A W It 
^oth for becaufe your grief doth great appear. 
And eke becaufe myfelf am touched near. Spenfcr. 
AWHI'LE, adv. [This word, generally reputed an ad¬ 
verb, is only a while, that is, a time, an interval.] Some 
time ; fome fpace of time : 
Into this wild abyfs the wary fiend 
Stood on the brink of hell, and look’d awhile , 
Pond’ring his voyage. Milton. 
AW'IN E'A, a river of Ireland, which rifes in lake Ea, 
in the province of Donegal, and runs into the fea feven 
miles north of Killebegs. 
AWK, adj. [a barbarous contraction of the word awk¬ 
ward.'] Odd; out of order.—We have heard as arrant 
jamding in the pulpits aS the fteeples; and profelfors ring- 
ing°as awk as the bells to give notice of the conflagration. 
L’ EJl range. 
AWK'WARD, adj. [arward, Sax. backward, untow¬ 
ard.] Inelegant; impolite; untaught; ungenteel.—Their 
own language is worthy their care ; and they are judged of 
by their handfome or awkward way of exprefling them- 
felves in it. Locke. —Unready; unhandy; not dexterous; 
clumfy. Perverfe; untoward: 
Slow to refolve, but in performance quick; 
So true, that he was awkward at a trick. Drydev. 
AWKWARDLY, adv. Clumfily; unreadily; inele¬ 
gantly; ungainly.—When any tiling is done awkwardly, 
the common laying will pals upon them, that it is fuitable 
to their breeding. Locke. —If a man be taught to hold his 
pen awkwardly , yet writes fufficiently well, it is not worth 
while to teach him the accurate methods of har.dling-that 
inftrument. Watts. 
AWKWARDNESS, / Inelegance ; want of gentili¬ 
ty; oddnefs; unfuitablenefs. 
AWL, /. [ dele, ale, Sax.] A pointed infirurhent to bore 
holes.—He which was minded to make himfelf a perpe¬ 
tual lervant, fhould, for a vifible token thereof, have alfo 
his ears bored through with an awl. Hooker. 
Awl-wort,/ in botany. See Subularia. 
AW'LESS, adj. [from awe, and the negative //.] 
Wanting reverence; void of re fpect fill fear: 
He claims the bull with awlefs infolence. 
And, having feiz’d his horns, accofts the prince. Dryden, 
Wanting the power of caufing reverence: 
Ah me! I fee the ruin of my houfe; 
The tyger now hath feiz’d the gentle hind : 
Infulting tyranny begins to jut 
Upon the innocent and awlej's- throne. Shakefpeare. 
AWME, or Aume,/ A Dutch meafure of capacity 
for liquids, containing eight (ieckans, or twenty verges or 
verteels; anfwering to what in England is called a tierce, 
or i-6th of a ton of France, or 1.7th of an Englifh ton. 
AWN,/ [ arijla , Lat.] The beard of corn or grals. 
AWN'ING,/ A cover fpread over a boat or veflel, to 
keep off the weather.—Of thefe boards I made a awning 
over me. Robin [on Crufoe. 
AWO'KE. The preterite from Awake. —And fhe faid, 
The Phililtines be upon thee, Sampfon. And he awokeout 
of his fleep. Judges, xvi. 20. 
AWO'RK, adv. [from a and work. ] On work ; into a 
flate of labour; into action.—By prelcribing the condi¬ 
tion, it lets us awork to the performances of it, and that 
by living well. Hammond. 
AWORK'ING, adj. Into tire Hate of working : 
Long they thus travelled, yet never met 
Adventure which might them aworking fet. Spenfer, 
AWRY', adv. [from a and wry.] Not in a ftraight di¬ 
rection ; obliquely : 
But her fad eyes, fiill faft’ned on the ground, 
Are governed witli goodly modefly ; 
That fufFers not one look to glance awry, 
Which may let in a little thought unfound. Spen[er. 
Afquint; with oblique vifion; 
AXE S 3 3 
You know the king 
Witli jealous eyes has look’d awry 
On his fon’s actions. Denham. 
Not in the right or true direction. Not equally between 
two points; unevenly: 
Not tyrants fierce that unrepenting die, 
Not Cynthia when her manteau’s pinn’d awry, 
Ere felt fuch rage. Pope, 
Not according to right reafon; perverfely: 
Much of the foul they talk, but all awry. 
And in themfeives feek virtue, and to themfeives 
All glory arrogate, to God give none. Milton. 
AX, a town of France, in the department of the At- 
riege, and chief place of a canton, in the diftrict of Taraf- 
con, on the Arriege : nine leagues welt of Prades, and four 
and a half iouth-eaft of Taralcon. 
Ax, a riverWhich runs into the Englifh Channel, fix 
miles fouth-fouth-weft of Axminfter. 
Ax, a river which runs into the Briltol Channel, eight 
miles welt of Axbridge. 
AXAMEN'TA,/ [The word is formed, according to 
fome, from axare, q. d. nominare. Others will have the car - 
mina faliaria to have been denominated axamenta, on ac¬ 
count of their having been written in axibus, or on wood¬ 
en tables.] In antiquity, a denomination given to the ver- 
fes or fongs of the [alii, which they fang in honour of all 
men. The axamenta were not compofed, as fome have 
afferted, but only fung by the falii. The author of them 
was Ntima Pompifius; and, as the ftyle might not be alter¬ 
ed, they grew in time fo obfeure, that the falii themfeives 
did not underftand them. Varro fays they were 700 years 
old. Quint. Injl. Or. lib. i. c. 11. 
Axamenta, or Assamenta, in ancient mufic, hymns ' 
or fongs performed wholly With human voices. 
AX'AT, or A'zat; a town of France, in the depart- 
mant of the Aude, and chief place of a canton, in the dif- 
triCf of Quillan, on the Aude : twenty-five miles fouth of 
CarcalTonne, and five fouth-fouth-call of QuHlan. 
AX'AT I; atown of ancient B;etica, in tlie Boetis; now 
Lora, a fmail city of Andalulia, in Spain, fcated on, the 
Guadalquivir. 
AXAYACAT'L,/. the name of a fpecies of fly, com¬ 
mon in Mexico, about the lake ; the eggs of which, being 
depofited in immenfe quantities upon the ruflies and corn- 
flags, form large malles, which are taken up by filhermen 
and carried to market for fide. This caviare, called ahu- 
auhtli, which has much the fame tafte with the caviare of - 
fifii, ufed to be'eaten by theMexicans, and is now a common' 
difh among the Spaniards. The Mexicans eat not only 
the eggs, but the flies themfeives, made up together into 
a nials, and prepared with faltperre. 
AX'BERG, a town of Sweden, in the province of Ne- 
ricia. 
AX'BRIDGE, a fmail town in Someffetflvire, (ituated 
under the Mendip-hills, on the river Ax, near the great 
road from Briftol to Plymouth. It lias a corporation, con- 
fitting of a mayor, bailiff, eight capitai burgefles, and twen¬ 
ty-two common-c'ouncilmen. Here is a large handfome 
church, in which are feveral (lately monuments to the 
Prowfe family. On the tower are two very ancient fta- 
tues, which have the appearance of being fet up under the 
Weft Saxon kings, during the heptarchy ; and, before tire 
reformation, here was a chantry founded by a Saxon war¬ 
rior. A market is held here on Saturdays, and two fairs 
annually, for cheefe and cattle; the one on the 3d of Fe¬ 
bruary, and the other on Lady-day. The village of Ched¬ 
dar (remarkable for its good cheefe, and for its wonderful 
rocks) lies two miles eaft of Axbridge, by the tide of the 
Mendip-hills. Axbridge is diftant from Bridgwater eigh¬ 
teen miles, Briftol eighteen, Wells ten, and one hundred 
and fifty from London. 
AXE,/ [eax, ac[e, Sax. a[cia', Lat.] An inftrument con- 
fifting of a metal head, with a (harp edge, fixed in a helve 
or handle, to cut with : 
1 
No 
