agnail 
trouble, pain),+ nwgl, a nail, i. e., a peg (of. L. 
ctok'M-s, a nail, peg, also a wart), in comp. wcr- 
ncegl, E. warnel, q. v., a wart, lit. ' man-nail.' 
The second element was afterward referred to 
a finger- or toe-nail, and the term applied to a 
whitlow (end of 16th century), and to a 'hang- 
nail' (Bailey, 1737), hangnail, like the equiv. 
So. anger-nail, being due to a popular ety- 
mology.] If. A corn on the toe or foot. 
Aynayle upon ones too, corret. Palsgrave. 
Corret, an agnaiie, or little corn, upon a toe. Cotyraw. 
/'//""/'. atjitfltt, corns, pushes, felona or swellings in the 
flesh. Florid. 
Passing good for to be applyed to the agnelit or corns of 
the feet. Ilotlami, Pliny, xx. s. (If. E. D.) 
2f. A painful swelling or sore under or about 
the toe- or finger-nails ; a whitlow. 
Good to be layde unto . . . ulcered uayles or agnayles, 
whiche is a payuefilll swelling aboute the ioyntes and 
nayles. Lyte, Dodoens (1578), p. 268. (X. E. D.) 
Agnail, a sore at the root of the nail on the fingers or 
toes. Bailey (1721). 
3. A hangnail; a small piece of partly sepa- 
rated skin at the root of a nail or beside it. 
agname (ag'nam), n. [< ag- + name, after L. 
agnomen.] An appellation over and above the 
ordinary name and surname. N. E. D. 
agnamed (ag'uamd), a. [< agname + -ed%.] 
Styled or called apart from Christian name and 
surname. N. E. D. 
agnate (ag'nat), . and a. [Early mod. E. ag- 
nat, agnet, < F. agnat, < L. agnatus, adgnatus, 
adnatus, prop. pp. of agnanci, adgnasci, be bom 
to, belong by birth, < ad, to, + *gna#ci, nasci, 
be born. Cf. adnate and cognate.] I. . Spe- 
cifically, a kinsman whose connection is trace- 
able exclusively through males; more gener- 
ally, any male relation by the father's side. 
See agnati. 
Who are the Agnate* ? In the first place, they are all the 
Cognates who trace their connexion exclusively through 
males. A table of Cognates is, of course, formed by taking 
each lineal ancestor in turn and including all his descen- 
dants of both sexes in the tabular view ; if then, in tracing 
the various branches of such a genealogical table or tree, 
we stop whenever we come to the name of a female and 
pursue that particular branch or ramification no further, 
all who remain after the descendants of women have been 
excluded are Agnates, and their connexion together is 
Agnatic Relationship. Maine, Ancient Law, p. 148. 
II. a. 1. Belated or akin on the father's side. 
2. Allied in kind; from a common source: 
as, "agnate words," Pownall, Study of Antiqui- 
ties, p. 168. [Bare.] 
Agnatha (ag'na-tha), n. pi. [NL., neut. pi. of 
agnathus, jawless: see agnathous.] A section 
of geophilous gastropods destitute of jaws. 
Agnathi (ag'na^thi), n. pi. [NL., masc. pi. of 
agnathus, jawless : see agnathous.] A group or 
series of neuropterous insects, held by some as 
a suborder of the order Heuroptera : so called 
because the jaws are rudimentary or obsolete. 
The wings are naked and not folded in repose, the posterior 
pair small, sometimes wanting ; the antenme are short, 
setaceous, and 3-jointed ; and the abdomen ends in two or 
three long, delicate setae. The group includes the well- 
known May-flies, and Is practically identical with the 
family Epheme.ridte. 
agnathia (ag-na'thi-a), n. [NL., < agnathus, 
jawless (see agnathous), + -in.] In pathol. 
anat., absence of the lower jaw, due to arrested 
development. 
agnathous (ag'na-thus), a. [< NL. agnathus, 
jawless, < Gr. a- priv. + yvdflof, jaw.] 1. With- 
out jaws ; characterized by the absence of jaws. 
Syd. Soc. Lex. 2. Of or pertaining to the Ag- 
natha or Agnathi. 
agnati (ag-na'ti), n. pi. [L., pi. of agnatus: 
see agnate.'] The members of an ancient Bo- 
man family who traced their origin and name 
to a common ancestor through the male line, 
under whose paternal power they would be if he 
were living; hence, in law, relations exclusively 
in the male line. See agnate. 
agnatic (ag-nat'ik), a. [< F. agnatique, < L. 
agnatus : see agnate.] Characterized by or per- 
taining to descent by the male line of ancestors. 
See agnate. 
Nevertheless, the constitution of the [Hindu] family is 
entirely, to use the Roman phrase, aynatic ; kinship is 
counted through male descents only. 
it aim; Early Law and Custom, p. 71.. 
agnatically (ag-nat'i-kal-i), adv. In an ag- 
natic manner ; by means of agnation. 
agnation (ag-na'shon), n. [< F. agnation, < L. 
agnatio(n-), < agnatus : see agnate.] 1. Rela- 
tion by the father's side only; descent from a 
common male ancestor and in the male line : dis- 
tinct from cognation, which includes descent in 
both the male and the female lines. 
I have already stated my belief that at the back of the 
ancestor-worship practised by Hindus there lay a system 
Agnel of )< hn II., King of France. 
( Size of the original. ) 
To acknowledge ; 
114 
of agnation, or kinship through males only, such as now 
survives in the Punjab. 
Maine, Early Law and Custom, p. 118. 
2. Alliance or relationship generally ; descent 
from a common source. [Bare.] 
Agnation may be found amongst all the languages in 
the Northern Hemisphere. 
Pmmall, Study of Antiquities, p. 168. 
agnelH (ag'nel), n. Obsolete form of agnail. 
agnel 2 (ag'nel; F. pron. a-nyel'), . [< OF. 
iii/iicl (F. agneau), a lamb, an agnel, < L. agni-l- 
lu,<, dim. of agnus, a 
lamb: see agnus.] 
A French gold coin 
bearing a figure of 
the paschal lamb, 
first issued by Louis 
IX., and not struck 
after Charles IX. it 
original weight was from 
i;-' :. to 64.04 grains, but 
after the reign of John 1 1. 
it gradually fell to about 
38.7 grains. 
agni, n. Plural of ag- 
II IIH. 
agnitiont (ag-nish'- 
on), n. [< L. agni- 
tio(n-), < agnittts, pp. 
of agnoscere, also ad- 
gnoscere, adnoscere, 
know as having seen 
before, recognize, 
acknowledge, < ad, 
to, + *gnoscere, nos- 
cere,know: see know. 
Cf. agnomen.] Ac- 
knowledgment. 
agnize (ag-nlz'), v. t. 
[< L. agnoscere, in 
imitation of cognize, 
ult. (through F.) < 
L. cognoscere : see agnition.] 
own; recognize. [Bare.] 
I do agnize 
A natural and prompt alacrity 
I find in hardness. Shalt., Othello, i. 3. 
Doubtless you have already set me down in your mind 
as ... a votary of the desk a notched and cropt scriven- 
er one that sucks his sustenance, as certain sick people 
are said to do, through a quill. Well, I do agnize some- 
thing of the sort. ;../,',. Elia, I. it. 11. 
agnoea (ag-ne'a), n. [NL., < Gr. ayvota, want 
of perception, ignorance, < "aj-voof, not know- 
ing, < a- priv. + *jvoof, voof, contr. voiif, per- 
ception, mind, akin to E. know : see nous and 
know.] In pathol., the state of a patient who 
does not recognize persons or things. 
Agnoetae (ag-no-e'te), n. pi. [ML. ; also im- 
prop. Agno'itee; ^ Gr. 'Ayvor/rai, heretics so named, 
< ajvoelv, be ignorant, < "ayvoo?, not knowing: 
see agntea.] 1. A Christian sect of the fourth 
century, which denied the omniscience of the 
Supreme Being, maintaining that God knows 
the past only by memory, and the future only 
by inference from the present. 2. A sect 
of the sixth century, followers of Themistius, 
deacon of Alexandria, who, on the authority of 
Mark xiii. 32 ( "But of that day and that hour 
knoweth no man, . . . neither the Son, but the 
Father " ), held that Christ, as man, was ignorant 
of many things, and specifically of the time of 
the day of judgment. 
Other- forms are Agnoihe and Agnoites. 
Agnoete, Agnoite (ag'no-et, -it), . One of the 
Agnoetee. 
agnoetism (ag-no-e'tizm), n. [< Agnoetai + 
-ism.] The doctrinal system of the Agnoetse. 
agnoiology (ag-noi-or o-ji), n. [Better 'ag- 
nceology, < Gr. ay-voia, ignorance (see agnoea), 
+ -foyia, < Asyeiv, speak of: see -ology.] In 
metaph., the doctrine or theory of ignorance, 
which seeks to determine what we are neces- 
sarily ignorant of. 
We must examine and fix what ignorance is what we 
are, and can be, ignorant of. And thus we are thrown 
upon an entirely new research, constituting an intermedi- 
ate section of philosophy, which we term the agnviology, 
. . . the theory of true ignorance. 
Ferrier, lust, of Metaphysics, p. 51. 
Agnoite, n. See Agnoete. 
agnomen (ag-no'men), H. ; pi. agnomina (-nom'- 
i-na). [L., also adnomen (min-), < ad, to, + 
"gnomen, nomen, name (=E. name), < "gtwscere, 
noscere, know, = E. knoic.] An additional name 
given by the Bomans to an individual in allu- 
sion to some quality, circumstance, or achieve- 
ment by which he was distinguished, as Afri- 
canus added to the name of P. Cornelius Scipio ; 
hence, in modern use, any additional name or 
epithet conferred on a person. 
agnus 
agnomical (ag-no'mi-kal), a. [< Gr. a- priv. + 
yvufni, thought, purpose : see gnome, gnumic.] 
Of or pertaining to the absence of set purpose 
or intention. A~. E. D. 
agnomina, . Plural of agnomen. 
agnomina! (ag-nom'i-nal), a. [< agnomen (ag- 
Hoinin-) + -al.] Of or pertaining to an agnomen. 
agnominatet (ag-nom'i-nat), r. t. [< L. *ag- 
iniiiiiiiiiti/x, pp. of "agnominare, implied in ag- 
nuiiiinatio: see agnomination.] To name. 
The flowing current's silver streams . . . 
Shall In' iiiiniiiiiimiled by our name. Locrinr, ill. 2. 
agnomination (ag-nom-i-na'shon), n. [< L. 
agnominatio(n-), adnominatio(n-), paronomasia, 
< "agnominare, < (id, to, + "gnominare, nominare, 
name.] 1. An additional name or title ; a name 
added to another, as expressive of some act, 
achievement, etc.; a surname. 2. Besem- 
blance in sound between one word and another, 
especially by alliteration ; also, the practice of 
using in close proximity to one another words 
which resemble each other in sound (see an- 
nom ination): as, "Scott of Scotstarvet's Stag- 
gering State of Scots Statesmen." 
Our bards . . . hold agnomination* and enforcing of con- 
sonant words or syllables one upon the other to be the 
greatest elegance. ... So have I seen divers old rhymes 
in Italian running so : . . . "In selva salvo a me: Piu 
cam more." Howell, Letters, i. 40. 
agnostic (ag-nos'tik), n. and . [< Gr. ayvuorof, 
unknowing, unknown, unknowable, < a- priv., 
not, + -jVuaTOf, later form of yvurdf, known, to 
be known (cf. j-wjori/iof, good at knowing), 
verbal adj. of yt--)vu-oK-etv, know, = L. *</NO-M-- 
cre, no-sc-ere = E. know : see a-18 and gnostic. 
The word agnostic was " suggested by Prof. 
Huxley . . .' in 1869. ... He took it from St. 
Paul's mention of the altar to ' the Unknown 
God' [d)T(ioTv 0e, Acts xvii. 23]. B. H. Hut- 
ton, in letter, . . . 1881." N. E. D.] I. n. One 
of a class of thinkers who disclaim any know- 
ledge of God or of the ultimate nature of things. 
They hold that human knowledge is limited to experience, 
and that since the absolute and unconditioned, if it exists 
at all, cannot fall within experience, we have no right to 
assert anything whatever with regard to it. 
I only said I invented the word agnontic. 
Huxley, London Academy, Nov. 24, 1883. 
While the old Atheist sheltered his vice behind a ram- 
part of unbelief where no appeals could reach him, the 
new Aynontie honestly maintains that his opinions are the 
very best foundations of virtue. 
F. P. Cobbe, Peak in Darien, p. 3. 
II. a. Pertaining to the agnostics or their 
doctrines; expressing ignorance or unknow- 
ableness. 
That Iwld thinker in the third century, Clement of 
Alexandria, declares . . . that the process of theology is, 
with regard to its doctrine of God, negative and agnostic, 
always "setting forth what God is not, rather than what 
he is." Pop. Sd. Mo., XXV. 79. 
agnostically (ag-nos'ti-kal-i), adv. In an ag- 
nostic manner ; from an agnostic point of view ; 
with a tendency or inclination to agnosticism ; 
as an agnostic. 
agnosticism (ag-nos'ti-sizm), . [< agnostic + 
-ism.] 1. The doctrines of the agnostics; the 
doctrine that the ultimate cause and the es- 
sential nature of things are unknowable, or at 
least unknown. 
By Agna*ti\m I understand a theory of things which 
abstains from either affirming or denying the existence of 
God. It thus represents, with regard to Theism, a state 
of suspended judgment ; and all it undertakes to affirm is, 
that, upon existitig evidence, the being of God is unknown. 
Hut the term Aatuatieurm is frequently used ill a widely 
different sense, as implying belief that the being of God 
is not merely now unknown, but must always remain un- 
knowable. G. J. Romanes, Contemporary Rev., L. 59. 
2. Belief in the doctrines of the agnostics. 
Agnostus (ag-nos'tus), n. [NL., < Gr. ayviMrof, 
unknown: see agnostic.] A genus of trilobites 
of the Lower Silurian rocks : so called because 
of the uncertainty attaching to its true affinities. 
They are of small size and somewhat semicircular form, 
and it has been supposed that they may be the larval form 
of some other animal. 
Agnotherium (ag-no-the'ri-um), n. [NL., short 
for *agnostotherium, < Gr. ayvuorof, unknown 
(see agnostic), + fhipiav, a wild beast, < 6yp, a 
wild beast.] A genus of extinct mammals of 
uncertain affinities. It is identified by some 
with the amphicyon (which see). Kaiiji. 
agUUS (ag'nus), n. ; pi. agni (-ni). [L., a lamb, 
perhaps for *amg>ms, lit. 'sheep-born,' < *<irix, 
older form of ovis, a sheep (= Skt. avi = Gr. 
*aoc, *6f<c, oif = E. ewe, q. v. ; cf. also Gr. a/iv6f, 
a lamb, for "anvof, prop, adj., < *aFi- + -voc), + 
-//mis (cf. benign, malign), -genus (see -genous), 
< -^ "gen, beget, bear.] 1. An image or repre- 
sentation of a lamb as emblematical of Christ; 
an Agnus Dei (see below). 
