Part 150

2. To struggle; to wrestle; to strive desperately.

Ag"o*nize, v. t. To cause to suffer agony; to subject to extreme pain; to torture.

He agonized his mother by his behavior. Thackeray.

Ag"o*ni`zing*ly (&?;), adv. With extreme anguish or desperate struggles.

Ag"o*no*thete` (&?;), n. [Gr. &?;; &?; + &?; to set. appoint.] [Antiq.] An officer who presided over the great public games in Greece.

Ag`o*no*thet"ic (&?;), a. [Gr. &?;.] Pertaining to the office of an agonothete.

Ag"o*ny (&?;), n.; pl. Agonies (&?;). [L. agonia, Gr. &?;, orig. a contest, fr. &?;: cf. F. agonie. See Agon.] 1. Violent contest or striving.

The world is convulsed by the agonies of great nations. Macaulay.

2. Pain so extreme as to cause writhing or contortions of the body, similar to those made in the athletic contests in Greece; and hence, extreme pain of mind or body; anguish; paroxysm of grief; specifically, the sufferings of Christ in the garden of Gethsemane.

Being in an agony he prayed more earnestly. Luke xxii. 44.

3. Paroxysm of joy; keen emotion.

With cries and agonies of wild delight. Pope.

4. The last struggle of life; death struggle.

Syn. -- Anguish; torment; throe; distress; pangs; suffering. -- Agony, Anguish, Pang. These words agree in expressing extreme pain of body or mind. Agony denotes acute and permanent pain, usually of the whole system., and often producing contortions. Anguish denotes severe pressure, and, considered as bodily suffering, is more commonly local (as anguish of a wound), thus differing from agony. A pang is a paroxysm of excruciating pain. It is severe and transient. The agonies or pangs of remorse; the anguish of a wounded conscience. "Oh, sharp convulsive pangs of agonizing pride!" Dryden.

A*good(*gd"), adv. [Pref. a- + good.] In earnest; heartily. [Obs.] "I made her weep agood." Shak.

||Ag"o*ra (g"*r), n. [Gr. 'agora`.] An assembly; hence, the place of assembly, especially the market place, in an ancient Greek city.

||A*gou"a*ra (&?;), n. [Native name.] (Zoöl.) The crab-eating raccoon (Procyon cancrivorus), found in the tropical parts of America.

||A*gou"ta (&?;), n. [Native name.] (Zoöl.) A small insectivorous mammal (Solenodon paradoxus), allied to the moles, found only in Hayti.

{ A*gou"ti, A*gou"ty } (*g"t), n. [F. agouti, acouti, Sp. aguti, fr. native name.] (Zoöl.) A rodent of the genus Dasyprocta, about the size of a rabbit, peculiar to South America and the West Indies. The most common species is the Dasyprocta agouti.

A*grace" (&?;), n. & v. See Aggrace. [Obs.]

A*graffe" (&?;), n. [F. agrafe, formerly agraffe, OF. agrappe. See Agrappes.] 1. A hook or clasp.

The feather of an ostrich, fastened in her turban by an agraffe set with brilliants. Sir W. Scott.

2. A hook, eyelet, or other device by which a piano wire is so held as to limit the vibration.

A*gram"ma*tist (&?;), n. [Gr. &?; illiterate; 'a priv. + &?; letters, fr. &?; to write.] A illiterate person. [Obs.] Bailey.

||A*graph"i*a (&?;), n. [Gr. 'a priv. + &?; to write.] The absence or loss of the power of expressing ideas by written signs. It is one form of aphasia.

A*graph"ic (&?;), a. Characterized by agraphia.

A*grappes" (&?;), n. pl. [OF. agrappe, F. agrafe; a + grappe (see Grape) fr. OHG. krpfo hook.] Hooks and eyes for armor, etc. Fairholt.

A*gra"ri*an (&?;), a. [L. agrarius, fr. ager field.] 1. Pertaining to fields, or lands, or their tenure; esp., relating to an equal or equitable division of lands; as, the agrarian laws of Rome, which distributed the conquered and other public lands among citizens.