3 letter words

Aha (interj.) An exclamation expressing, by different intonations, triumph, mixed with derision or irony, or simple surprise.

Ail (v. t.) To affect with pain or uneasiness, either physical or mental; to trouble; to be the matter with; -- used to express some uneasiness or affection, whose cause is unknown; as, what ails the man? I know not what ails him.

Air (n.) The fluid which we breathe, and which surrounds the earth; the atmosphere. It is invisible, inodorous, insipid, transparent, compressible, elastic, and ponderable.

Air (n.) A particular state of the atmosphere, as respects heat, cold, moisture, etc., or as affecting the sensations; as, a smoky air, a damp air, the morning air, etc.

Air (n.) The representation or reproduction of the effect of the atmospheric medium through which every object in nature is viewed.

Ano (n.) A black bird of tropical America, the West Indies and Florida (Crotophaga ani), allied to the cuckoos, and remarkable for communistic nesting.

Bad (superl.) Wanting good qualities, whether physical or moral; injurious, hurtful, inconvenient, offensive, painful, unfavorable, or defective, either physically or morally; evil; vicious; wicked; -- the opposite of good; as, a bad man; bad conduct; bad habits; bad soil; bad health; bad crop; bad news.

Bar (n.) The railing that incloses the place which counsel occupy in courts of justice. Hence, the phrase at the bar of the court signifies in open court.

Bow (v. t.) An arcograph.

Cam (n.) A turning or sliding piece which, by the shape of its periphery or face, or a groove in its surface, imparts variable or intermittent motion to, or receives such motion from, a rod, lever, or block brought into sliding or rolling contact with it.

Cap (n.) A portion of a spherical or other convex surface.

Car (n.) A chariot of war or of triumph; a vehicle of splendor, dignity, or solemnity.

Cry (v. i.) Loud expression of triumph or wonder or of popular acclamation or favor.

Cry (v. i.) A word or phrase caught up by a party or faction and repeated for effect; as, the party cry of the Tories.

Dew (n.) Moisture from the atmosphere condensed by cool bodies upon their surfaces, particularly at night.

Eye (n.) A brood; as, an eye of pheasants.

Fee (n.) Reward or compensation for services rendered or to be rendered; especially, payment for professional services, of optional amount, or fixed by custom or laws; charge; pay; perquisite; as, the fees of lawyers and physicians; the fees of office; clerk's fees; sheriff's fees; marriage fees, etc.

Fib (n.) A falsehood; a lie; -- used euphemistically.

Fog (n.) Watery vapor condensed in the lower part of the atmosphere and disturbing its transparency. It differs from cloud only in being near the ground, and from mist in not approaching so nearly to fine rain. See Cloud.

Fro (adv.) From; away; back or backward; -- now used only in opposition to the word to, in the phrase to and fro, that is, to and from. See To and fro under To.

Gag (n.) A speech or phrase interpolated offhand by an actor on the stage in his part as written, usually consisting of some seasonable or local allusion.

Gem (n.) A precious stone of any kind, as the ruby, emerald, topaz, sapphire, beryl, spinel, etc., especially when cut and polished for ornament; a jewel.

Gnu (n.) One of two species of large South African antelopes of the genus Catoblephas, having a mane and bushy tail, and curved horns in both sexes.

Hen (n.) The female of the domestic fowl; also, the female of grouse, pheasants, or any kind of birds; as, the heath hen; the gray hen.

Hit (n.) A peculiarly apt expression or turn of thought; a phrase which hits the mark; as, a happy hit.

Hoo (interj.) Hurrah! -- an exclamation of triumphant joy.

Ice (n.) Any substance having the appearance of ice; as, camphor ice.

Ill (a.) Contrary to good, in a physical sense; contrary or opposed to advantage, happiness, etc.; bad; evil; unfortunate; disagreeable; unfavorable.

Jar (n.) A turn. [Only in phrase.]

Key (n.) That part of an instrument or machine which serves as the means of operating it; as, a telegraph key; the keys of a pianoforte, or of a typewriter.

Lag (a.) Last; long-delayed; -- obsolete, except in the phrase lag end.

Law (n.) In philosophy and physics: A rule of being, operation, or change, so certain and constant that it is conceived of as imposed by the will of God or by some controlling authority; as, the law of gravitation; the laws of motion; the law heredity; the laws of thought; the laws of cause and effect; law of self-preservation.

Lee (n.) That part of the hemisphere, as one stands on shipboard, toward which the wind blows. See Lee, a.

Leg (n.) A bow, esp. in the phrase to make a leg; probably from drawing the leg backward in bowing.

Let (n.) A retarding; hindrance; obstacle; impediment; delay; -- common in the phrase without let or hindrance, but elsewhere archaic.

Mad (superl.) Furious with rage, terror, or disease; -- said of the lower animals; as, a mad bull; esp., having hydrophobia; rabid; as, a mad dog.

Map (n.) A representation of the surface of the earth, or of some portion of it, showing the relative position of the parts represented; -- usually on a flat surface. Also, such a representation of the celestial sphere, or of some part of it.

Map (n.) Anything which represents graphically a succession of events, states, or acts; as, an historical map.

Nay (adv.) Not this merely, but also; not only so, but; -- used to mark the addition or substitution of a more explicit or more emphatic phrase.

Nye (n.) A brood or flock of pheasants.

Fog (n.) Cloudiness or partial opacity of those parts of a developed film or a photograph which should be clear.

Ion (n.) One of the small electrified particles into which the molecules of a gas are broken up under the action of the electric current, of ultraviolet and certain other rays, and of high temperatures. To the properties and behavior of ions the phenomena of the electric discharge through rarefied gases and many other important effects are ascribed. At low pressures the negative ions appear to be electrons; the positive ions, atoms minus an electron.

Jag (n.) Enough liquor to make a man noticeably drunk; a small "load;" a time or case of drunkeness; -- esp. in phr. To have a jag on, to be drunk.

Key (n.) A simplified version or analysis which accompanies something as a clue to its explanation, a book or table containing the solutions to problems, ciphers, allegories, or the like, or a table or synopsis of conspicuous distinguishing characters of members of a taxonomic group.

Lag (n.) The failing behind or retardation of one phenomenon with respect to another to which it is closely related; as, the lag of magnetization compared with the magnetizing force (hysteresis); the lag of the current in an alternating circuit behind the impressed electro-motive force which produced it.

Leg (n.) A branch circuit; one phase of a polyphase system.

Pax (n.) Friendship, or a friend; -- esp. in the phrases to make pax with, to make friends with, to be good pax, to be good friends; also, truce; -- used esp. interjectionally.

SOS () The letters signified by the signal ( . . . --- . . . ) prescribed by the International Radiotelegraphic Convention of 1912 for use by ships in distress.

Tau (n.) The nineteenth letter (/, /) of the Greek alphabet, equivalent to English t.

Wen () One of the runes (/) adopted into the Anglo-Saxon, or Old English, alphabet. It had the value of modern English w, and was replaced from about a. d. 1280 at first by uu, later by w.

Ods (interj.) A corruption of God's; -- formerly used in oaths and ejaculatory phrases.

Orb (n.) A spherical body; a globe; especially, one of the celestial spheres; a sun, planet, or star.

Orb (n.) One of the azure transparent spheres conceived by the ancients to be inclosed one within another, and to carry the heavenly bodies in their revolutions.

Orb (n.) The eye, as luminous and spherical.

Orb (n.) A sphere of action.

Ore (n.) The native form of a metal, whether free and uncombined, as gold, copper, etc., or combined, as iron, lead, etc. Usually the ores contain the metals combined with oxygen, sulphur, arsenic, etc. (called mineralizers).

Oss (n.) To prophesy; to presage.

Out (n.) A place or space outside of something; a nook or corner; an angle projecting outward; an open space; -- chiefly used in the phrase ins and outs; as, the ins and outs of a question. See under In.

Own (a.) Belonging to; belonging exclusively or especially to; peculiar; -- most frequently following a possessive pronoun, as my, our, thy, your, his, her, its, their, in order to emphasize or intensify the idea of property, peculiar interest, or exclusive ownership; as, my own father; my own composition; my own idea; at my own price.

Pan (n.) The god of shepherds, guardian of bees, and patron of fishing and hunting. He is usually represented as having the head and trunk of a man, with the legs, horns, and tail of a goat, and as playing on the shepherd's pipe, which he is said to have invented.

Par (prep.) By; with; -- used frequently in Early English in phrases taken from the French, being sometimes written as a part of the word which it governs; as, par amour, or paramour; par cas, or parcase; par fay, or parfay.

Peg (n.) A step; a degree; esp. in the slang phrase "To take one down peg."

Pot (n.) A crucible; as, a graphite pot; a melting pot.

Pox (v. t.) To infect with the pox, or syphilis.

Ray (n.) One of the spheromeres of a radiate, especially one of the arms of a starfish or an ophiuran.

Roe (n.) The ova or spawn of fishes and amphibians, especially when still inclosed in the ovarian membranes. Sometimes applied, loosely, to the sperm and the testes of the male.

Run (a.) To extend; to reach; as, the road runs from Philadelphia to New York; the memory of man runneth not to the contrary.

Sap (n.) A simpleton; a saphead; a milksop.

Sex (n.) The distinguishing peculiarity of male or female in both animals and plants; the physical difference between male and female; the assemblage of properties or qualities by which male is distinguished from female.

Sir (n.) A respectful title, used in addressing a man, without being prefixed to his name; -- used especially in speaking to elders or superiors; sometimes, also, used in the way of emphatic formality.

Tap (v. t.) Hence, to draw from (anything) in any analogous way; as, to tap telegraph wires for the purpose of intercepting information; to tap the treasury.

Toe (n.) A projection from the periphery of a revolving piece, acting as a cam to lift another piece.

Tow (v. t.) The act of towing, or the state of being towed; --chiefly used in the phrase, to take in tow, that is to tow.

Tub (n.) The amount which a tub contains, as a measure of quantity; as, a tub of butter; a tub of camphor, which is about 1 cwt., etc.

Tye (v. t.) See Tie, the proper orthography.

Urn (n.) A measure of capacity for liquids, containing about three gallons and a haft, wine measure. It was haft the amphora, and four times the congius.

War (n.) A condition of belligerency to be maintained by physical force. In this sense, levying war against the sovereign authority is treason.

Way (n.) Sphere or scope of observation.

Web (n.) The membrane which unites the fingers or toes, either at their bases, as in man, or for a greater part of their length, as in many water birds and amphibians.

Win (v. i.) To gain the victory; to be successful; to triumph; to prevail.

Wit (v.) A mental faculty, or power of the mind; -- used in this sense chiefly in the plural, and in certain phrases; as, to lose one's wits; at one's wits' end, and the like.

Yak (n.) A bovine mammal (Poephagus grunnies) native of the high plains of Central Asia. Its neck, the outer side of its legs, and its flanks, are covered with long, flowing, fine hair. Its tail is long and bushy, often white, and is valued as an ornament and for other purposes in India and China. There are several domesticated varieties, some of which lack the mane and the long hair on the flanks. Called also chauri gua, grunting cow, grunting ox, sarlac, sarlik, and sarluc.

Yea (adv.) More than this; not only so, but; -- used to mark the addition of a more specific or more emphatic clause. Cf. Nay, adv., 2.

Yet (conj.) Even; -- used emphatically.

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