elision 
He has made use of several Kllninnn that arc not cus- 
tomary among other English I' 
AMiiou, Spectator, No. 285. 
Nor praise I ! -s that circumcision 
1;\ iu'lrrn ports ealld ' / 
With which, in proper station plac'd, 
'I'hv polish 'I lines :in- tirml.v lirac'd. 
-iji, The Dean's Answer to Sheridan. 
2f. Division; separation. 
The cause given of sound, that it would !* an elision of 
tin nil, uhcreliv, if they menu nnytlun " a cut- 
ting or dividing, or else an attenuating of the air. Is but a 
term of in ..... Mt. Bacon, Nat. Hist., 124. 
elect.'] In line, a sheriff's substitute in perform- 
ing the duty of returning a jury, provided in 
some jurisdictions when the sheriff is interest- 
ed in a suit. 
These Elumrt[ot Preston](called inhabitants only in the 
charter) arc by a bye-law of 1742 required to be capital 
burgesses, unit in-guild burgesses. 
Municip. Corp. Report, 1835, p. 1686. 
elitet. v. t. [ME. eliten (pp. elit), < OP. elit, eslit 
(P. elit), pp. of elire, eslire (P. elire), choose, < 
L.eligere, choose, elect: see elect. Cf. elite.] To 
choose; elect. 
One Creusa. . . . 
That Eneas afterward elit to wed. 
Destruction of Troy (E. E. T. 8.), L 1490. 
A mare yboncd sadde, ybulked greet, 
Y formed nobully most been elite ; 
And though she be not swyfte, a strong one gete. 
Palladius, Hiisbondrie (E. E. T. S.), p. 136. 
elitet, n. [Sc. also elyte (obs.); < ME. elite, < 
OP. elit, eslit, elected, pp. of elire, eglire, elect : 
see elite, v., and elect, v. and .] One chosen ; 
a person elected. 
The pape wild not consent, he quassed thcr elite. 
Robert of lintnne, tr. of Langtoft's Chron. (ed. Hearne), 
[p. 209. 
61ite (a-lef), . [P., < OP. eslite, < elire, eslire, 
P. elire, choose, pp. elit, eslit, elit, choice : see 
elite, and elect, v. and .] A choice or select 
body; the best part: as, the elite of society. 
elixt (e-liks'), r. t. [< LL. elixare, boil thor- 
oughly, seethe, < L. elixus, thoroughly boiled, 
seethed, < e, out, + lixare (rare), boil, < lix, 
ashes, lye.] To extract. 
With a straine of fresh invention, 
She might presse out the raritie of Art ; 
The pur'st elixed Juyce of rich conceipt. 
lHarnton, Antonio and Melllda, Prol. 
elizatet (e-lik'sat), r. t. [< LL. elixatus, pp. of 
elixare, boil thoroughly: see elix.~] To boil; 
seethe ; extract by boiling. Richardson. 
see elixate.~\ The cooking, especially of meat, 
by boiling; extraction by boiling; also, con- 
coction in the stomach ; digestion. 
Elixation is the seething of meat in the stomach, by the 
said natural! heat, as meat Is boiled in a pot; to which 
corruption or putrefaction is opposite. 
Burton, Anat. of Mel., p. 20. 
The flesh which was Included five weeks ago was this 
day found very good. I do not doubt but that perfect 
elixation was able to contribute something to iU preser- 
vation, because the sundry principles of which flesh con- 
sistetb had, whilst the heat continued, exerted their 
snenntli upon one another far better than If, the ttesh be- 
iii'_ r less boiled, by reason of the great avolation of parts, 
had been removed from the fire, as happens in ordinary 
.-oft ions. 
lintile. Second Contin. of Experiments, Art. xta., Exp. 3. 
elixir (e-lik'ser), n. [Formerly also elixar; < 
ME. elixir = D. elixcr = 8w. Dan. G. elixir, < 
OF. cli.rir, P. (Vijir = Pg. elexir = It. elisire, < 
Sp. eli.rir, elixir, < Ar. el iksir, the philosopher's 
stone: el, al, the; iksir, philosopher's stone, 
liv some derived from fcosnrn, break, break the 
edge, destroy, but prob. (like some other Ar. 
terms of alchemy: see alrhemy, alembic, lim- 
beck) of Gr. origin : < Gr. f ipk , also frpof, dry, 
perhaps akin to ^epo-rff, xcpp&s, dry: see ChcrtM, 
chersoitenn.] 1. In alchemy, a soluble solid sub- 
stance which was believed to have the property 
of transmuting baser metals into silver or gold 
and of prolonging life. The great elixir, also called 
th" pi '"/!<', or the f.'il tinriiiiv. when shaken 
in very small quantity into melted silver, lead, or other 
i':i*e ini'l;il. w,!^ s:iM to t r.m-mul r it int.' -;oM. In minute 
dOMt it was supiHi-cil to prolong life and restore youth, 
and was tlien ivillcil the rli'jrir rilir. The lemer elixir, ttone 
ui ii, ,,r;/;' ( tnirtnre, was regarded as hav- 
inj; ttiese qualities in lesser degree; thus it transmuted 
laser metals into silver. The word is now often used 
figuratively. 
A ! nay '. lilt be ; the philosophies stoon, 
AVi'n'r elept. \vt- soeben fiiste eeboon. 
Chawer, 1'rol. to Canon's Yeoman's Tale, 1. 310. 
1879 
He that ban once the flower of the stm, 
The perfect ruby, which we cll /trir, . . . 
Can confer honour, love, reaped, long life; 
Olve safety, valour, yea, and \i. ton. 
To whom he will. It. J onion. Alchemist, II. 1. 
What enables me to perform this i;reat work is the use 
of my obse.piinmCatholirtim, m t!i.- grand elixir, to sn|. 
port the spirits of human nature. Uuarilian, No. 11. 
The air we breathed was an rlixir of immortality. 
B. Taylor, Lands of the Saracen, p. 81). 
2. In med., formerly, a tincture with more than 
one base ; in modern pharmacy, an aromatic, 
sweetened, spirituous preparation containing 
small quantities of active medicinal substances. 
The first object sought In the modern elixir is an agree- 
able taste, and usually this is attained only by such sacri- 
fices as to render the effect of the medicine almost nil. 
V. S. Di*iJeiuatury, p. 537. 
3. The inmost principle ; absolute embodiment 
or exemplification. [Kare or obsolete.] 
She is not such a kind of evil as hath any good or use 
in It, which many evils have, but a distill'd quintessence, 
a pure elixar of mischief. 
Milton, Church-Government, iL, Con. 
A serenity and complacency . . . infinitely beyond the 
greatest bodily pleasures, the highest quintessence and 
elixir of worldly delights. South, Works, I. 11. 
EltTrtr of vitriol, aromatic sulphuric acid ; a mixture of 
sulphuric acid, cinnamon, ginger, and alcohol. Elixir 
proprletatls, a decoction of aloes, saffron, and myrrh in 
vinegar. Commonly abbreviated elixir pro. 
Paracelsus declared them an elixir made of aloes, saf- 
fron, and myrrh would prove a vivifying and preserving 
balsam, able to continue health and long life to its utmost 
limits ; and hence he calls It by the lofty title of elixir of 
propriety to man ; but concealed the preparation, In which 
Helraout asserts the alcahest is required. 
P. Shaw, Chemistry, Process 81. 
Elixir vltSB. See above, l. Elixir vltffl of HathloluB, 
a compound of alcohol and upward of twenty aromatic 
and stimulating substances, at one time administered in 
elixir (e-lik'ser), v. t. [< elixir, n.] To give 
the character of an elixir to. [Bare.] 
Yourself you have a good physician shown, 
To his much grieved friends, and to your own, 
In giving this elixir'd medicine, 
For greatest grief a sovereign anodyne. 
Lovelace, To Capt. Dudley Lovelace. 
elixiviatet (e-lik-siv'i-at), v. t. [< L. e, out, + 
E. lixiviate.] To lixiviate or refine thoroughly. 
Boyle. 
elixiviationt (e-Hk-siv-i-a'shon), . [< elixivi- 
ate + -ton.] A complete or thorough process 
of lixiviation. 
And by examining these substances by flt and proper 
ways, as also the cap. mort. by calcination, eliximation, 
and (if it will bear such a tire) vitrillcation. 
Boyle, Works, IV. 800. 
Elizabethan (e-Hz-a-beth'an), a. Of or per- 
taining to Elizabeth' (daughter of Henry vUL 
and Anne Boleyn), Queen of England from 1558 
to 1603, or to her times. 
A new crop of geniuses like those of the Elizabethan age 
may be born In this age, and, with happy heart and a bias 
for theism, bring asceticism, duty, and magnanimity into 
vogue again. Emrrmn, in N. A. Kev., CXXVI. 417. 
Elizabethan architecture, a name given to the mixed 
or debased architecture of the times of Elizabeth and 
James I., when the worst forms of the Pointed and de- 
generate Italian styles were combined, producing a slu- 
ell 
api-ts, wlndow-heads, etc. The Elizabethan style U the 
last stage of the Tudor or IVrpendicular, anil, frulll IU 
enrn si-oniienee in pru.M with the Renaissance of the 
continent, has Mictimes been called the Kuril* l< I: 
nance. The epithet Jacobean has lieen KIM n to tin- latent 
\:iii. ly( the Elizabethan, illlfvrlBR from the I u/ .ulhan 
propf in showing a greater propoit ion <>i corrupt ItulUn 
forms. 
The hotise was an admirable specimen of complete 
Elizabethan, anuiltltlldinoiu cluster of gables and porcho, 
oriels and turrets, screens of ivy and pinnacles of slate. 
//. .lamei. Jr., Pass. Pilgrim, p. 47. 
Elizabethan literature, the literature produced during 
tllr rei>:n of l/IIeen Kli/.abcth, Which Was one "! tl, 
prolific and w, u marked periods of English literary ac- 
tivity. It was very remarkable for the variety, vigor, HII.I 
peiiiianent value of much of its prxise and verse, and 
especially for tho great niiinber and productiveness of Its 
dramatic writers. Tho two most < mini -ut names in thin 
literature are those of Krancis Bacon, one of the itreatei.1 
of philosophers, ami William shakspeic, the greatest of 
all dramatist*. Elizabethan type. Same as ./././. 
text (which sue, under church, a.). 
elk 1 (elk), n. [< ME. 'elk (not found), irreg. 
< AS. elch (occurring once in a glossary of the 
8th century, glossing L. tragelaphus) for MA. 
with the reg. breaking *ei>lh (cf. eola, glossing 
L. damnta,decT, in the same glossary), = MD. 
elgh = OHG. elaho, elilio, elho, MHG. elhe, elch, 
Or. elch, < Icel. elgr = 8w. elg = Norw. elg = Dan. 
els-dyr (for "elgs-dyr) = L. alces = Gr. a/*'/ (tho 
L. and Gr. perhaps of Teut. origin), elk. D. 
eland, an elk (also, in South Africa, an eland), 
G. elend, elen, usually clen-thier(thier = E. deer, 
a beast), elk, arc or other origin : see eland. ] 
1. Properly, the largest existing European and 
11 .' *" , 
are Hall, England. 
gnlar heterogeneousncs- in detail, with, however, much 
picturesqr; i r;il i ilrrt. Its chief characteristic* 
are : \\ inilow s latve, cither in the plane of the wall or deeply 
embayed, long pilleries. tall and lii^hlv decorated chim- 
neys, and a profuse use of ornamental strapwork in ]r- 
Elk Alctt mttlftiiS'. 
Asiatic species of the deer family, or Cervida, 
Alecs malchi.1 (formerly called Cerrus alces). It 
stands when full-grown alwut 1 feet high gt the withers, 
and bears enormous palmate antlers w cii:hlng sometimes 
50 or 60 pounds. Its nearest living relative is the Ameri- 
can moose. 
2. In America, the wapiti, Cerrus canadensis, a 
very different animal from the elk proper, rep- 
resenting the red deer or stag of Europe, ('. 
flaphus. See wapiti and Alces. 3. In Asia, 
among the Anglo-Indians, some large rusine or 
rucervine deer or stag, as the sambur, Cerrus 
aristotelis. These, like the wapiti of America, are re- 
lated more or less nearly to the red deer or stag, and are 
quite unlike the true elk and the moose. 
4. Same as eland, 1 Elk bark. See (wrta. Irish 
elk, the Cervu# or Mefiacero* hibemicwt, a very large -x- 
tinct elk, with enormous palmate antlers, the remains of 
which occur In the peat-bogs of Ireland. 
elk 2 (elk), n. [E. dial., formerly also elite, Me; 
ME. not found; perhaps a corruption of AS. 
clfetu, ylfete (for "ylfetn), earlier (Kentish) arl- 
li'itii = OHG. alpi;, clbi:, MHG. elbez, a swan.] 
The wild swan, or hooper, Cyyiius ferus. Mon- 
tagu. [Local, Eng.] 
In water black as Styx, swims the wild swan, the Him. 
Of Holhenders so termed. Draylon, Polyolhlon, xxv. 
elk 3 (elk), n. [Origin uncertain; It. rice. dial. 
(Sardinian) elighe = Pr. eu:e = P. yeiise, < L. 
ilrx (Hie-), the holm-oak: see Hex.] A kind 
of yew of which bows are made. JJalliinll. 
[Prov. Eng.] 
Elkesaite, n. See Elcesaite. 
elknut (elk'mit), . The Pyrularia oleifera, 
a santalaceous shrub of the southern United 
States. Also called oilniit. 
elk-tree (elk'tre), w. The sourwood or sorrel- 
tree of the United States, (hcydentlrum arbo- 
rrum. 
elkwood (elU'wud). H. Tbeumbrella-tr.'e>, Mm.i- 
iiolia I'mbrella. of the southern United States. 
a small tree with soft, light, close-grained 
wood. 
ell 1 (el), n. [< ME. elle. elne. < AS. eln, an ell 
(18, 2(4, 24. etc., inches), = D. el, elle = OHG. 
