astyllen 
astyllent (as-til'en), n. [E. dial.; etym. ob- 
scure.] A small temporary (lam or partition, 
made either of branches or twigs interlaced, or 
perhaps sometimes of a simple piece of hoard, 
and used either to check the flow of water 
underground or to separate ore from refuse or 
at tie on t he surface. [Eng.] 
asunder (a-snn'der), /OT/i. /</(/'. a.s mlr. [< M K. 
ii aiindir, ii suiiili ,-, mi an mil r, dr., < AS. mi KHII- 
ilnin, apart : see n :i and nundir.] 1. In or into 
a position apart ; apart or separate, either in 
position or in direction: said of two or more 
things: as, wide as the, poles asunder. 
Tin' vanguard and rear-<;nard were almve half a league 
"-'/;M/rr, uith the cavalgada between tliem. 
Irriiiti, Qnud*, p. 78. 
2. In or into a divided state; into separate 
parts; in pieces: as, to tear, rend, break, burst, 
or cut aguiidfr. 
The Lord hathcut!<;ui<'/- the cords of the wicki d. 
Pe. cxxi.v. 4. 
What a planning thing it is to have a man's mind kirn 
ttnuiuler by two projects of equal strength. 
Sterne, Tristram Shandy, iv. si. 
Ties the strongest, influences the sweetest, seem falling 
oiumler as smoking flax. It. Chuate, Addresses, p. .">. 
3. Separately; apart. [Archaic.] 
It WHS impossible to know them asunder. 
/),/,<, Plague, p. 2(14. 
asura (as'o-rii), [< Skt. asura, spiritual ; as 
a noun, a spirit, later a demon (Hind, asur); 
< l/ as, be, with which are connected E. am, arc : 
see be, ens.] In Hindu my thai., one of a class 
of demons in perpetual hostility to the gods : 
parallel to a Titan or an afrit. 
aswail (as'wal), n. [E. Ind.] The native name 
of the sloth-bear of India, Mcliirsus or Prochilus 
359 
aswought, inli: or a., orig. p. a. [ME., also 
ii.tiriM/li, iifiirnwi', ixtriiirr, imn/yi , < AS. </i'str<M/i-n. 
senseless, swooned (cf. </<x //<//'/;, .swooning). 
pp. of sieugan, overgrow, choke: see sicouyli.] 
In a swoon ; aswoou. 
aswoundt, /"'</>. /tin-, us tuli: or a. [< o 3 + 
.iii'niiiiil for tumuli : see .iiminul, iinil cf. usiriiini. 
<i.iii-niifil.] In a swoon ; aswoon. 
asylet (a-sil'), n. [< MK. nxili: < 1'. <ixil,; < L. 
ii.iyliim : see ii.li/liiiii.] An old form of asylum. 
asylum (a-si'lum), ii. [< L. asylum, a sanctu- 
ary, asylum, < Gr. airtiXov, an asylum, neut. of 
am>J.of, safe from violence, < a- priv. + m'/i/, 
also av'Aov, a right of seizure, perhaps related 
to mci'Xov = L. N/ioliiini. spoil: see spoil.] 1. A 
sanctuary or place of refuge where criminals 
and debtors formerly sought shelter from jus- 
tice, and from which they could not he taken 
without sacrilege. 
So sacred was the church to some that it had the right 
of ail nxi/luui in' sanctuary. Aylijtf, ('art-r^-.n. 
Hence 2. Inviolable shelter: protection from 
pursuit or arrest; security of the person: as, 
the right of asylum, that is, of furnishing such 
protection. Most Grecian temples had anciently this 
right, and the custom, following .Jewish analogic.*, paved 
into the Christian church. From the fourth century 
the churches had widely extended rights of asylum, lint 
modern legislation has nearly i \ei> where ended the cus- 
tom. (See xaiictuary.) In MiniattoMd l<i"\ tJie right 
of asylum was formerly claimed for the houses of amhas- 
sadors. The term now specifically signifies the right of 
one state to receive and shelter persons accused of crimes, 
or especially of political offenses, committed in another. 
See extradition. 
3. Any place of retreat and security. 
Earth has no other anylum for them than its own cold 
l)08om. Southey. 
Specifically 4. An institution for receiving, 
maintaining, and, so far as possible, ameliorat- 
ing the condition of persons suffering from 
bodily defects, mental maladies, or other mis- 
fortunes : as, an asylum for the blind, for the 
deaf and dumb, for the insane, etc.; a mag- 
dalen asylum. 
asymbolia (as-im-bo'li-a), n. [NL., < Gr. a- 
priv. + av/tpotjni, symbol.] Same as asemia. 
asymmetralt (a-sim'e-tral), a. Same as asym- 
asystaton 
applied to those unios or river-mussels which 
have the hinge free and the valves consequently 
movable, as is usual in the genus I'm". Dr. 
Ixilllf fill. 
asymptote (as'im-tot), n. anil ii. [< <Jr. itni - 
n-rurwi-, md dose, not falling together, < ri- priv. 
+ aiv, together, + --UTW, falling, apt to fall, < 
Aswiiil, or Sloth-bear (Prochilus labiatus). 
liiliiiitux. It is an uncouth, unwieldy animal, with very 
long black hair, and inoffensive when not attacked. Owing 
to its exceeding sensitiveness to heat, it confines itself to 
its den during the day. It never eats vertebrate animals 
except when pYessed by hunger, its usual diet consisting 
of roots, bees' nests, grubs, snails, ants, etc. Its tlesh is 
used for food, and its fat is highly valued for the lubrica- 
tion of the delicate steel-work in gun-locks. When cap- 
tured young it is easily tamed, and can be taught to per- 
form many curious tricks. 
aswarm (a-swarm'), prep. phr. as adv. or a. [< 
a 3 + swarm.] In a swarm; swarming. 
Carnival-time, another providence ! 
The town a-gwarm with strangers. 
Browning, Ring and Book, II. 73. 
aswasht, prep. phr. as adv. or a. [Eariy mod. 
E., also aswasshe, a sosshe, ashosshe; < a 3 + 
"swash, of obscure origin.] Slantingly; aslant ; 
oblique ; (of looking) askant and with scorn. 
Cotgrave. 
asway (a-swa'), prep. phr. as adv. or a. [< a 3 
+ sway."] In a swaying state; rocking from 
side to side. 
aswevet, *' t. [ME. asweven, stupefy, < AS. 
dswebban, soothe, still, put to death, < a-, in- 
tensive, + swebban, put to sleep, < swefan, 
sleep: see stceven.] To stupefy, as by terror. 
So astonyed and axii'tved, 
Was every vertu in my heved. 
Chaucer, House of Fame, 1. 649. 
aswim (a-swim'), prep. phr. as adv. or a. [< 
a 3 + swim.] Swimming; overflowing; afloat. 
aswing (a-swing'), prep. ]>hr. as adv. or a. [< 
a 3 + swing.'] In a swinging state ; asway. 
aswoon (a-swon'), prep. phr. as adv. or a. [< 
ME. aswoun, aswown, asiroune, asicoirne, also o 
sicoune, on swoune, in swmtne, taken, as in mod. 
E., as prep, with noun (a 3 + swoon), but origi- 
nating in aswowen for iswowen, the fuller form 
of aswotre, -iswowe, orig. pp. : see aswougli. Cf. 
aslope, alight 1 .] In a swoon. 
And with this word she fell to ground 
Amvoon. Gower, Conf. Amant., iv. 
Because I fell rtjwoon, 
I think you'll do the like. 
H'iin',1 ll<ul and the Beggar, in Child's Ballads, V. 203. 
aswooned (a-swond'), adr. or a. [< ME. a- 
mroiii'il, imrninii'tl, occasional var. of aswotine, 
etc. : see asicoon and unwound.] Aswoon. 
asymmetric (as-i-met'rik), . [< Gr. d- priv. 
(a- 18 ) + symmetric. Cf. a#ymmetrous.] Desti- 
tute of symmetry; not symmetrical Asym- 
metric system, in cn/stal., same as triclinic system: 
so called from the fact that the crystals belonging to it are 
without a plane of symmetry. See crystallography. 
Many substances contain an asymmetric carbon atom, 
but are optically inactive. Encyc. Brit., XIX. 314. 
asymmetrical (as-i-met'ri-kal), a. [< Gr. d- 
priv. (n- 18 ) 4- symmetrical. C?. asymmetric.] 1. 
Not symmetrical ; unsymmetrical. 
In some Cetacea, the bones about the region of the nose 
are unequally developed, and the skull becomes asymmet- 
rical. Huxley, Anat. Vert., p. 30. 
2f. In math., not having commenstirability ; 
incommensurable. 3. Inharmonious; not re- 
concilable. Boyle. [Rare.] 
asymmetrically (as-i-met'ri-kal-i), adv. In an 
asymmetric manner ; without symmetry. 
asymmetroust (a-sim'e-tms), a. [< Gr. aavfi- 
uerpof, incommensurable, disproportionate, < d- 
priv. + av/ifteTpof, commensurate : see symmet- 
ric.] 1. Incommensu- 
rate ; incommensurable. 
2. Asymmetrical. 
Also asymmetral. 
asymmetry (a-sim'e-tri), 
n. ; pi. asymmetries (-triz). 
[< Gr. aovuperpla, incom- 
mensurability, dispropor- 
tion^ davfiucTimf. eeeasym- 
metrous. Cf. symmetry.] 1. 
Want of symmetry or pro- 
portion. 
In the Flat-fishes (Pleuronec- 
<id0, the skull becomes so com- 
pletely distorted that the two 
eyes lie on one side of the body. 
... In certain of these fishes, 
the rest of the skull and facial 
bones, the spine, and even the 
limbs, partake in this asymme- 
try. Huxley, Anat. Vert., p. 30. 
2f. The want of a com- 
mon measure between two 
quantities ; incommensu- 
rability. Barrow. 
asympfaynote ; <a^ 
(rt-18) + symphynote.] Not 
soldered together at the back, that is, at the 
hinge : the opposite of symphynote (which see) : 
Asymmetry of Skul 
Plaice (Platessa vulra- 
ris } , from above. (The dot- 
ted line a * is the true mor- 
phological median line.) 
Or, Or, position of the two 
eyes in their orbits; Eth, 
ethmoid ; Prf, prefronta! ; 
h'r, left, and />!, right 
frontal ; Pa, parietal ; SO, 
supra-occipital ; EfO, ept- 
otic. 
k, at, Asymptotes. 
iriirretVj fall; cf. ovuir'urTeiv, fall together, meei. ] 
I. a. In iiKitli., approaching indefinitely close. 
as a line to a curve, but never meeting. See II. 
II. n. A straight line whose distance from a 
curve is less than any assignable quantity, but 
which does not meet the curve at any finite dis- 
tance from the origin. The asymptote is often de- 
fined as ttie tanucut to the curve at an infinite distance, 
and this definition answers fur Km lidcan space; but, in 
view of iion-Kuelidean hypotheses, it is preferable to de- 
fine it as a common chord of the curve and the absolute 
(which see), and thus as not necessarily a tangent. 
asymptotic (as-im-tot'ik), a. Same as asymp- 
totical. 
asymptotical (as-im-tot'i-kal), a. [< asymp- 
totic + -al.] Belonging to or having the char- 
acter of an asymptote ; approaching indefinite- 
ly near, but never meeting. 
In these perpetual lines and curves ran the asymptotical 
negotiation from beginning to end and so it might have 
run for two centuries without hope of coincidence. 
Motley, Dutch Republic, III. 455. 
Asymptotical lines or curves, lines or curves which 
approach Indefinitely close, but never meet. 
asymptotically (as-im-tot'i-kal-i), adv. In an 
asymptotical manner ; in a manner so as gradu- 
ally to approach indefinitely near, though never 
to meet. 
The theory is not a thing complete from the first, but a 
thing which grows, as it were, asymptotically towards 
certainty. Tytulatl. 
The curve approaches . . . asymptotically. 
G. M. Mitichin, Statics, I. 180. 
asynartete (a-sin'ar-tet), a. [( Gr. davvdprrjro^, 
not united, disconnected, of differing meters, 
< d- priv. + *awdprr/TOf (cf. trwdpmau;, a junc- 
tion), verbal adj. of awaprav, hangup with, con- 
nect, < aim, together, + dprdv, join, fasten, re- 
lated to &p6pav, joint. L. artus, joint, etc. : see 
arthritic, article, arml, etc.] 1. Disconnected; 
not fitted or adjusted. 2. In anc. pros.: (a) 
With interior catalexis at the end of a colon; 
procatalectic or dicatalectic : as, an asytwrtete 
verse, meter, or period. (6) Composed of cola 
of different kinds of feet; episynthetic. [I'sed 
in this latter sense ((i)by most modern writers since Bent- 
ley, the former sense (o), however, being restored by some 
writers in accordance with ancient authority. ] Also a*yn- 
artetic. 
asynchronism (a-sin'kro-nizm), n. [< Gr. d- 
priv. (a- 18 ) + synchronism.] Want of synchro- 
nism or correspondence in time. 
asynchronous (a-sin'kro-nus), a. [< Gr. d- 
priv. (o- 18 ) + synchronous.] Not coinciding 
in time. 
asyndetic (as-in-det'ik), . [< asyndeton + -ic.] 
Pertaining to or characterized by asyndeton. 
asyndeton (a-sin'de-ton), n. [L., < Gr. dai-v- 
dt-rov, asyndeton, neut. of daMeror,, uncon- 
nected, without conjunction, < d- priv. -t- mvtt- 
TOC, bound together, < awdeiv, bind together, < 
ami, together, 4- 6eiv, bind.] In rhet., a figure 
of speech consisting in the omission of connec- 
tives, as in the following passage : 
Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast 
out devils. -Mat. x. 8. 
It is the opposite of polysyndeton, which is a multiplica- 
tion of connectives. 
asyntactic (as-in-tak'tik), a. [< Gr. daivraicTor,, 
not ranged together, ungrammatical (< d- priv. 
+ aivraKTOf, verbal adj. of aivrdoaew, put in 
order together: see syntax), + -ic.] Loosely 
?ut together ; irregular ; ungrammatical. if. 
:. D. 
asystatont (a-sis'ta-ton), n. [< Gr. ao-t'irraror, 
incoherent, incongruous, < a- priv. + ai-ararof, 
verbal adj. of owundvai, hold together, < aim, 
with, + lardvai, cause to stand, mid. ioraaOai, 
stand.] The sophism of the liar (which see, un- 
der liar). Formerly erroneously assistatioti. 
