Adage, ad′āj, n. an old saying: a proverb. [Fr.—L. adagium, from ad, to, and root of aio, I say.]
Adagio, a-dā′gī-o, adv. (mus.) slowly.—n. a slow movement: a piece in adagio time. [It. ad agio, at ease.]
Adam, ad′am, n. the first man: unregenerate human nature: a gaoler.—n. Ad′amite, one descended from Adam: one of a 2d-century heretical sect in Northern Africa, and in the 15th in Germany, whose members, claiming the primitive innocence of Eden, went about naked.—adjs. Adamit′ic, -al.—n. Ad′amitism.
Adamant, ad′a-mant, n. a very hard stone: the diamond.—adjs. Adamantē′an (Milton), hard as adamant; Adaman′tine, made of or like adamant: that cannot be broken or penetrated. [L. and Gr. adamas, -antos—a, neg., and damaein, to break, to tame. See Tame.]
Adamic, a-dam′ik, adj. relating to Adam.
Adam's-apple, ad′amz-ap′pl, n. the angular projection of the thyroid cartilage of the larynx in front of the throat, so called from an idea that part of the forbidden fruit stuck in Adam's throat.—Adam's ale or wine, water.
Adansonia, ad-an-sō′ni-a, n. the baobab, monkey-bread, or calabash-tree of West Africa. [So called from Adanson, a French botanist (1727-1806).]
Adapt, ad-apt′, v.t. to make apt or fit: to accommodate (with to or for).—ns. Adaptabil′ity, Adapt′ableness.—adj. Adapt′able, that may be adapted.—n. Adaptā′tion, the act of making suitable: fitness: (biol.) the process of advantageous variation and progressive modification by which organisms are adjusted to the conditions of their life—the perfected result of adaptation being a life in harmony with the environment. [Fr.—L. adaptāre—ad, to, and aptāre, to fit.]
Adar, ā′dar, n. the twelfth month of the Jewish ecclesiastical, the sixth of the civil, year, corresponding to the later part of February and the first part of March. [Heb. adār.]
Adays, a-dāz′, adv. nowadays: at the present time. [Prep. a, and gen. sing. of Day, A.S. ondæye.]