2. Behind a ship; in the rear. "A gale of wind right astern." De Foe. "Left this strait astern." Drake.
To bake astern,
to go stern foremost. — To be astern of the reckoning, to be behind the position
given by the reckoning. — To drop astern, to fall or be left behind. — To go astern, to go backward,
as from the action of currents or winds.
Asternal
(A*ster"nal) a. [Pref. a- not + sternal.] (Anat.) Not sternal; — said of ribs which do not join
the sternum.
Asteroid
(As"ter*oid) n. [Gr. starlike, starry; 'asth`r star + form: cf. F. astéroïde. See Aster.] A starlike
body; esp. one of the numerous small planets whose orbits lie between those of Mars and Jupiter; —
called also planetoids and minor planets.
Asteroidal
(As`ter*oid"al) a. Of or pertaining to an asteroid, or to the asteroids.
Asterolepis
(||As`te*rol"e*pis) n. [NL., fr. Gr. 'asth`r star + scale.] (Paleon.) A genus of fishes, some
of which were eighteen or twenty feet long, found in a fossil state in the Old Red Sandstone. Hugh
Miller.
Asterophyllite
(As`ter*oph"yl*lite) n. 'asth`r star + fy`llon leaf.]—> (Paleon.) A fossil plant from the coal
formations of Europe and America, now regarded as the branchlets and foliage of calamites.
Astert
(A*stert) v. t. [Pref. a- + start; OE. asterten, asturten.] To start up; to befall; to escape; to shun.
[Obs.] Spenser.
Astert
(A*stert"), v. i. To escape. [Obs.] Chaucer.
Asthenia
(||As`the*ni"a As"the*ny) n. [NL. asthenia, Gr. 'asqe`nia; 'a priv. + sqe`nos strength.] (Med.)
Want or loss of strength; debility; diminution of the vital forces.
Asthenic
(As*then"ic) a. [Gr. 'asqeniko`s; 'a priv. + sqe`nos strength.] (Med.) Characterized by, or
pertaining to, debility; weak; debilitating.
Asthenopia
(||As`the*no"pi*a) n. [Gr. 'a priv. + sqe`nos strength + 'w`ps eye.] Weakness of sight.
Quain. — As`the*nop"ic a.
Asthma
(Asth"ma) n. [Gr. short-drawn breath, fr. to blow, for : cf. Skr. va, Goth. waian, to blow, E.
wind.] (Med.) A disease, characterized by difficulty of breathing (due to a spasmodic contraction of
the bronchi), recurring at intervals, accompanied with a wheezing sound, a sense of constriction in the
chest, a cough, and expectoration.
Asthmatic
(Asth*mat"ic Asth*mat"ic*al) a. [L. asthmaticus, Gr. .] Of or pertaining to asthma; as, an
asthmatic cough; liable to, or suffering from, asthma; as, an asthmatic patient. — Asth*mat"ic*al*ly, adv.
Asthmatic
(Asth*mat"ic), n. A person affected with asthma.
Astigmatic
(As`tig*mat"ic) a. (Med. & Opt.) Affected with, or pertaining to, astigmatism; as, astigmatic
eyes; also, remedying astigmatism; as, astigmatic lenses.
Astigmatism
(A*stig"ma*tism) n. [Gr. 'a priv. + a prick of a pointed instrument, a spot, fr. to prick: cf.
F. astigmatisme.] (Med. & Opt.) A defect of the eye or of a lens, in consequence of which the rays
derived from one point are not brought to a single focal point, thus causing imperfect images or indistinctness
of vision.
The term is applied especially to the defect causing images of lines having a certain direction to be
indistinct, or imperfectly seen, while those of lines transverse to the former are distinct, or clearly seen.