As*tu"cious (&?;), a. [F. astucieux. See Astute.] Subtle; cunning; astute. [R.] Sir W. Scott. -- As*tu"cious*ly, adv. [R.]
As*tu"ci*ty (&?;), n. [See Astucious.] Craftiness; astuteness. [R.] Carlyle.
A*stun" (&?;), v. t. [See Astony, Stun.] To stun. [Obs.] "Breathless and astunned." Somerville.
As*tu"ri*an (&?;), a. Of or pertaining to Asturias in Spain. -- n. A native of Asturias.
As*tute" (&?;), a. [L. astutus, fr. astus craft, cunning; perh. cognate with E. acute.] Critically discerning; sagacious; shrewd; subtle; crafty.
Syn. -- Keen; eagle-eyed; penetrating; skilled; discriminating; cunning; sagacious; subtle; wily; crafty.
As*tute"ly, adv. -- As*tute"ness, n.
A*sty"lar (&?;), a. [Gr. 'a priv. + &?; pillar.] (arch.) Without columns or pilasters. Weale.
A*styl"len (&?;), n. (Mining) A small dam to prevent free passage of water in an adit or level.
A*sun"der (&?;), adv. [Pref. a- + sunder.] Apart; separate from each other; into parts; in two; separately; into or in different pieces or places.
I took my staff, even Beauty, and cut it asunder.
Zech. xi. 10.
As wide asunder as pole and pole.
Froude.
||A*su"ra (&?;), n. (Hind. Myth.) An enemy of the gods, esp. one of a race of demons and giants.
||As"wail (&?;), n. [Native name.] (Zoöl.) The sloth bear (Melursus labiatus) of India.
A*sweve" (&?;), v. t. [AS. aswebban; a + swebban. See Sweven.] To stupefy. [Obs.] Chaucer.
A*swing" (&?;), adv. In a state of swinging.
A*swoon" (&?;), adv. In a swoon. Chaucer.
A*swooned" (&?;), adv. In a swoon.
A*sy"lum (&?;), n.; pl. E. Asylums (&?;), L. Asyla (&?;). [L. asylum, Gr. &?;, fr. &?; exempt from spoliation, inviolable; 'a priv. + &?; right of seizure.] 1. A sanctuary or place of refuge and protection, where criminals and debtors found shelter, and from which they could not be forcibly taken without sacrilege.
So sacred was the church to some, that it had the right of an asylum or sanctuary.
Ayliffe.
The name was anciently given to temples, altars, statues of the gods, and the like. In later times Christian churches were regarded as asylums in the same sense.