[ad. L. acūt-us pa. pple. of acu-ĕre to sharpen.]
1. Sharp at the end, coming to a sharp point, pointed. Acute angle, one less than a right angle.
1570. Billingsley, Euclid, I. xi. 3. An acute angle is that, which is lesse then a right angle.
1599. A. M., trans. Gabelhouer’s Phys., 29/1. Take the extreamest acute toppes of sage.
1668. Culpepper & Cole, Bartholinus, Anat., IV. ii. 162. Growing smaller by little and little, it terminates with an acute end.
1794. Martyn, Rousseau’s Bot., xvi. 179. The stigma which was obtuse in that, is acute in this.
1842. Gray, Struct. Bot., iii. § 4 (1880), 97. Leaves may be … acute, ending in an acute angle, without special tapering.
1879. Northcott, in Cassell’s Techn. Educ., IV. 2/2. The softer the material the more acute should be the angle of the cutting tool.
2. Of diseases: Coming sharply to a point or crisis of severity; opposed to chronic. Also fig.
1667. Phil. Trans., II. 546. She had every year an acute disease or two.
1727. Arbuthnot, John Bull, 64. It is plainly an acute distemper, and she cannot hold out three days.
1876. trans. Wagner’s Gen. Pathol., 13. Diseases which last but a short time are called Acute.
1877. Roberts, Handbk. Med. (ed. 3), I. 228. Acute rheumatism is distinctly a hereditary disease.
3. Of pain, pleasure, etc.; Acting keenly on the senses; keen, poignant, intense.
1727. Swift, Poisoning of Curll, Wks. 1755, III. I. 150. The symptoms encreased violently, with acute pains in the lower belly.
1855. Bain, Senses & Intell., II. i. § 12 (1864), 97. The pleasure is not what would be called acute, or of great intensity.
1876. Grote, Ethical Frag., i. 10. A man may feel sympathy in the most acute degree.
† 4. Of tastes or odors: Sharp, pungent. Obs.
1620. Venner, Via Recta, viii. 186. It … offendeth the head with acute vapours.
1638. T. Whitaker, Bl. of Grape, 24. Let us take a taste, and principally pierce these four vessels, sweet, acute, austere, and mild.
5. Of sounds: Sharp or shrill in tone; high; opposed to grave or low. Acute accent: see ACCENT 1, 2. Also applied to the mark (′) by which this is indicated, or to a letter so marked for any purpose, as e acute (é).
1609. Douland, Ornithop. Microl., 70. An acute accent … musically … is the regular eleuation of the finall words or syllables according to the custome of the Church.
1656. trans. Hobbes, Elem. Philos. (1839), 488. Bodies when they are stricken do yield some a more grave, others a more acute sound.
1779. Johnson, L.P., Dryden, Wks. 1876, IX. 392. The English heroick [is formed of] acute and grave syllables variously disposed.
1855. Bain, Senses & Intell., II. ii. § 8 (1864), 215. The cry of a bat is so acute as to pass out of the hearing of many persons.
1875. Ouseley, Princ. Harmony, i. 3. The most acute [stave] is called the soprano.
6. Of the senses or nervous system: actively, Keen, sharp, quick in catching or responding to impressions. Hence passively, Sensitive to impressions, delicate, finely strung.
1762. Kames, Elem. Critic., xvi. (1833), 216. The acutest and most lively of our external senses.
1812. Miss Austen, Mansfield Pk. (1851), 11. Her feelings were very acute, and too little understood to be properly attended to.
1817. Jas. Mill, Brit. India, II. V. v. 528. The jealousy of the Admiral was acute.
1878. G. Macdonald, Ann. Quiet Neighb., xix. 365. His hearing is acute at all times.
7. Of the intellectual powers: Having nice or quick discernment; penetrating, keen, sharp-witted, shrewd, clever. Opposed to dull, stupid, obtuse. In the sense of sharp in business, shrewd, it is familiarly aphetized, esp. in U.S., to ’cute.
1588. Shaks., L. L. L., III. i. 67. A most acute Iuuenal; voluble and free of grace.
1599. B. Jonson, Ev. Man out of Hum., III. iii. 20. The most divine, and acute lady in court.
1755. Young, Centaur, i. (1757), IV. 125. Acutest understandings in religious debates often lose their edge.
1788. Reid, Aristotle’s Logic, vi. § 1. 128. Chillingworth was the acutest logician as well as the best reasoner of his age.
1814. Davy, Agric. Chem., 65. Such a circumstance could not be lost upon so acute an observer.
1863. Burton, Book Hunter, 102. Bargains may be obtained off the counters of the most acute.
1860. Bartlett, Dict. Americanisms, 112. About as cute a thing as you’ve seen in many a day.
1882. Manch. Even. Mail, 31 May. American girls, in fact, appear to be as cute as the masculine Yankee.
B. quasi-sb. sc. accent.
1609. Douland, Ornithop. Microl., 70. The circumflex is … contrary to the acute, for it begins with the acute, and ends with the grave.
1824. J. Johnson, Typogr., II. iii. 34. The five vowels marked with acutes over them.
Comb. In synthetic derivatives, in -ed, as acute-angled, having an acute angle.
