Apostle, a-pos′l, n. one sent to preach the gospel: specially, one of the twelve disciples of Christ: the founder of the Christian Church in a country, e.g. Augustine, the apostle of the English; Columba, of the Scots; Boniface, of Germany, &c.: the principal champion or supporter of a new system, or of some cause: the highest in the fourfold ministry of the Catholic and Apostolic Church: one of the twelve officials forming a presiding high council in the Mormon Church.—ns. Apos′tleship, the office or dignity of an apostle; Apost′olate, the office of an apostle: leadership in a propaganda.—adjs. Apostol′ic, -al.—ns. Apostol′icism, profession of apostolicity; Apostolic′ity, the quality of being apostolic—Apostles' creed, the oldest form of Christian creed that exists, early ascribed to the apostles, and indeed substantially, if not strictly, apostolic; Apostle spoons, silver spoons with handles ending in figures of the apostles, a common baptismal present in the 16th and 17th centuries; Apostles, Teaching of the Twelve—often called merely the Didachē (Gr. 'teaching')—the title of a treatise discovered in 1883 on Christian doctrine and government, closely connected with the last two books (vii.-viii.) of the Apostolic Constitutions.—Apostolic Constitutions and Canons, notes of ecclesiastical customs held to be apostolical, written in the form of apostolic precepts, and erroneously ascribed by tradition to Clement of Rome; Apostolic Fathers, the immediate disciples and fellow-labourers of the apostles, more especially those who have left writings behind them (Barnabas, Clement of Rome, Ignatius, Hermas, Polycarp); Apostolic see, the see of Rome; Apostolic Vicar, the cardinal representing the Pope in extraordinary missions.—Apostolical succession, the derivation of holy orders by an assumed unbroken chain of transmission from the apostles through their natural successors, the bishops—the theory of the Catholic Church: the assumption that a ministry so ordained enjoy the succession of apostolic powers and privileges. [Gr.; one sent away, apo, away, stell-ein, to send.]
Apostrophe, a-pos′trof-e, n. (rhet.) a sudden turning away from the ordinary course of a speech to address some person or object present or absent, explained by Quintilian as addressed to a person present, but extended by modern use to the absent or dead: a mark (') showing the omission of a letter or letters in a word, also a sign of the modern Eng. genitive or possessive case—orig. a mere mark of the dropping of the letter e in writing.—adj. Apostroph′ic.—v.t. Apos′trophise, to address by apostrophe. [Gr. apo, from, and Strophe, a turning.]
Apothecary, a-poth′ek-ar-i, n. one who prepares and sells drugs for medicinal purposes—a term long since substituted by druggist, although still a legal description for licentiates of the Apothecaries' Society of London, or of the Apothecaries' Hall of Ireland. [Through Fr. and L. from Gr. apothēkē, a storehouse—apo, away, and tithe-nai, to place.]
Apothecium, ap-ō-thē′si-um, n. the spore-case in lichens. [Gr. apothēkē, a storehouse. See Apothecary.]
Apothegm. See Apophthegm.
Apotheosis, a-po-thē′o-sis, or a-po-the-ō′sis, n. deification, esp. the formal attribution of divine honours to a deceased Roman emperor, or special object of the imperial favour—a logical corollary to the worship of ancestors, degenerating naturally by anticipation into the adoration of the living: the glorification of a principle or person: ascension to glory, release from earthly life: resurrection.—v.i. Apothē′osise, Apoth′eosise. [Gr.; apotheo-ein, apo, away from what he was, theos, a god.]
Apozem, a′po-zem, n. a decoction or infusion. [Gr. apozema—apo, off, and ze-ein, to boil.]
Appal, ap-pawl′, v.i. (Spens.) to wax faint, fail, decay.—v.t. and v.i. (obs.) to dim, weaken: to terrify, dismay:—pr.p. appal′ling; pa.p. appalled′.—p.adj. Appal′ling, shocking.—adv. Appal′lingly. [Perh. from O. Fr. apalir, apallir, to wax pale, also to make pale. See Pall and Pale.]
Appanage, Apanage, ap′pan-āj, n. the assignation or conveyance by the crown of lands and feudal rights to the princes of the royal family, a provision for younger sons, a dependency: any perquisite: an adjunct or attribute.—p.adj. Ap′panaged, endowed with an appanage. [Fr. apanage—L. ad, and pan-is, bread.]
Apparatus, ap-par-ā′tus, n. things prepared or provided, material: set of instruments, tools, natural organs, &c.: materials for the critical study of a document. [L.; ad, to, parātus (parāre), prepared.]