ASS • DICTIONARY ONE.COM • Definition of Ass

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noun

Ass n.

(Zool.) A quadruped of the genus Equus (Equus asinus), smaller than the horse, and having a peculiarly harsh bray and long ears. The tame or domestic ass is patient, slow, and sure-footed, and has become the type of obstinacy and stupidity. There are several species of wild asses which are swift-footed.

A dull, heavy, stupid fellow; a dolt.

Asses' Bridge. The fifth proposition of the first book of Euclid, "The angles at the base of an isosceles triangle are equal to one another." (Sportive) "A schoolboy, stammering out his Asses' Bridge."

To make an ass of one's self, to do or say something very foolish or absurd.

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Etymology of 'Ass'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Ass" Quotes from Famous Books

... fool, and will be a pur dahnashin soon. Suddhoo has lost his strength and his wits. See now! I had hoped to get from Suddhoo many rupees while he lived, and many more after his death; and behold, he is spending everything on that offspring of a devil and a she-ass, the seal cutter!" ...

— The Lock And Key Library - Classic Mystery And Detective Stories, Modern English • Various

... money, had only to repair to his study, and were sure of an immediate supply. He was, indeed, the banker of the village, and what he lent he neither expected nor wished to be returned. Though under the necessity of making frequent journeys to Salamanca, he kept no mule, but contented himself with an ass, borrowed from the neighbouring miller. 'I once kept a mule,' said he; 'but some years since it was removed without my permission by a traveller whom I had housed for the night: for in that alcove I keep two clean beds for ...

— The Pocket George Borrow • George Borrow

... and often tells me about water-horses and such-like odd denizens of that far island; and I find her soft Highland speech, with its "ass" for "as" and "ch" for "j," very diverting; but ...

— Olivia in India • O. Douglas

... a fine circumstance connected with the character of a Cynic,—that he must be beaten like an ass, and yet when beaten must love those who beat him, as the father, as the brother ...

— Familiar Quotations • John Bartlett

... country of rocks, they made out afar the mountains of Judaea, whose patches of white stone look like snow in sunshine, on the roads streams of wayfarers, tending all eastward to Jerusalem, lines of camels and waggons, pedestrians with wine-skins, mother and sucking child on the solitary ass, and the Bedouin troop; but Spinoza was all solitary among fastnesses on the third forenoon when he muttered nervously: "I must certainly have ...

— The Lord of the Sea • M. P. Shiel

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