adjutant

& s. [In Ger. and Fr. adjutant; Ital. ajutante; fr. Lat. adjutans, pr. par. of adjuto = to help often or much; freq. from adjuvo.] [ADJUVANT.] A. As adj.: Auxiliary. B. As substantive: I. Of persons: An officer whose duty it is to a ist the major. Each regiment of horse and each battalion of foot has one. Every evening he receives the orders of the brigade major, and after communicating them to the colonel, then i ues them to the sergeants. Adjutant-General: 1. Military : A high functionary who stands to the whole army in the same relation that an ordinary adjutant does to a battalion or regiment. The department of the Adjutant general is charged with the execution of all orders relating to the recruiting and equipment of troops, their instruction, and their preservation in proper efficiency. There are also a istant and deputy- a istant adjutants general of divisions and districts. 2. Ecclesiastical : A certain number of fathers who resided with the general of the Jesuits, and made known to him the important events pa ing throughout the world. Each limited his attention to a single country, in which he had emi aries, visitors, regents, provincials, ., to furnish him with in form a tion and forward his views. 3. Any a istant. IL. Of a genus of birds: Spec.: The gigantic crane. The name ad jutant was given by the Anglo-Indians of Bengal to this bird from the fancy that it resembled the dre and the dignified walk of the military functionary called an adjutant. It is the Lep top til us Argala, and belongs to the Ciconinæ, or Storks, a subfamily of the Ardeidæ, or Herons, which again are ranged under the order Grallatores, or Wading birds. The adjutant of Bengal and of Southern Africa is about five feet high, and is an extremely voracious bird. The expanse of its throat is so wide that it can swallow a large cat ADJUTANT (LEP TOP TIL US ARGALA). IMG:content-0174.jpg:[graphic] entire. It is deemed sacred in the East, and, apart from superstition, earns the title to be left without molestation by being so useful a scavenger. A somewhat smaller species, the L. Marabou , which furnishes the marabou feathers, occurs in tropic a i Africa. III. Of things in general: An a istant. "A fine violin must and ever will be the best adju tant to a fine voice."-Mason: Ch. M., p. 74. †ăd'-ju-tā-tor, s. [AGITATOR (2).]