n. [ OE. aker, AS. æcer; akin to OS. accar, OHG. achar, Ger. acker, Icel. akr, Sw. åker, Dan. ager, Goth. akrs, L. ager, Gr. &unr_;, Skr. ajra. √2, 206. ] 1. Any field of arable or pasture land. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A piece of land, containing 160 square rods, or 4, 840 square yards, or 43, 560 square feet. This is the English statute acre. That of the United States is the same. The Scotch acre was about 1.26 of the English, and the Irish 1.62 of the English. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ The acre was limited to its present definite quantity by statutes of Edward I., Edward III., and Henry VIII. [ 1913 Webster ]

Broad acres, many acres, much landed estate. [ Rhetorical ] --
God's acre, God's field; the churchyard. [ 1913 Webster ]

I like that ancient Saxon phrase, which calls
The burial ground, God's acre. Longfellow. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Of an acre; per acre; as, the acreable produce. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Acres collectively; as, the acreage of a farm or a country. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Possessing acres or landed property; -- used in composition; as, large-acred men. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. Anacreonticus. ] Pertaining to, after the manner of, or in the meter of, the Greek poet Anacreon; amatory and convivial. De Quincey. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A poem after the manner of Anacreon; a sprightly little poem in praise of love and wine. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A system of letting a portion of a farm for a single crop. [ Ireland ] Also used adjectively; as, the conacre system or principle. Mozley & W. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. To underlet a portion of, for a single crop; -- said of a farm. [ Ireland ] [ 1913 Webster ]

‖n. [ F. ] A kind of French hackney coach. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Possessing much land. [ 1913 Webster ]

{ } a. [ Macro + encephalic, encephalous. ] Of or pertaining to macrencephaly; having a large brain. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The condition of having an abnormally large braincase. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. [ F., fr. LL. mazacrium; cf. Prov. G. metzgern, metzgen, to kill cattle, G. metzger a butcher, and LG. matsken to cut, hew, OHG. meizan to cut, Goth. máitan. ] 1. The killing of a considerable number of human beings under circumstances of atrocity or cruelty, or contrary to the usages of civilized people; as, the massacre on St. Bartholomew's Day; the St. Valentine's Day massacre; the Amritsar massacre; the Wounded Knee massacre. [ 1913 Webster +PJC ]

2. Murder. [ Obs. ] Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

Syn. -- Massacre, Butchery, Carnage. Massacre denotes the promiscuous slaughter of many who can not make resistance, or much resistance. Butchery refers to cold-blooded cruelty in the killing of men as if they were brute beasts. Carnage points to slaughter as producing the heaped-up bodies of the slain. [ 1913 Webster ]

I'll find a day to massacre them all,
And raze their faction and their family. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

If thou delight to view thy heinous deeds,
Brhold this pattern of thy butcheries. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

Such a scent I draw
Of carnage, prey innumerable! Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Massacred p. pr. & vb. n. Massacring ] [ Cf. F. massacrer. See Massacre, n. ] To kill in considerable numbers where much resistance can not be made; to kill with indiscriminate violence, without necessity, and contrary to the usages of nations; to butcher; to slaughter; -- limited to the killing of human beings. [ 1913 Webster ]

If James should be pleased to massacre them all, as Maximian had massacred the Theban legion. Macaulay. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. One who massacres. [ R. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ F., cf. Sp. nácara, nácar, It. nacchera, naccaro, LL. nacara, nacrum; of Oriental origin, cf. Ar. nakīr hollowed. ] (Zool.) A pearly substance which lines the interior of many shells, and is most perfect in the mother-of-pearl. [ Written also nacker and naker. ] See Pearl, and Mother-of-pearl. [ 1913 Webster ]

‖a. [ F. See Nacre. ] (Art) Having the peculiar iridescence of nacre, or mother-of-pearl, or an iridescence resembling it; as, nacré ware. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

a. [ See Nacre. ] (Zool.) Consisting of, or resembling, nacre; pearly. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Same as Polacca, 1. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. See Saker. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ F. sacrer. See Sacred. ] To consecrate; to make sacred. [ Obs. ] Holland. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ Originally p. p. of OE. sacren to consecrate, F. sacrer, fr. L. sacrare, fr. sacer sacred, holy, cursed. Cf. Consecrate, Execrate, Saint, Sexton. ] 1. Set apart by solemn religious ceremony; especially, in a good sense, made holy; set apart to religious use; consecrated; not profane or common; as, a sacred place; a sacred day; sacred service. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Relating to religion, or to the services of religion; not secular; religious; as, sacred history. [ 1913 Webster ]

Smit with the love of sacred song. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Designated or exalted by a divine sanction; possessing the highest title to obedience, honor, reverence, or veneration; entitled to extreme reverence; venerable. [ 1913 Webster ]

Such neighbor nearness to our sacred [ royal ] blood
Should nothing privilege him. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

Poet and saint to thee alone were given,
The two most sacred names of earth and heaven. Cowley. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. Hence, not to be profaned or violated; inviolable. [ 1913 Webster ]

Secrets of marriage still are sacred held. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. Consecrated; dedicated; devoted; -- with to. [ 1913 Webster ]

A temple, sacred to the queen of love. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

6. Solemnly devoted, in a bad sense, as to evil, vengeance, curse, or the like; accursed; baleful. [ Archaic ] [ 1913 Webster ]

But, to destruction sacred and devote. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

Society of the Sacred Heart (R.C. Ch.), a religious order of women, founded in France in 1800, and approved in 1826. It was introduced into America in 1817. The members of the order devote themselves to the higher branches of female education. --
Sacred baboon. (Zool.) See Hamadryas. --
Sacred bean (Bot.), a seed of the Oriental lotus (Nelumbo speciosa or Nelumbium speciosum), a plant resembling a water lily; also, the plant itself. See Lotus. --
Sacred beetle (Zool.) See Scarab. --
Sacred canon. See Canon, n., 3. --
Sacred fish (Zool.), any one of numerous species of fresh-water African fishes of the family Mormyridae. Several large species inhabit the Nile and were considered sacred by the ancient Egyptians; especially Mormyrus oxyrhynchus. --
Sacred ibis. See Ibis. --
Sacred monkey. (Zool.) (a) Any Asiatic monkey of the genus Semnopithecus, regarded as sacred by the Hindoos; especially, the entellus. See Entellus. (b) The sacred baboon. See Hamadryas. (c) The bhunder, or rhesus monkey. --
Sacred place (Civil Law), the place where a deceased person is buried. [ 1913 Webster ]

Syn. -- Holy; divine; hallowed; consecrated; dedicated; devoted; religious; venerable; reverend. [ 1913 Webster ]

-- Sa"cred*ly adv. -- Sa"cred*ness, n. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Corrupted from NL. staphis agria, Gr. stafi`s dried grape + 'a`grios wild. ] (Bot.) A kind of larkspur (Delphinium Staphysagria), and its seeds, which are violently purgative and emetic. They are used as a parasiticide, and in the East for poisoning fish. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. (Geol.) Lying above the chalk; Supercretaceous. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ OD. wijssegger or G. weissager a foreteller, prophet, from weissagen to foretell, to prophesy, OHG. wīssag&unr_;n, corrupted (as if compounded of the words for wise and say) fr. wīzzag&unr_;n, fr. wīzzag&unr_; a prophet, akin to AS. wītiga, wītga, from the root of E. wit. See Wit, v. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

1. A learned or wise man. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Pythagoras learned much . . . becoming a mighty wiseacre. Leland. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. One who makes undue pretensions to wisdom; a would-be-wise person; hence, in contempt, a simpleton; a dunce. [ 1913 Webster ]