ado 
With that pryuce Must we have at do. 
Toirneley Mysteries, p. 237. 
He schalle have ado every day with hem. 
Mandeville, p. 132. 
I wonder what he had atto in appearing to me? 
J. Uixj'j, Tales (1837), II. 194. 
2. In doing; being done. 
Only an eager bustling, that rather keeps ado than does 
anything. Knrlf, Microcosm., x.\vii. r>. 
II. . Doing; action; business; bustle; trou- 
ble; labor; difficulty: as, to persuade one with 
much ado. 
Let's follow, to see the end of this ado. 
Shale., T. of the 8., v. 1. 
We had much ado to keepe ourselves above water, the 
billows breaking desperately on our vessel. 
Evelyn, Diary, Sept. 22, 1641. 
And what is life, that we should moan ? why make we 
such ado ? Tennyson, May Queen, Conclusion. 
-ado. [Sp. Pg. -ado, It. -ato = F. 4, < L. dtus, m. : 
see -ate 1 .] A suffix of Latin origin, the Spanish 
masculine form of -arfe 1 , -ate 1 , as in renegado, 
desperado, etc. In some words -ado is an er- 
roneous form of -ada, as in bastinado. See 
-ada. 
adobe (a-do'ba), n. and a. [Less correctly 
adobi, colloquially shortened to dobie; < Sp. 
adobe, an unburnt brick dried in the sun, < 
adobar, daub, plaster. Cf. daub.'] I. n. I. The 
Mexican-Spanish name of the sun-dried brick 
in common use in countries of small rainfall 
and of inferior civilization. 
This is a desolate town of two thousand inhabitants 
dwelling in low dilapidated huts of the most common 
building material in the Andes adobe, or sun-dried blocks 
of mud mingled with straw. 
J. Orion, Andes and Amazon, p. 46. 
2. Clay or soil from which sun-dried bricks are 
made, or which is suitable for making them. 
3. In the quicksilver-mines of the Pacific coast, 
a brick made of the finer ores mixed with clay, 
for more convenient handling in the furnace. 
II. a. 1. Built or made of adobes or sun- 
dried bricks. 2. Suitable for making sun- 
dried bricks : as, an adobe soil. 
adolescence (ad-o-les'ens), n. [< ME. adoles- 
cence, < OF. adolescence, < L. adolescentia, usu- 
ally adulescentia, < adolescen(t-)s, usually adules- 
een(t-)s, young: see adolescent.] The state of 
growing; specifically, youth, or the period of 
life between puberty and the full development 
of the frame, extending in man from about the 
age of fourteen years to twenty-five, and in wo- 
man from twelve to twenty-one : applied almost 
exclusively to the young of the human race. 
adolescency (ad-o-les'en-si), n. The quality or 
state of being adolescent or in the growing age. 
adolescent (ad-o-les'ent), a. and n. [< late 
ME. adolescente, n., < OF. adolescent, < L. adoles- 
cen(t-)s, usually adulescen(t-)s, growing up, not 
yet grown, young, a youth, prop. ppr. (and as 
such prop, written adolescen(t-)s) of adolescerc, 
grow up (see adult), < ad, to, + olescere, the in- 
ceptive form of *olere, grow, < alerc, nourish: 
see aliment.] I. a. Growing up; advancing 
from childhood to manhood or womanhood ; 
youthful. 
Schools, unless discipline were doubly strong, 
Detain their adolescent charge too long. 
Cotcper, Tirocinium. 
II. n. One who is growing up ; a person of 
either sex during the period of adolescence. 
adolode (ad'o-lod), n. [< Gr. a- priv. + 66\o$, 
fraud (see dote 3 , deceit), + 6<Wf, way.] An ap- 
paratus for detecting fraud in distillation. 
Adonai (ad-o-na'i or a-do'ni), n. [Heb. adondi, 
lit. ' my lords,' < adon, lord. Cf . Adonis.] A 
Hebrew name of God, reverentially used in 
reading as a substitute for the " ineffable name " 
JHVH, that is, Jehovah. See Adonist and Je- 
hovah. 
Adonean (ad-o-ne'an), a. [< L. Adoneus, < Gr. 
'\6uveiof, <. "Aiwvtf, Adonis.] Pertaining to or 
connected with Adonis: as, "fair Adonean 
Venus," Faber. 
Adonia (a-do'ni-a), n.pl. [L., < Gr. 'Atiuvia, prop, 
neut. pi. of adj. 'Adoviof, pertaining to "Aduvtc., 
Adonis.] A festival of two days' duration 
(properly, the rites performed during the fes- 
tival), anciently celebrated by women in honor 
of Adonis, among the Phenicians and Greeks. 
The first day was spent in mourning and lamentation, and 
the second in feasting and merrymaking, commemorating 
the periodical death and return to life of Adonis, personi- 
fying the alternation of the seasons and the productive 
forces in nature. 
Adonian (a-do'ni-an), a. Same as Adonic. 
Quevedo . . . must have done violence to his genius in 
the composition of ten short pieces, which he calls Eu- 
dechas, in Adonian verse. Ticknor, Span. Lit., III. 52. 
80 
Adonic (a-don'ik), a. and n. [< L. as if "Adoni- 
I'ttx, < Atlonis.] I. a. Of or pertaining to Ado- 
nis. See Adonis, etymology Adonlcverse. See II. 
II. n. An Adonic- verse : so called, it is said, 
because used in songs sung at the Adonia, or 
festival of Adonis. It consists of a dactyl and a spon- 
dee or trochee, as r&ra juventils, and on account of its 
animated movement is adapted to gay and lively poetry. 
It is seldom used by itself, but is joined witli other kinds 
of verse. It is said to have been devised by Sappho. 
Adonis (a-do'nis), n. [< L. Adonis, < Gr. "Afwvtr,, 
also "A6<M, in myth., a favorite of Aphrodite 
(Venus) ; according to the oldest tradition, the 
son of Theias, king of Assyria, and his daugh- 
ter Myrrha or Smyrna. He was killed by a 
wild boar, but was permitted by Zeus to pass 
four months every year in the lower world, 
four with Aphrodite, and four where he chose. 
The name, like the myth, is of Phenician ori- 
gin, akin to Heb. adon, lord : see Adonai.'] 1. 
A beau; a dandy; an exquisite: as, he is quite 
an Adonis. 2. In bot., a genus of European 
plants belonging to the natural order Kanuncu- 
laceai. In the corn-adonis, or pheasant's-eye, A. autum- 
nali, the petals are bright scarlet, and are considered as 
emblematical of the blood of Adonis, from which the 
plant is fabled to have sprung. 
3f. [J. c.] A kind of wig formerly worn, 
lie puts on a fine flowing mlnni* or white periwig. 
R. Grave*, Spirit. Quixote, III. \i\. 
Adonist (a-do'nist), n. [< Heb. adondi (see 
Adonai) + -ist.] One who maintained that the 
vowel-points ordinarily written under the con- 
sonants of the Hebrew word JHVH (pronounced 
since the sixteenth century, except among the 
Jews, Jehovah) are not the natural points be- 
longing to that word, but are vowel-points be- 
longing to the words Adonai and Elohim ; these 
words are substituted in reading by the Jews 
for the name JHVH, a name which they are 
forbidden to utter, and the true pronunciation 
of which is lost. Those persons who held the 
opposite view were termed Jehovists. 
adonize (ad'o-niz), v. t. [=F. adoniser; < 
Adonis, q. v., + -i:e.] To make beautiful or at- 
tractive ; adorn one's self with the view of at- 
tracting admiration : said only of men. [Rare.] 
I employed three good hours at least in adjusting and 
adunizing myself. Smollett, tr. of Oil Bias, III. 418. 
adoorst (a-dorz'), prep. phr. as adv. [A reduced 
form of both of doors and at doors, as in the 
phrases out of doors, out o' doors, forth a doors, 
and in a doors, in at doors: see a- 3 , a- 7 , and 
door.] At doors ; at the door. 
If I get in a-doors, not the power o' th' country, 
Nor all my aunt's curses shall disemlioguc me. 
Fletcher and Shirley, Night- Walker, v. 1. 
adopt (a-dopf), r. [< F. adopter, < L. adoptare, 
adopt, choose, <'?, to, + optare, wish: see op- 
tatire.] I. trans. 1. To choose for or take to 
one's self ; make one's own by selection or as- 
sent ; receive or agree to as a personal belong- 
ing or opinion : as, to adopt a name or an idea ; 
an adopted citizen or country ; the meeting 
adopted the resolution. 
Tell me, may not a king adovt an heir? 
Shak., 3 Hen. VI., i. 1. 
I have adopted the Roman sentiment, that it is more 
honourable to save a citizen than to kill an enemy. 
Johnson, Pref. to Shak. 
Men resist the conclusion in the morning, but adopt 
it as the evening wears on, that temper prevails over 
everything of time, place, and condition. 
Emerson, Experience. 
2. Specifically, to admit into a relation of af- 
filiation ; confer the rights or privileges of kin- 
ship upon, as one who is not naturally related 
or connected ; especially, to receive and treat 
as a child or member of one's family, etc.: as, 
the orphans were adopted by friends. See adop- 
tion, 2. 3. To take or receive into any kind of 
new relationship: as, to adopt a person as an 
heir, or as a friend, guide, or example. 
Titus, I am incorporate in Rome, 
A Roman now adopted happily. 
Shale., Tit. And., i. 2. 
Strangers were very rarely adopted into a right of prop- 
erty in clan land in the early time. 
D. H". Ross, German Laud-holding, p. "3. 
II. intrans. In euchre, to play with the suit 
turned up for trumps : a privilege of the dealer. 
adoptability (a-dop-ta-bil'i-ti), n. ; pi. adopta- 
bilities (-tiz). The state of being adoptable; the 
capability of being adopted ; that which can be 
adopted or made use of : as, "the select adopta- 
bilities," Carlyle, Past and Present, II. xvii. 
adoptable (a-dop'.ta-bl), a. [< adopt + -able.] 
Capable of being adopted ; fit or worthy to be 
adopted. 
The Liturgy or adoptable and generally adopted set of 
prayers. Carlyte, Past and Present, II. xvii. 
adorable 
adoptant (a-dop'tant), a. and H. [< F. adoptant, 
<L. (idof>t(in(t-)s, ppr. of adoptare: see adopt.] 
1. a. Adopting. 
II. . One who adopts a child or thing as his 
own. 
adpptatet (a-dop'tat), v. t. [< L. ndoptfitus, pp. 
of adoptare: see adopt.] To adopt, 
adoptative (a-dop'ta-tiv), a. [< L. adoptatus, 
pp. of adoptare (see adopt), + -ive.] Same as 
adoptire. [Rare.] 
adoptedlyt (a-dop'ted-li), adr. By adoption. 
Litcw. Is she your cousin? 
Isab. Adoptedly, as school-maids change their names. 
Shak., M. forM.,i. 5. 
adopter (a-dop'ter), w. 1. One who or that which 
adopts. 2. In diem., same as adapter. 
adoptian (a-dop'shan), a. [< ML. Adoptiani. 
the adoptian heretics, irreg. < L. adoptare : see 
adopt.] In theol., of or pertaining to the doc- 
trine of adoption Adoptian controversy. See 
adoptioni#tn. 
adoptianism (a-dop'shan-izm), n. [< adoptian 
4- -ism.] Same as adoptionism. 
The recantation was probably insincere, for on return- 
ing to his diocese he (Felix, bishop of Urgel] taught adop- 
tianigtn as before. Encyc. Brit., I. 163. 
adoptianist (a-dop'shan-ist), n. [< adoptian + 
-ist.] Same as adoptionist. 
It was under this pontificate [Leo III.] that Felix of 
Urgel, the adoptianltt, was anathematized by a Roman 
synod. Encyc. Brit., XIV. 449. 
adoption (a-dop'shon), n. [< L. adoptio(n-), a 
shorter form of adoptatio(n-), (.adoptare, adopt: 
see adopt.] 1. The act of adopting or taking 
as one's own; a choosing for use, or. by way of 
preference or approval; assumption; formal 
acceptance : as, the adoption of a distinctive 
dress; he favored the adoption of the bill ; the 
adoption of a new word into a language. 
The adoption of vice has ruined ten times more young 
men than natural inclinations. Lord Chesterfield. 
2. The act of taking into an affiliated relation ; 
admission to some or all of the privileges of 
natural kinship or membership : as, the adoption 
of a child ; adoption into a tribe ; a son by adop- 
tion. Simple adoption of a child extends only to his 
treatment as a member of the household ; legal adoption 
may confer upon him any or all of the rights of actual re- 
lationship. In the absence of any legally assumed obli- 
gation, an adopted child is not in law deemed a relative 
of the adopting parent, and does not inherit as such, and 
the adopting parent acquires no other authority than that 
which affection or the consent of the natural parent may 
give. The civil or statute laws of most countries strictly 
regulate the principles of legal adoption with reference to 
its limitation, the rights of natural heirs, etc. 
3. In theol., that act of divine grace by which, 
through Christ, those who have been justified 
" are taken into the number and enjoy the lib- 
erties and privileges of the children of God." 
West. Conf. of Faith, xii. 
But ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we 
cry, Abba, Father. Rom. viii. 16. 
adoptional (a-dop'shon-al), a. [< adoption + 
-a?.] Relating to adoption. 
adoptionism (a-dop'shon-izm), n. [< adoption 
+ -ism.'] In theol., the doctrine that Christ is 
the Son of God by adoption only, it was held 
that, as the son of David, he had simply a human nature, 
which afterward by an act of adoption became united 
with the divine nature, or the eternal Word. This doc- 
trine, though not unknown in the early church, was first 
distinctly propounded in Spain near the end of the eighth 
century by Felix, bishop of Urgel, and Elipandus, arch- 
bishop of Toledo. It was opposed by Alcuin, and con- 
demned by three councils, at Ratisbon hi 792, at Frank- 
fort in 794, and at Aix-la-Chapelle about 799. Also writ- 
ten adoptianiJtm. 
adoptionist (a-dop'shon-ist), . [< adoption + 
-ist.] One wno holds the doctrine of adoption- 
ism. Also written adoptianist. 
adoptions! (a-dop'shus), a. [< adoption + -ous. 
Cf. ambitious, ambition.] Adoptive ; adopted 
or assumed. 
Pretty, fond, adoptions Christendoms. 
Shale., All's Well, i. 1. 
adoptive (a-dop'tiv), a. [< L. adoptivus, < adop- 
tare .-see adopt.] 1. Fitted for or given to adopt- 
ing: as, a receptive and adoptive language. 2. 
Constituted by adoption ; adopting or adopted : 
as, an adoptive father or son. 3. Assumed: as, 
" adoptive and cheerful boldness," Milton, Ref. 
in Eng., i. Adoptive arms, in her., arms which the 
adopter is obliged to marshal with his own, as the condi- 
tion of some honor or estate left him. 
adoptively (a-dop'tiv-li), adv. In an adoptive 
manner ; by way of adoption. 
adorability (a-dor-a-bil'i-ti), n. [< adorable : 
see -bility.] "The 'quality of being adorable. 
Coleridge. 
adorable (a-dor'a-bl), a. [< F. adorable, < L. 
adorabttis,(adordre,a,AoTe: see adore 1 .] 1. De- 
