23 November 2016
agnate
[ag-neyt]
noun
1. a relative whose connection is traceable exclusively through males.
2. any male relation on the father’s side.
adjective
3. related or akin through males or on the father’s side.
4. allied or akin.
Origin of agnate
Latin
1525-1535; < Latin agnātus paternal kinsman, variant of ad (g) nātus born to (past participle of adgnāscī), equivalent to ad- ad- + -gnā be born + -tus past participle suffix
Related forms
agnatic [ag-nat-ik], agnatical, adjective
agnatically, adverb
agnation [ag-ney-shuh n] (Show IPA), noun
Dictionary.com
Examples from the Web for agnate
Historical Examples
If there were no children, then the inheritance passed to the agnatic kindred, and in default of the latter, to the gentiles.
Ancient Society
Lewis Henry Morgan
agnatic inheritance would be apt to assert itself in this condition of things.
Ancient Society
Lewis Henry Morgan
Whether the wife forfeited her agnatic rights by her marriage, as among the Romans, I am unable to state.
Ancient Society
Lewis Henry Morgan
The importance they attached to the agnatic family is largely explained by their ideas of the future life.
The Private Life of the Romans
Harold Whetstone Johnston
This practical limitation of the inheritance to the nearest gentile kin discloses the germ of agnatic inheritance.
Ancient Society
Lewis Henry Morgan
As they understood it, the pater familis had absolute power over his children and other agnatic descendants.
The Private Life of the Romans
Harold Whetstone Johnston
The gens is to be found in Greek and Roman history, where it is known as the agnatic kindred.
The Iowa
William Harvey Miner
Here again it will be convenient to employ the Roman terms, agnatic and Cognatic relationship.
Ancient Law
Sir Henry James Sumner Maine
The former case offends against the principle of agnatic organisation, the latter against the cognatic.
The Heroic Age
H. Munro Chadwick
It shows that property was hereditary in the gens, but restricted to the agnatic kindred in the female line.
Ancient Society
Lewis Henry Morgan
Anagram
age ant
tea nag
Today’s quote
A man’s true wealth is the good he does in the world.
– Kahlil Gibran
On this day
23 November 534BC – Thespis of Icaria becomes the first recorded actor to portray a character on stage.
23 November 1859 – birth of William H. Bonney aka Billy ‘The Kid’. American outlaw. Legend has it that he killed 21 men, although historians believe it may have been between 4 and 9 men. He was shot dead by Sheriff Pat Garrett around 14 July 1881. Some conspiracy theorists believe that Bonney did not get shot that day, but that Garrett staged the shooting so that Billy ‘The Kid’ could escape.
23 November 1889 – the first jukebox commences operation at the Palais Royale Saloon in San Francisco.
23 November 1963 – Dr Who premiers on BBC TV, starring William Hartnell. It has become the longest running science fiction series in the world.
23 November 1981 – US President Ronald Reagan signs the top secret National Security Directive 17 (NSDD-17), authorising the Central Intelligence Agency to recruit, train and support Contra rebels in Nicaragua, in order to wage guerilla warfare against the ruling leftist Sandanista regime. In 1982, the Boland Amendment was passed by Congress which banned US support of the Contras. The Reagan administration illegally continued funding the rebels. Part of the funding was obtained by illegally selling arms to Iran, which was the subject of an international arms boycott. The Reagan administration sold the arms in an effort to free seven US hostages being held by a group linked with Iran. The scandal became known as the Iran-Contra affair and was the subject of a Presidential Commission (the Tower Commission) as well as investigations by a number of Congressional Committees. As a result, a number of high ranking members of Reagan’s administration were indicted, including Caspar Weinberger (Secretary of Defence) – later pardoned by President H.W. Bush in 1991 before standing trial, William Casey (Head of the CIA), Robert C. MacFarlane (Assistant Secretary of State), Oliver North (National Security Council), Admiral John Poindexter, and numerous others. While Reagan knew of the operations, it was not definitively shown that he issued the orders.