n. [ Cf. Ajutage. ] Adjustment. [ R. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Same as Ajutage. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ OE. avantage, avauntage, F. avantage, fr. avant before. See Advance, and cf. Vantage. ] 1. Any condition, circumstance, opportunity, or means, particularly favorable to success, or to any desired end; benefit; as, the enemy had the advantage of a more elevated position. [ 1913 Webster ]

Give me advantage of some brief discourse. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

The advantages of a close alliance. Macaulay. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Superiority; mastery; -- with of or over. [ 1913 Webster ]

Lest Satan should get an advantage of us. 2 Cor. ii. 11. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Superiority of state, or that which gives it; benefit; gain; profit; as, the advantage of a good constitution. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. Interest of money; increase; overplus (as the thirteenth in the baker's dozen). [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

And with advantage means to pay thy love. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. (Tennis) The first point scored after deuce. [ PJC ]

Advantage ground, vantage ground. [ R. ] Clarendon. --
To have the advantage of (any one), to have a personal knowledge of one who does not have a reciprocal knowledge. “You have the advantage of me; I don't remember ever to have had the honor.” Sheridan. --
To take advantage of, to profit by; (often used in a bad sense) to overreach, to outwit. [ 1913 Webster ]

Syn. -- Advantage, Advantageous, Benefit, Beneficial. We speak of a thing as a benefit, or as beneficial, when it is simply productive of good; as, the benefits of early discipline; the beneficial effects of adversity. We speak of a thing as an advantage, or as advantageous, when it affords us the means of getting forward, and places us on a “vantage ground” for further effort. Hence, there is a difference between the benefits and the advantages of early education; between a beneficial and an advantageous investment of money. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Advantaged p. pr. & vb. n. Advantaging ] [ F. avantager, fr. avantage. See Advance. ] To give an advantage to; to further; to promote; to benefit; to profit. [ 1913 Webster ]

The truth is, the archbishop's own stiffness and averseness to comply with the court designs, advantaged his adversaries against him. Fuller. [ 1913 Webster ]

What is a man advantaged, if he gain the whole world, and lose himself, or be cast away? Luke ix. 25. [ 1913 Webster ]

To advantage one's self of, to avail one's self of. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Advantageous. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ F. avantageux, fr. avantage. ] Being of advantage; conferring advantage; gainful; profitable; useful; beneficial; as, an advantageous position; trade is advantageous to a nation. [ 1913 Webster ]

Advabtageous comparison with any other country. Prescott. [ 1913 Webster ]

You see . . . of what use a good reputation is, and how swift and advantageous a harbinger it is, wherever one goes. Chesterfield. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. Profitably; with advantage. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Profitableness. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Aftergrass. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ F. agiotage, fr. agioter to practice stockjobbing, fr. agio. ] Exchange business; also, stockjobbing; the maneuvers of speculators to raise or lower the price of stocks or public funds. [ 1913 Webster ]

Vanity and agiotage are to a Parisian the oxygen and hydrogen of life. Landor. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ F. ajutage, for ajoutage, fr. ajouter to add, LL. adjuxtare, fr. L. ad + juxta near to, nigh. Cf. Adjutage, Adjustage, Adjust. ] A tube through which water is discharged; an efflux tube; as, the ajutage of a fountain. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Anecdotes collectively; a collection of anecdotes. [ 1913 Webster ]

All history, therefore, being built partly, and some of it altogether, upon anecdotage, must be a tissue of lies. De Quincey. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Gr. 'antagw`nisma, fr. 'antagwni`zesqai to struggle against; 'anti` against + 'agwni`zesqai to contend or struggle, 'agw`n contest: cf. F. antagonisme. See Agony. ] Opposition of action; counteraction or contrariety of things or principles. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ We speak of antagonism between two things, to or against a thing, and sometimes with a thing. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Antagonistic; opposing; counteracting; as, antagonist schools of philosophy. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ L. antagonista, Gr. 'antagwnisth`s; 'anti` against + 'agwnisth`s combatant, champion, fr. 'agwni`zesqai: cf. F. antagoniste. See Antagonism. ] 1. One who contends with another, especially in combat; an adversary; an opponent. [ 1913 Webster ]

Antagonist of Heaven's Almighty King. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

Our antagonists in these controversies. Hooker. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Anat.) A muscle which acts in opposition to another; as a flexor, which bends a part, is the antagonist of an extensor, which extends it. AS [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Med.) A substance which opposes the actions of another substance in the body, especially a drgu that counteracts the effects of another drug. [ 1913 Webster + AS ]

Syn. -- Adversary; enemy; opponent; foe; competitor. See Adversary. [ 1913 Webster ]

{ } a. Opposing in combat, combating; contending or acting against; as, antagonistic forces. -- An*tag`o*nis"tic*al*ly, adv. [1913 Webster]

They were distinct, adverse, even antagonistic. Milman. [1913 Webster]

n. 1. muscles having opposite effects; the contraction of one neutralizes the contraction of the other.
Syn. -- antagonistic muscles. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Antagonized p. pr. & vb. n. Antagonozing. ] [ Gr. &unr_;. See Antagonism. ] To contend with; to oppose actively; to counteract. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. To act in opposition. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Gr. &unr_;; 'anti` + &unr_; contest: cf. F. (16th century) antagonie. See Antagonism. ] Contest; opposition; antagonism. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Antagony that is between Christ and Belial. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. (Med.) Opposing or destroying contagion. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. See Yataghan. [ 1913 Webster ]

{ } n. [ L. attagen a kind of bird, Gr. &unr_;, &unr_;. ] (Zool.) A species of sand grouse (Syrrghaptes Pallasii) found in Asia and rarely in southern Europe. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. See Yataghan. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (theater) the area on the stage out of sight of the audience.
Syn. -- wing, wings, offstage. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

adj. concealed from the public; in private.
Syn. -- behind the scenes. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. (Law) A toll paid for the privilege of taking up ballast in a port or harbor. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ F. ballottage. ] In France, a second ballot taken after an indecisive first ballot to decide between two or several candidates; a runoff election. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. +PJC ]

n. 1. State or rank of a baronet. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. The collective body of baronets. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A cement used in making joints, filling cracks, etc. For iron, the principal constituents are iron borings and sal ammoniac; for wood, white lead or litharge, whiting, and linseed oil. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

n. Conveyance by boat; also, a charge for such conveyance. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ F. cabotage, fr. caboter to sail along the coast; cf. Sp. cabo cape. ] (Naut.) Navigation along the coast; the details of coast pilotage. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. The act of carrying in a cart. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. The price paid for carting. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ Gr. &unr_; fracture, fr. &unr_; to break in places; kata` down + 'agny`nai to break: cf. F. catagmatique. ] (Med.) Having the quality of consolidating broken bones. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Rate by the hundred; percentage. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. State of being client. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A body of clients. E. Everett. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ F. ] The distribution of religious books, tracts, etc., by colporteurs. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ L. contagio: cf. F. contagion. See Contact. ] 1. (Med.) The transmission of a disease from one person to another, by direct or indirect contact. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ The term has been applied by some to the action of miasmata arising from dead animal or vegetable matter, bogs, fens, etc., but in this sense it is now abandoned. Dunglison. [ 1913 Webster ]

And will he steal out of his wholesome bed
To dare the vile contagion of the night? Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. That which serves as a medium or agency to transmit disease; a virus produced by, or exhalation proceeding from, a diseased person, and capable of reproducing the disease. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. The act or means of communicating any influence to the mind or heart; as, the contagion of enthusiasm. “The contagion of example.” Eikon Basilike. [ 1913 Webster ]

When lust . . .
Lets in defilement to the inward parts,
The soul grows clotted by contagion. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. Venom; poison. [ Obs. ] “I'll touch my point with this contagion.” Shak.

Syn. -- See Infection. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Affected by contagion. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. One who believes in the contagious character of certain diseases, as of yellow fever. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. contagiosus: cf. F. contagieux. ] 1. (Med.) Communicable by contact, by a virus, or by a bodily exhalation; catching; as, a contagious disease. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Conveying or generating disease; pestilential; poisonous; as, contagious air. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Spreading or communicable from one to another; exciting similar emotions or conduct in others. [ 1913 Webster ]

His genius rendered his courage more contagious. Wirt. [ 1913 Webster ]

The spirit of imitation is contagious. Ames.

Syn. -- Contagious, Infectious. Although often used as synonyms, originally these words were used in very diverse senses; but, in general, a contagious disease has been considered as one which is caught from another by some near contact, by the breath, by bodily effluvia, etc.; while an infectious disease supposed some entirely different cause acting by a hidden influence, like the miasma of prison ships, of marshes, etc., infecting the system with disease. In either case, a pathogenic microorganism is the direct cause of the disease. This distinction, though not universally admitted by medical men, as to the literal meaning of the words, certainly applies to them in their figurative use. Thus we speak of the contagious influence of evil associates; their contagion of bad example, the contagion of fear, etc., when we refer to transmission by proximity or contact. On the other hand, we speak of infection by bad principles, etc., when we consider anything as diffused by some hidden influence. [ 1913 Webster +PJC ]

. (Med.) A disease communicable by contact with a patient suffering from it, or with some secretion of, or object touched by, such a patient. Most such diseases have already been proved to be germ diseases, and their communicability depends on the transmission of the living germs. Many germ diseases are not contagious, some special method of transmission or inoculation of the germs being required. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

adv. In a contagious manner. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Quality of being contagious. [ 1913 Webster ]

‖n. [ L. ] Contagion; contagious matter. “Contagium of measles.” Tyndall. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ OF. coustage. ] Expense; cost. [ Obs. ] Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ From Cot a cottage. ] A small house; a cot; a hut. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ The term was formerly limited to a habitation for the poor, but is now applied to any small tasteful dwelling; and at places of summer resort, to any residence or lodging house of rustic architecture, irrespective of size. [ 1913 Webster ]

Cottage allotment. See under Alloment. [ Eng. ] --
Cottage cheese, the thick part of clabbered milk strained, salted, and pressed into a ball. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Set or covered with cottages. [ 1913 Webster ]

Even humble Harting's cottaged vale. Collins. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Cottagelike; suitable for a cottage; rustic. [ Obs. ] Jer. Taylor. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. One who lives in a cottage. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Law) One who lives on the common, without paying any rent, or having land of his own. [ 1913 Webster ]