alight 
We pass'd along the coast by a very rocky anil rugged 
way, which forc'il us to ati'/lif many times before we came 
to Havre tic (Iraiv. Evelyn, Diary, March 23, 1044. 
2. To settle or lodge after descending: as, a bird 
alights on a tree; snow alights on a roof. 
Truly spake Mohammed el Damiri, "Wisdom hath 
tili'flttcd upon three things the brain of the Franks, the 
hands of the Chinese, and the tongues of the Arabs." 
K. F. Hiirluii, El-Mcdinah, p. 333. 
Whether insects alight on the leaves by mere chance, as 
a resting-place, or are attracted by the odour of the secre- 
tion, I know not. iJunrin, Iti.seetiv. Plants, p. 17. 
3. To fall (upon); come (upon) accidentally, 
or without design ; light : as, to alight on a par- 
ticular passage in a book, or on a particular 
fact; to alii/lit on a rare plant. 
alightenH (a-li'tn), v. t. [< alighft + -el. Cf. 
Hi/litt'iiL, <'iil!t/liten.] To make light; illuminate. 
alighten 2 t (a-li'tn), v. t. [< alight* + -enl. Cf. 
%/ite 2 .] To make light or less heavy; re- 
duce the weight or burden of ; lighten. 
alighten 3 t (a-li'tn), v. i. [< alighft + -ei. Cf. 
lii/h te 3 .] To alight; dismount. 
align, alignment, alignement. See aline*, 
(iliiuimeiit. 
aligreek (al-i-grek'), . [Corruption of F. a 
la grecque, or ft. alia greca, in the Greek (fash- 
ion).] Same as a-la-grecque. [Bare.] 
alike (a-lik'), a. [< ME. alike, alyke, and assib- 
ilated "alyche, alechc, with prefix a- repr. both 
a- 6 and a-*, the earlier forms being (1) ilik, 
Hike, ylike, ylyk, ylyke, elik, and assibilated 
ilieh, iliche, ylich, yliche, yleche, earliest ME. 
gelic, < AS. gelie = OS. gilik = OFries. gelik, 
usually lik, = OD. ghelijck, D. gelijk = OHG. 
galih, gilih, gelilt, glih, MHG. gelich, glicli, G. 
gleich = Icel. glikr, mod. likr = Sw. lik = Dan. 
K</ = Goth. galeiks, like, similar, alike, lit. 'hav- 
ing a corresponding body or form,' ( ga- (= AS. 
ge-), together, indicating collation or compari- 
son, + teiA; = AS. lie, E. like 1 , lich (in comp. like- 
wake = Itch-wake, lich-gate, q. v.), body; (2) 
alike, alyke (in adv. also alike, olyke), earlier 
with prefix an-, accented, anlike, anlyke, and 
assibilated anlich, onlich, < AS. anlic, onlic = 
OD. aenlijck = OHG. "analih, anagilih, MHG. 
anelich, G. ahnlich = Icel. dlikr = Goth. *ana- 
leiks (in adv. analeiko), like, similar, lit. 'on-ly,' 
having dependence on, relation to, similarity 
to, < ana (AS. an, on, E. ore) + -leiks, AS. -lie, 
E. -Ji/l, a suffix used here somewhat as in other 
relational adjectives (Goth, swaleiks, AS. swilc, 
Sc. sic, E. such, Goth, hwileiks, hweleiks, AS. 
hwilc, Sc. whilk, E. which, etc.), being the noun, 
Goth, leik, AS. lie, body, used as a relational 
suffix. That is, E. alike represents ME. alike, 
Hike, AS. gelic, with prefix ge- and accented 
base lie, mixed with or having absorbed ME. 
alike, olike, anlike, AS. anlic, with accented base 
an, on, and suffix -lie. The adv. alike follows 
the adj. The adj. like is not orig., but merely a 
mod. abbrev. of alike, the latter form remaining 
chiefly in the predicative use ; there is no AS. 
adj. *lic, as commonly cited. See a- 6 , a- 2 , and 
like 1 , like*, like 3 .'] Having resemblance or 
similitude; similar; having or exhibiting no 
marked or essential difference. Alike is now only 
archaically used attributively, and is regularly predicated 
of a plural subject. It was also formerly used in phrases 
where the modern idiom requires like. 
The darkness and the light are both alike to thee. 
Ps. cxxxix. 1'J. 
In birth, in acts, in arms alike the rest. 
Fair/ax, tr. of Tasso. 
His [Clifford's] associates were men to whom all creeds 
and all constitutions were alike. 
ilacaulay, Sir William Temple. 
alike (a-lik'), adv. [< ME. alike, alyke, and as- 
sibilated aliche, alyche, with prefix a- repr. both 
a- 6 and a- 2 , the earlier forms being (1) Hike, 
ylike, ylyke, elike, eli/ke, assibilated iliclie, ilyche, 
yliche, ylychc, cliche, earliest gelice, < AS. geliee 
= OS. giliko = OFries. like, lik = OD. ghelijck, 
D. gelijk = OHG. gilicho, glicho, MHG. geliche, 
gliche, glieh.Gr. gleich = Icel. glika, mod. lika = 
Sw. lika = Dan. ligc = Goth, galeiko, adv. ; (2) 
alike, alyke, alike, olyke, earlier with prefix an-, 
accented (*anlike not recorded as adv.), < AS. 
anlice = G. ahnlich = Icel. dlika = Goth, ana- 
leiko, adv., the forms being like those of the adj., 
with the adverbial suffix, Goth, -o, AS. -e. The 
adv. like is not orig. , but merely a mod. abbrev. 
of alike, adv. See alike, a.] In the same man- 
ner, form, ordegree ; in common ; equally ; both. 
The highest heaven of wisdom is alike near from every 
point, and thou must find it, if at all, by methods native 
to thyself alone. Emst-mii, Works and Days. 
Inexperienced politicians . . . conceived that the theory 
of the Tory Opposition and the practice of Walpole's 
Government were alike inconsistent with the principles 
of liberty. Macaulay, William Pitt. 
141 
alike-mindedt (a-lik'mm*'ded), a. Having the 
same mind; like-minded. B]>. Hall, Remains, 
p. 82. 
alim (a'lem), n. [Ar. 'alim, 'alim, learned, < 
'alama, know. Cf. alem, almali."] Among Mo- 
hammedans, a learned man ; a religious teacher, 
such as an imam, a mufti, etc. 
The calling of an Alim is no longerworth much in Egypt. 
R. F. Burton, El-Medinah, p. 93. 
Alima (al'i-ma), n. [NL., for Halima, < Gr. 
a/.i/jof, of the sea.] A spurious genus of crus- 
taceans, representing a stage of stomatopodous 
crustaceans, for which the term is still in 
use. 
In the Aliina type of development [of Stomatopoda], it 
seems that the yonng leaves the egg in nearly the Alinw 
form, and in the youngest stage known the six appendages, 
eight to thirteen, are absent, although three of the cor- 
responding segments of the body are developed. 
Stand. Nat. Hist., II. 66. 
aliment (al'i-ment), n. [< late ME. aliment, < 
F. aliment, < L. alimentnm, food, < alere, nour- 
ish, = Goth, alan, be nourished, aljan, nourish, 
fatten, = Icel. ala, beget, bear, nourish, sup- 
port; cf. oKei, and alt, all, and old.] 1. That 
which nourishes or sustains ; food ; nutriment ; 
sustenance ; support, whether literal or figura- 
tive. 
Those elevated meditations which are the proper ali- 
ment of noble souls. Irving, Sketch-Book, p. 30. 
2. In Scots law, the sum paid for support to 
any one entitled to claim it, as the dole given 
to a pauper by his parish. 
The aliment was appointed to continue till the majority 
or marriage of the daughters. Erskine, Institutes. 
aliment (al'i-ment), v. t. [< ML. alimentarc, 
< L. alimcntum: see aliment, .] 1. To furnish 
with means of sustenance ; purvey to ; support : 
generally in a figurative sense : as, to aliment 
a person's vanity. 
And that only to sustain and aliment the small frailty 
of their humanity. Urquhart, tr. of Rabelais, ii. 31. 
2. In Scots law, to maintain or support, as a 
person unable to support himself : used espe- 
cially of the support of children by parents, or 
of parents by children. 
alimental (al-i-men'tal), a. [< aliment + -a/.] 
Of or pertaining to aliment; supplying food; 
having the quality of nourishing; furnishing 
the materials for natural growth: as, chyle is 
alimental; alimental sap. 
alimentally (al-i-men'tal-i), adv. In an ali- 
mental manner; so as to serve for nourishment 
or food. 
alimentariness (al-i-men'ta-ri-nes), n. The 
quality of being alimentary, or of supplying 
nutriment. 
alimentary (al-i- 
men'ta-ri), a. [< 
L. alimentarius, 
< aliment um, ali- 
ment : see ali- 
ment.] 1. Per- 
taining to ali- 
ment or food ; 
having the quali- 
ty of nourishing : 
as, alimentary par- 
ticles. 2. Hav- 
ing an apparatus 
for alimentation, 
and consequent- 
ly able to feed. 
Huxley. [Bare.] 
3. Concerned 
with the function 
of nutrition: as, 
alimentary pro- 
cesses. Alimen- 
tary canal, in anal. 
and zool., the diges- 
tive sac, tract, or tube 
of any animal ; the 
visceral or intestinal 
cavity; the canal of 
the enteron, in any 
condition of the lat- 
ter, from the simplest 
form of archenteron 
to the most complex 
of its ultimate modi- 
fications. In its sim- 
plest form it is merely 
the cavity of a two- 
layered germ, or gas- 
trula, lined with hy- 
poblastic cells a 
mere sac, the mouth 
and anus being one. 
With increasing com- 
plexity of structure, 
and especially by the 
formation of an out- 
alinasal 
let (nuns) distinct from the inlet (mouth), the alimentary 
canal assumes more definitely the character of a special 
gastric or digestive cavity, which may remain in open com- 
munication with a general body-cavity, or become shut off 
therefrom as an intestinal tube. The latter is its char- 
acter in all the higher animals, in which, moreover, the 
canal acquires various specializations, as into gullet, stom- 
ach, intestine, etc., becomes variously complicated or con- 
voluted, has special ramifications and annexes, etc. In 
those animals which develop an umbilical vesicle, or this 
and an amnion and allantois, the cavity of the alimentary 
canal is primitively continuous with that of the vesicle and 
with the allantoic cavity. Alimentary debt, in Scott 
law, a debt incurred for necessaries or maintenance. Ali- 
mentary fund, in Scot* law, a fund set apart by the direc- 
tion of tne giver for an aliment to the receiver. If the 
amount of it is not unreasonable in view of the rank of 
the receiver, it cannot be seized for the satisfaction of the 
claims of creditors. Alimentary mucous membrane, 
that mucous membrane which lines the alimentary canal, 
serving, with its various follicles, annexed glands, and lac- 
teals, the purpose of digesting and absorbing aliment. 
alimentation (al'i-men-ta'shon), n. [< F. ali- 
mentation, < ML. alimentatio(n-), < alimentare, 
pp. alimentatus, provide, aliment: see aliment, 
V.] 1. The act or power of affording nutri- 
ment. 
The accumulation of force may be separated into ali- 
mentation and aeration. H. Spencer, Prin. of Biol., 56. 
2. The state or process of being nourished ; 
mode of, or condition in regard to, nourish- 
ment. 
Derangements of alimentation, Including insufficient 
food, and morbid states of the lymphatic and blood -glands. 
Quain, Med. Diet., p. 38. 
3. The providing or supplying with the neces- 
saries of life. 
The alimentation of poor children . . . was extended or 
increased by fresh endowments. 
Merimle, Roman Empire, VIII. 193. 
20. 
Alimentary Canal in Man. 
I. superior turbinated bone ; 2, middle 
turbinated bone : 3, opening of the nasal 
duct ; 4, inferior turbinated bone ; 5, 5, 
pharynx ; 6, opening; of Eustachian tube ; 
7, uvula ; 8, tongue ; o, tonsil ; 10, epiglot- 
tis; ii, esophagus; 12, cardiac portion 
(left side) of stomach; 13, fundus of 
stomach ; 14, pylorus (right side of stom- 
ach ), resting on right lobe of liver, partly 
shown in outline ; 15. transverse colon ; 
16, duodenum ; 17, ascending colon ; 18, 
ileum ; 19, jejunum : 30, caicum ; 21, sig- 
moid flexure of colon ; 22, beginning of 
rectum ; 23, fundus of urinary Bladder. 
Ceasing by and by to have any knowledge of, or power 
over, the concerns of the society as a whole, the serf-class 
becomes devoted to the processes of alimentation, while 
the noble class, ceasing to take any part in the processes 
of alimentation, becomes devoted to the co-ordinated 
movements of the entire body politic. 
//. Spencer, Univ. Prog., pp. 405-6. 
alimentative (al-i-men'ta-tiv), a. [< ML. ali- 
mentatus, pp. of alimentare (see aliment, v.), + 
-me.~\ Nourishing; relating to or connected with 
the supply of nourishment: as, "the alimenta- 
tive machinery of the physiological units," Hux- 
ley. 
alimentic (al-i-men'tik), a. [< aliment + -ic.~\ 
Same as alimentary. 
There may be emaciation from loss of rest, derangement 
of the alimentic processes, a quicker pulse than normal, 
and a tongue coated in the centre. 
E. C. Mann, Psychol. Med., p. 79. 
alimentiveness (al-i-men'tiv-nes), n. [< *ali- 
mentive + -ness.'] 1 . Propensity to seek or take 
nourishment, to eat and drink: first and still 
chiefly used by phrenologists. 2. The organ 
of the brain that is said to communicate the 
pleasure which arises from eating and drink- 
ing, and which prompts the taking of nourish- 
ment. Its supposed seat is in the region of the 
zygomatic fossa. See phrenology. 
alimont, . [Prop, "halimon, < L. halimon 
(sometimes improp. written alimon, as if < Gr. 
afa/iov, neut. of d/</;of, banishing hunger, < a- 
rjriv. + Ai[i6s, hunger: see def.), < Gr. a^t/jov, also 
a^tftof, a shrubby plant growing on the shore, 
perhaps saltwort, prop. neut. of afapof, of or be- 
longing to the sea, marine, < aic,, the sea.] A 
plant, perhaps AtriplexHalimus(LiimKUs), sup- 
posed to be the halimon of the ancients. It was 
fabled to have the power of dispelling hunger. 
alimonioust (al-i-mo'ni-us), a. [< L. alimonia, 
food, nourishment : see alimony.'] Affording 
food; nourishing; nutritive: as, "alimoniovs 
humours," Harvey, Consumption. 
alimony (al'i-mo-ni), n. [< L. alimonia, fern., 
also alimonium, neut., food, nourishment, suste- 
nance, support, < alere, nourish : see aliment, n.'] 
In law : (a) An allowance which a husband or 
former husband may be forced to pay to his 
wife or former wife, living legally separate from 
him, for her maintenance. It is granted or with- 
held in the discretion of the matrimonial court, with re- 
gard to the merits of the case and the resources of the 
parties respectively. Alimony pendente lite is that given 
to the wife during the pendency of an action for divorce, 
separation, or annulment of marriage ; permanent alimony 
is that given to a wife after judgment of divorce, separa- 
tion, or annulment in her favor. (J) Trt Scots law, 
aliment. Erskine. 
alinasal (al-i-na'zal), a. and . |X L. ala, 
wing, -I- nasus, nose!] I. a. Pertaining or re- 
lating to the parts forming the outer or lateral 
boundaries of the nostrils. See ate nasi, under 
ala. Specifically, of or pertaining to a lateral cartilage 
of the nasal region of the skull of an embryonic bird ; sit- 
uated in the lateral part of the nasal region of such a 
skull. Alinasal process, a process surrounding each 
