Ac¶eÏphal (#), n. [Gr. ?; ? priv. + ? head: cf. F. ac‚phale, LL. acephalus.] (Zo”l.) One of the Acephala.
Ø AÏceph¶aÏla (#), n. pl. [NL., fr. Gr. ?, adj. neut. pl., headless. See Acephal.] (Zo”l.) That division of the Mollusca which includes the bivalve shells, like the clams and oysters; Ð so called because they have no evident head. Formerly the group included the Tunicata, Brachiopoda, and sometimes the Bryozoa. See Mollusca.
AÏceph¶aÏlan, a. (Zo”l.) Belonging to the Acephala.
Ø AÏceph¶aÏli (#), n. pl. [LL., pl. of acephalus. See Acephal.] 1. A fabulous people reported by ancient writers to have heads. 2. (Eccl. Hist.) (a) A Christian sect without a leader. (b) Bishops and certain clergymen not under regular diocesan control. 3. A class of levelers in the time of K. Henry I.
AÏceph¶aÏlist (#), n. One who acknowledges no head or superior. Dr. Gauden. AÏceph¶aÏloÏcyst (#), n. [Gr. ? without a head + ? bladder.] (Zo”l.) A larval entozo”n in the form of a subglobular or oval vesicle, or hy datid, filled with fluid, sometimes found in the tissues of man and the lower animals; Ð so called from the absence of a head or visible organs on the vesicle. These cysts are the immature stages of certain tapeworms. Also applied to similar cysts of different origin.
AÏceph·aÏloÏcys¶tic (#), a. Pertaining to, or resembling, the acephalocysts.
AÏceph¶aÏlous (#), a. [See Acephal.] 1. Headless. 2. (Zo”l.) Without a distinct head; Ð a term applied to bivalve mollusks. 3. (Bot.) Having the style spring from the base, instead of from the apex, as is the case in certain ovaries. 4. Without a leader or chief. 5. Wanting the beginning. A false or acephalous structure of sentence. De Quincey.
6. (Pros.) Deficient and the beginning, as a line of poetry. Brande. Ac¶erÏate (#), n. [See Aceric.] (Chem.) A combination of aceric acid with a salifiable base.
AÏcerb¶ (#), a. [L. acerbus, fr. acer sharp: cf. F. acerbe. See Acrid.] Sour, bitter, and harsh to the taste, as unripe fruit; sharp and harsh.
AÏcerb¶ate (#), v. t. [L. acerbatus, p. p. of acerbare, fr. acerbus.] To sour; to imbitter; to irritate.
AÏcerb¶iÏtude (#), n. [L. acerbitudo, fr. acerbus.] Sourness and harshness. [Obs.] Bailey. AÏcerb¶iÏty (#), n. [F. acerbit‚, L. acerbitas, fr. acerbus. See Acerb.] 1. Sourness of taste, with bitterness and astringency, like that of unripe fruit. 2. Harshness, bitterness, or severity; as, acerbity of temper, of language, of pain. Barrow. AÏcer¶ic (#), a. [L. acer maple.] Pertaining to, or obtained from, the maple; as, aceric acid. Ure. Ac¶erÏose· (#), a. [(a) L. acerosus chaffy, fr. acus, gen. aceris, chaff; (b) as if fr. L. acus needle: cf. F. ac‚reux.] (Bot.) (a) Having the nature of chaff; chaffy. (b) NeedleÐshaped, having a sharp, rigid point, as the leaf of the pine.