amen 
2. To say the last word to ; end ; finish. 
This very evening have I amen'd the volume. 
Southey, Letters (1812), II. 2S1. 
[Rare in both uses.] 
amenability (a-me-na-bil'i-ti), n. [< </- 
ble: see -biliti/.] Amenableuess. 
There was about him a high spirit and anti'iHihil>t>( t-i 
the point of honor which years of a dog's life had not 
broken. R. //. Dana, Jr., Before the Mast, p. 237. 
amenable (a-me'na-bl), a. [Early mod. E. 
also ameancible, amainable, and corruptly ames- 
nable, < P. as if 'amenable, < amener, bring or 
lead, fetch in or to: see amain' 2 and -able.'] 1. 
Liable to make answer or defense ; answerable ; 
accountable ; responsible : said of persons. 
The sovereign of this country is not amenable to any form 
of trial known to the laws. Junius, Pref. to Letters. 
We must hold a man inm-iuible to reason for the choice 
of his daily craft or profession. Emergon, Spiritual Laws. 
2. Under subjection or subordination ; liable 
or exposed, as to authority, control, claim, or 
application : said of persons or things : as, per- 
sons or offenses amenable to the law; amenable 
to criticism. 
The same witness . . . is amenable to the same imputa- 
tion of uncandid . . . quotation. 
E. MeUur, Priesthood, p. 312. (N. E. D.) 
3. Disposed or ready to answer, yield, or sub- 
mit, as to influence or advice ; submissive. 
Sterling . . . always was amenable enough to counsel. 
Carlyle. 
amenableness (a-me'ua-bl-nes), n. The state 
of being amenable ; liability to answer ; dispo- 
sition to respond to ; tractableness. 
amenably (a-me'na-bli), adv. In an amenable 
manner. 
amenaget, V. t. [< OF. amenager, earlier ames- 
nagier, govern, rule, order, < a (L. ad, to) + 
menage, mesnage^ F. menage, household: see 
manage.] To bring into a state of subordina- 
tion; manage. 
With her, whoso will raging Furor tame, 
Must first begin, and well her amenage, 
Spenser, F. Q., II. iv. 11. 
amenancef, [< OF. amenance, conducting, < 
amener, bring or lead to, conduct : see amenable 
and amain 2 .] Mien or carriage ; conduct; be- 
havior. 
With grave speech and comely ame'itance. 
P. Fletcher, Purple Island, xi. 9. 
amend (a-mend'), v. [< ME. amenden, < OF. 
amender, correct, amend, better, recompense, 
make amends for, mod. F. amender = Pr. emen- 
dar = It. animendare, < L. emenddre, free from 
fault, correct, < e for ex, out of, + menda or men- 
dmn, a fault, defect, blemish (in the body), a 
fault, mistake, error (in writing, etc.), = Skt. 
mindd, a personal defect, prob. connected with 
L. minor, less: see minor, minish, etc. Abbr. 
mend; doublet, emend, directly from the L. : see 
mend, emend.] I. trans. 1. To free from faults ; 
make better, or more correct or proper ; change 
for the better ; correct ; improve ; reform. 
Amend your ways and your doings, and I will cause you 
to dwell in this place. Jer. vu. 3. 
Thou hearest thy faults told thee, amend them, amend 
them. Latimer, Sermon of the Plough. 
It does not require much prescience to see that, whether 
England does so or not, the Americans will ere long adopt 
an amended spelling. 
J. A. H. Murray, 9th Ann. Addr. to Philol. Soc. 
2. To make a change or changes in the form 
of, as a bill or motion, or a constitution; 
properly, to improve in expression or detail, 
but by usage to alter either in construction, 
purport, or principle. 3. To repair; mend. 
[Now rare.] 4f. To heal or recover (the sick) ; 
cure (a disease). = Syn. Amend, Improve, Better, 
Emend, Mend, Correct, Rectify, Reform, Ameliorate. 
Amend is generally to bring into a more perfect state by 
the removal of defects : as, to amend a record or one's 
manner of life. Improve and better are the only words 
in the list that do not necessarily imply something previ- 
ously wrong; they may mean the heightening of excel- 
lence : as, to improve land or one's penmanship. Better 
is also used in the sense of surpass. Correct and rectify 
are, by derivation, to make right ; they are the most abso- 
lute, as denoting the bringing of a thing from an imper- 
fect state into conformity with some standard or rule : 
as, to correct proof ; to rectify an error in accounts. To 
metul is to repair or restore that which has become im- 
paired : as, tomende. shoe, a bridge, etc. Applied to things 
other than physical, it may be equivalent to amend : as, 
to mend one's manners. Emend has especially the lim- 
ited meaning of restoring or attempting to restore the 
text of books. Reform is to form over again for the bet- 
ter, either by returning the thing to its previous state or 
by bringing it up to a new one ; or it may be to remove 
by reform : as, to reform the laws ; to reform, abuses. 
Ameliorate is not commonly applied to persons and things, 
but to condition and kindred abstractions ; it expresses 
painstaking effort followed by some measure of success : 
as, to ameliorate the condition of the poor. 
173 
She begged him forthwith to amend his ways, for the 
sake of his name and fame. 
Motley, Dutch Republic, III. 386. 
The weeds of a field, whioh if destroyed and consumed 
upon the place where they grow, enrich and improve it 
more than if none had ever sprung there. Su'ift. 
Striving to better, oft we mar what's well. 
Shak., Lear, i. 4. 
I'lu' villainy you teach me I will execute, and it Khali go 
biird but I will bi'ttt'r the instructions. 
Shak., M. of V., ill. 1. 
The text should be emended so as to read "tetragonus 
sine vituperio," a square without a fault, which I have no 
loiitit may be found in some Latin Aristotle. 
N. and Q., 7th ser., I. 65. 
He that lacks time to mourn lacks time to nu'inl ; 
Eternity mourns that. 
Sir //. Taylor, Philip Van Artevelde, I., I. 4. 
There are certain defects of taste which correct them- 
selves by their own extravagance. 
Lowell, Study Windows, p. 401. 
Reform'd my will, and rectify' A my thought. 
Sir J. Daviex, Introd. to Immortal, of Soul. 
Some men, from a false persuasion that they cannot re- 
form their lives and root out their old vicious habits, 
never so much as attempt, endeavour, or go about it. 
South. 
It is a cheering thought throughout life, that something 
can be done to ameliorate the condition of those who have 
been subject to the hard usages of the world. 
Lincoln, in Raymond, p. 470. 
II. intrans. 1. To grow or become better by 
reformation, or by rectifying something wrong 
in manners or morals. 
Anything that's mended is but patched: virtue that 
transgresses is but patched with sin ; and sin that amends 
is but patched with virtue. Shak., T. N., 1. 5. 
2. To become better (in health) ; recover from 
illness. 
Then enquired he of them the hour when he began to 
amend. And they said unto him, Yesterday at the sev- 
enth hour the fever left him. John iv. 52. 
amend (a-mend'), n. [Sing, of amends, q. v.] 
Compensation: generally used in the plural. 
See amends. 
And so to Finland's sorrow 
The sweet amend is made. 
Whittier, Conquest of Finland. 
amendable (a-men'da-bl), a. [< ME. amend- 
able, < OF. amendable, < L. emenddbilis, < emen- 
dare, correct: see amend, v., and cf. emendablc."] 
Capable of being amended or corrected : as, an 
amendable writ or error. 
amendatory (a-men'da-to-ri), a. [< amend + 
-at-ory, like emendatory, < LL. emendatorins, 
corrective.] Supplying or containing amend- 
ment; corrective. 
I presume this is an omission by mere oversight, and I 
recommend that it be supplied by an amendatory or sup- 
plemental act. Lincoln, in Raymond, p. 184. 
amende (a-mend'; F. pron. a-moiid'), n. [F., 
a fine, a penalty, amends: see amends."] 1. A 
pecuniary punishment or fine. 2. A recanta- 
tion or reparation. Amende honorable, in am. 
French laiv, a public confession and apology made, under 
certain humiliating conditions, by persons convicted of 
offenses against law, morality, or religion. It is thus de- 
nned by Cotgrave : "A most ignominious punishment in- 
flicted upon an extream offender, who must go through 
the streets barefoot and bareheaded (with a burning link 
in his hand) unto the seat of justice, or some such publick 
place, and there confess his offence, and ask forgiveness of 
the party he hath wronged." It was abolished in 1791, re- 
introduced in cases of sacrilege in 1826, and finally abro- 
gated in 1830. The phrase now signifies any open apology 
and reparation to an injured person for improper language 
or treatment. 
She was condemned to make the amende honorable, that 
is, to confess her delinquency, at the end of a public re- 
ligious procession, with a lighted taper in her hand, and 
to be imprisoned during the pleasure of the King of France. 
Mini Strickland, Queens of Eng., Henrietta Maria. 
amender (a-men'der), n. One who amends. 
We find this digester of codes, amender of laws, . . . 
permitting . . . one of the most atrocious acts of oppres- 
sion. Brouyham. 
amendfult (a-mend'ful), a. [< amend + -ful.~] 
Full of amendment or improvement. 
Your most amendful and unmatched fortunes. 
Fletcher (and others), Bloody Brother, iii. 1. 
amendment (a-mend'ment), n. [< ME. amende- 
ment, < OF. anicndcment, <J amender: see amend, v., 
and -ment.~\ 1. The act of freeing from faults ; 
the act of making better, or of changing for the 
better ; correction ; improvement ; reformation : 
as, "amendment of life," Hooker. 
Her works are so perfect that there is no place for 
amendment*. Ray, Creation. 
2. The act of becoming better, or the state of 
having become better; specifically, recovery 
of health. 
Your honour's players, hearing your amendment, 
Are come to play a pleasant comedy. 
Shak., T. of the S., Ind. 2. 
3. In deliberative assemblies, an alteration pro- 
posed to be made in the draft of a bill, or in the 
ament 
terms of a motion under discussion. Any such al- 
teration is termed an amendment, even when its effect is 
entirely to reverse the sense of the original bill or mo- 
tion. 
4. An alteration of a legislative or deliberative 
act or in a constitution ; a change made in a 
law, either by way of correction or addition. 
Amendments to the Constitution of the United States may 
be proposed by a majority of two thirds of both houses of 
Congress, or by a convention summoned by Congress on 
the application of the legislatures of two thirds of the 
States, and enacted by their ratification by the legisla- 
tures of three fourths of the States, or by conventions in 
three fourths of them, as Congress may determine. 
5. In law, the correction of an error in a writ, 
record, or other judicial document. 6f. Com- 
pensation; reparation. Chaucer, Reeve's Tale. 
= Syn. 1. Emendation, betterment. 2. Reform, etc. See 
reformation. 
amendment-monger (a-mend ' ment - mung * - 
ger), n. One who makes a business of suggest- 
ing and urging constitutional amendments: a 
term especially applied in United States history 
to the Anti-Federalists. 
amends (a-mendz'), n. pi. [< ME. amendes, 
amendis, always in plural, < OF. amendes, pi. of 
amende, a penalty, a fine, mulct, mod. F. amende 
(ML. ametida), < amender: see amend, v."] 1. 
Compensation for a loss or injury ; recompense ; 
satisfaction ; equivalent. 
Yet thus far fortune maketh us amends. 
Shak., 3 Hen. VI., iv. 7. 
Finding amend* for want and obscurity in books and 
thoughts. Emerson, Burns. 
2f. Recovery of health; amendment. 
Now, Lord be thanked for my good amend* ! 
Shak., T. of theS., Ind., 2. 
amendsfult (a-mendz 'ful), a. [< amends + -ful. ] 
Making amends ; giving satisfaction. Chap- 
man. 
amene (a-men'), a. [< ME. amene, < OF. "amene 
(in adv. amendment), < L. amcenus, pleasant, 
connected with amare, love : see amiable, amor, 
amour."] Pleasant; agreeable. [Rare.] 
The amene delta of the lovely Niger. 
R. F. Burton, Abbeokuta, I. i. 
amenity (a-men'i-ti), n. ; pi. amenities (-tiz). 
[< F. amenite,<. L. ' am<Knita(t-)s,<. amcenus, pleas- 
ant: see amene."] 1. The quality of being 
pleasant or agreeable in situation, prospect, 
climate, temper, disposition, manners, etc. ; 
pleasantness ; pleasingness ; an affable manner. 
After . . . discovering places which were so full of 
amenity that melancholy iUelf could not but change its 
humor as it gazed, the followers of Calvin planted them- 
selves on the banks of the river May. 
Bancroft, Hist. U. S., I. 65. 
Roman childishness seems to me so intuitively connected 
with Roman amenity, urbanity, and general gracefulness, 
that, for myself, I should be sorry to lay a tax on it, lest 
these other commodities should also cease to come to 
market. //. James, Jr., Trans. Sketches, p. 115. 
2. That which is agreeable or pleasing. 
The suburbs are large, the prospects sweete, with other 
amenities, not omitting the flower gardens. 
Evelyn, Diary, Oct. 17, 1671. 
Amenity damages, in Great Britain, damages given for 
the defacement of grounds, especially around dwelling- 
houses, or for annoyance or loss of amenity, caused by the 
building of a railway, construction of public works, etc. 
amenorrhea, amenorrhosa (a-men-o-re'a), n. 
[NL. amenorrhcea, < Or. a- priv. + jii/v, month 
(pi. jU^vec, menses), + poia, a flow, < peiv, flow.] 
A suppression of menses, especially from other 
causes than age or pregnancy. 
amenorrheal, amenorrhoea'l (a-men-o-re'al), 
a. Pertaining to or produced by amenorrhea : 
as, amenorrheal insanity. 
amenorrheic, amenorrhoeic (a-meu-6-re'ik), 
a. [< amenorrhea.^ Same as amenorrheal. 
a mensa et thoro (a men'sa et tho'ro). [L. : a 
for ab, from ; mensa, abl. of mensa, table ; et, and ; 
thoro. abl. of thorns (prop. 
torus), bed: see torus.~\ 
From board and bed : in 
law, a phrase descriptive of 
a kind of divorce in which 
the husband continues to 
maintain the wife, and the 
marriage-bond is not dis- 
solved : now superseded 
by a decree of judicial 
separation. 
ament (am'ent), . [< L. 
amentum, a strap or thong, 
esp. on missile weapons; 
also, rarely, a shoe-string; 
< OL. apere, bind, fasten, 
> L. aptus, apt: see apt.] 
In bot., a kind of inflorescence consisting of 
unisexual apetalous flowers growing in the 
Amcnts. 
Willow ( Satix /raf His}. 
with separate dowers, male 
(upper figure) and female 
(lower figure). 
