Desinence: alternatives and connections

The termination of many English words; as, coward, reynard, drunkard, mostly from the French, in which language this ending is of Germ…

As an ending of participles or participial adjectives it is equivalent to -ed; as, situate or situated; animate or animated.

A suffix forming nouns of action, and often equivalent to the verbal substantive in -ing. It sometimes has the further meanings of sta…

A suffix from AS. -an, formerly used to form the plural of many nouns, as in ashen, eyen, oxen, all obs. except oxen. In some cases, s…

Sharp at the end; ending in a sharp point; pointed; -- opposed to blunt or obtuse; as, an acute angle; an acute leaf.

The second person singular, indicative mode, present tense, of the substantive verb Be; but formed after the analogy of the plural are…

A game of chance and skill, played by two persons on a "board" marked off into twenty-four spaces called "points". Each player has fif…

Beard, or that which resembles it, or grows in the place of it.

The bill or nib of a bird, consisting of a horny sheath, covering the jaws. The form varied much according to the food and habits of t…

An anvil ending in a beak or point (orig. in two beaks); also, the beak or horn itself.

Having two points or prominences; ending in two points; -- said of teeth, leaves, fruit, etc.

A festival celebrated with merriment and revelry in Roman Gatholic countries during the week before Lent, esp. at Rome and Naples, dur…

Of or pertaining to case; as, a casal ending.

The mark of the cross, as cut, painted, written, or stamped on certain objects, -- sometimes as the sign of 12 o'clock on a dial.

A plane figure, bounded by a single curve line called its circumference, every part of which is equally distant from a point within it…

In the form of, or bounded by, a circle; round.

To stop, or fill up, as an opening; to shut; as, to close the eyes; to close a door.

A state; a body politic consisting of a certain number of men, united, by compact or tacit agreement, under one form of government and…