Assure

a. [Fr. a urer; from Lat. securus, sure or certain.] To give confidence by a firm promise. "So when he had a ured them with many words that he would restore them without hurt ."-2 Mac . xii. -To secure to another; to make firm. "Those whose piety a ures its favor to them."-Rogers. As's ynt, in Scotland, a mountainous, moorish, and rugged parish, in S.W. Sutherlandshire; area , estimated at 100,000 acres. There are here a dozen mountains 3,000 to 3,500 feet high; and among them, Suil Veinn, a perfect sugar-loaf, towering nearly 2,000 feet above a rugged table-land of gnei hills, 800 to 1,000 feet above the sea. In Ardbreck castle, on a promontory on the E. side of Loch A. , the famous Marquis of Montrose was confined in 1650. Pop . about 3,000. As syria, a former great kingdom of Asia, renowned in early history. It probably derived its name from A hur, the son of Shem ( Gen. x. 22), who in later times was worshipped by the A yrians as their chief god. A. was situated on the Tigris, and had for its capital Nineveh, q. v. Its boundaries differ greatly at different periods, but it was generally regarded as comprising the whole region between the Armenian mountains (Lat. 37° 30') on the N., and the country about Bagdad (Lat. 33° 30') on the S. The E. boundary was the high range of Zagros, or mountains of Kurdistan; the W. was, according to some, the Me so pot am i an desert; according to others, the Euphrates. The greater part of the region embraced in ancient A. is now nominally subject to the Turkish sultan; and is peopled by Turks and Kurds, who both profe Mohammedanism, and by Christians, as Chaldeans, Nestor i ans, Armenians, . The most famous monarchs of A. were Ninus, and his widow and succe or, Semi ram is. In the time of Sardana pal us, about 820 B. c., Arbaces, governor of Media, conquered A. Hero dot us fixes the duration of the A yrian empire in Upper Asia at 420 years. It was then divided into 3 kingdoms, the Median, A yrian, and Babylonian. Soon after, A. revived to a resemblance of its former splendor under Salmana ar, who made Nineveh his capital. About 606 в. с., Cyaxares, king of Media, formed an alliance with Nabopola ar, governor of Babylon, when they marched against Nineveh, and destroyed it. A. consequently became a Median province; and Babylon by the victories of Nebuchadnezzar was made a powerful kingdom. About 538 B. c., the three kingdoms were conquered by Cyrus, and annexed to the Persian empire. A yr'ia, in Michigan , a post-village of Barry co., about 16 m. S.E. of Hastings. Pop . (1894) 67. A yrian, a. Belonging or relating to As syria. -n. A native or inhabitant of As syria. Ast, GEORG ANTON FRIED RICH, an eminent German philologist, B. at Gotha in 1778; D. at Munich in 1841. Profe or A. published various works on philosophy and æsthetics, but his latest and most important works are the Life and Writings of Plato , published at Leipzig, in 1816; and his complete edition of the same author's works, published in 11 vols., 1819-32.