Air cocks, Anal, angina, arsole, and more!

This computer restarted on me! Thus, I'll bring you the "A" words from this book that Jon and Harmony got me for my birthday:

This is from Butt Rot and Bottom Gas: A Glossary of Tragically Misunderstood Words (Eric Groves, Sr.)

A

abreast: shoulder to shoulder or side to side; also, to be knowledgeable about current events

abut: to join together at a boundary

abutter: one whose land abuts or joins the land of another

acock: in a turned-up or tilted fashion, as with a hat

ad damnum: the portion of a legal complaint in which a plaintiff states monetary damages

air cock: a valve installed as part of the piping in the upper steam space of a boiler, allowing air into or out of the boiler; the valve opens when the boiler heats cold water and closes when the water is heated enough to become steam

alias dictus: [Latin phrase meaning "another nomination" or "otherwise known as"] a fictitious name assumed by or given to a person for personal, professional, or criminal purposes

ambush: to lie in wait and then attack

Anal: a Sino-Tibetan language spoken by several thousand members of the Naga tribe in southeast Manipur, India, and by other ethnic communities in Myanmar (formerly Burma) and Bangladesh; also known as Namfau

angina: [from the Greek word ankhon, meaning "strangling"] a potentially fatal disease caused when cholesterol-blocked arteries cut off oxygen to the heart, causing chest pains and respiratory distress; often an indicator of imminent myocardial infarction or heart attack, it should be treated immediately by a physician {History's most famous angina sufferer was Swedish industrialist Alfred Nobel (1833-1896). Nobel was the inventor of nitroglycerin, a substance that, ironically, was later found to be an effective treatment for angina.}

animalia: the kingdom of terrestrial life that includes all animals

annual assay: a nationwide annual test of gold to ascertain adherence to standards of weight and purity

annul: to cancel or make void, as for a marriage

annulus: [from the Latin word annus, meaning "a rounding"] a ring or anything ring-shaped; in geometry, a solid shape encircling a straight-line axis (in other words, a doughnut)

apple of Sodom: a spiny greenish-gray plant native to the Jordan River valley and Dead Sea regions of Israel

arrears: money that is due and payable, but has not been paid; also, a job that needs to be finished, but remains unfinished {"Observation is so wide awake, and facts are being so rapidly added to the sum of human experience, that it appears as if the theorizer would always be in arrears, and were doomed forever to arrive at imperfect conclusions." - Henry David Thoreau, A Week on the Concord and Merrimac Rivers}

arsole: an organic chemical compound identified by the chemical formula C₄H₅As - similar to a pyrrole, or a heterocyclic aromatic organic compound, but much less aromatic and containing an arsenic atom instead of a nitrogen atom

asinine: having stupid, silly, and stubborn traits usually associated with donkeys, burros, and other asses; also, anyone or anything idiotic, moronic, etc.

asportation: the removal of things from one place to another

ASS: the acronym for the chemical argininosuccinate synthetase

assagai: a spear with a wooden shaft and an elongated metal tip, used in South Africa - probably derived from the African tree of the same name whose wood was considered ideal for spear-making by Bantu warriors {"A birdchief bluestreaked and feathered in war panoply with his assagai, striding through a crackling canebrake over beechmast and acorns." - James Joyce, Ulysses}

Assam: a type of black tea, of Indian origin, having a rich malt flavor

assart: land that has been substantially cleared of bushes and trees

assay: an analysis of a metal, drug, etc. to determine the identity and purity of ingredients

assent: compliance or agreement; an approval of something

asset coverage test: a limitation on bond indentures in accounting

asset stripping: to seek profit by buying a company and selling its assets

asset turnover: a measure of how efficiently a business's assets are used to produce sales

assiette: a selection of cold meats served on a plate

assignor: a person or entity who assigns or transfers property to another person or entity

assizes: British judges who, during medieval times, traveled a route or circuit through designated Assize towns to hear criminal cases and render verdicts; abolished by the Courts Act of 1971 in favor of the Crown Court, which now handles criminal trials and appeals throughout Britain

assonance: the deliberate repetition of vowel sounds in a sentence

asswage: to satisfy someone or calm a person; variant spelling of "assuage"