the execution of the decree. (6) In Amer. 
hist., a writ issued by a superior colonial court, on alleged 
precedents of the English Court of Exchequer, authorizing 
any officers of the crown, in the process of executing the 
acts of trade, to summon assistance and enter and search 
any premises. The attempt to use such writs in Massa- 
chusetts, defeated in 1761, was one of the abuses which led 
to the revolution. = Syn. 2. Aid. support, backing, relief. 
