2. (Chem.)
Defn: A receiver, with two necks, opposite to each other, one of which admits the neck of a retort, and the other is joined to another receiver. It is used in distillations, to give more space to elastic vapors, to increase the length of the neck of a retort, or to unite two vessels whose openings have different diameters. [Written also adapter.]
ADOPTION A*dop"tion, n. Etym: [L. adoptio, allied to adoptare to adopt: cf. F. adoption.]
1. The act of adopting, or state of being adopted; voluntary acceptance of a child of other parents to be the same as one's own child.
2. Admission to a more intimate relation; reception; as, the adoption of persons into hospitals or monasteries, or of one society into another.
3. The choosing and making that to be one's own which originally was not so; acceptance; as, the adoption of opinions. Jer. Taylor.
ADOPTIONIST
A*dop"tion*ist, n. (Eccl. Hist.)
Defn: One of a sect which maintained that Christ was the Son of God not by nature but by adoption.
ADOPTIOUS
A*dop"tious, a.
Defn: Adopted. [Obs.]