asylet (asil)

[ So sacred was the church to some that it had the right of an asylum or sanctuary. Ayliffe , Parergon. Hence-2. Inviolable shelter; protection from pursuit or arrest; security of the person: as, the right of asylum , that is, of furnishing such protection. Most Grecian temples had anciently this right, and the custom, following Jewish analogies, pa ed into the Christian church. From the fourth century the churches had widely extended rights of asylum, but modern legislation has nearly everywhere ended the custom. (See sanctuary .) In international law , the right of asylum was formerly claimed for the houses of amba adors. The term now specifically signifies the right of one state to receive and shelter persons accused of crimes, or especially of political offenses, committed in another. See extradition . 3. Any place of retreat and security. Earth has no other asylum for them than its own cold bosom. Southey. Specifically-4. An institution for receiving, maintaining, and, so far as po ible, a mel i or at- ing the condition of persons suffering from bodily defects, mental maladies, or other mis-, fortunes: as, an orphan- asylum ; an asylum for the blind, for the insane, etc.; a magdalen asylum. a symbol i a (as-im-boʻli-ä), n . [NL., Gr. a- priv. + σύμβολον, symbol.] Same as asemia. asymmetralt (a-sim'e-tral), a. Same as asym- metro us. asymmetric (as-i-met'rik), a. [ Many substances contain an asymmetric carbon atom, but are optically inactive. Encyc. Brit ., XIX. 314. [ IMG:content-1308.png:[merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small] πίπτειν, fall; cf. συμπίπτειν, fall together, meet.] I. a. In math., approaching indefinitely close, as a line to a curve, but never meeting. See II. II. n. A straight line whose distance from a curve is le than any a ignable quantity, but which does not meet the curve at any finite distance from the origin. The asymptote is often defined as the tangent to the curve at an infinite distance, and this definition answers for Euclidean space; but, in view of non-Euclidean hypotheses, it is preferable to define it as a common chord of the curve and the absolute (which see), and thus as not nece arily a tangent. asymptotic (as-im-tot'ik), a. to tical. Same as asymp