# acies
## English
### Etymology

Borrowed from Latin aciēs (“edge, sharpness”).

### Noun

acies (uncountable)
* (obsolete) The full attention of one's sight, hearing or other senses, as directed towards a particular object.
** 1658: And therefore providence hath arched and paved the great house of the world, with colours of mediocrity, that is, blew and green, above and below the sight, moderately terminating the acies of the eye. — Sir Thomas Browne, The Garden of Cyrus (Folio Society 2007, p. 204)

### Anagrams

* -icase, acise, saice

## Latin
### Etymology

From Proto-Indo-European *h₂eḱ- (“sharp, pointed”). By surface analysis, aceō +‎ -iēs. Cognate with Ancient Greek ἀκίς (akís, “point, pointed object”), ἀκή (akḗ, “point”) and Proto-Germanic *agjō (whence English edge).
See also word origin of ace.

### Pronunciation

* (Classical Latin) IPA: /ˈa.ki.eːs/, [ˈäkieːs̠]
* (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA: /ˈa.t͡ʃi.es/, [ˈäːt͡ʃies]

### Noun

aciēs f (genitive aciēī); fifth declension
* sharp edge or point
* battle line
* battle, engagement
* (Late Latin) steel
* sharpness of sight, keeness of a glance
* the pupil of an eye
* a fixed look
* acuteness of mind
* a verbal contest

#### Declension

Fifth-declension noun.
| Case | Singular | Plural |
| Nominative | aciēs | aciēs |
| Genitive | aciēī | aciērum |
| Dative | aciēī | aciēbus |
| Accusative | aciem | aciēs |
| Ablative | aciē | aciēbus |
| Vocative | aciēs | aciēs |

#### Derived terms

* aciāle
* aciārium

#### Descendants

* Extremaduran: haci (merged with haci < fasces)
* Old Galician-Portuguese: az
* Old Spanish: azes, az
** Spanish: haz (merged with haz < fasces)
* Sardinian: (< *acia)
    Campidanese: atza
    Logudorese: atta, atha
** → Gallurese: accia, azza
* → English: acies
* → Italian: acie
* → Portuguese: ácie

### References

* “acies”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
* “acies”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
* acies in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
* acies in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
* Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎, London: Macmillan and Co. to gaze intently all around: in omnes partes aciem (oculorum) intendere to dazzle a person: oculorum aciem alicui praestringere (also simply praestringere) to lead the army to the fight: exercitum educere or producere in aciem to enter the field of battle: in aciem descendere (Liv. 8. 8) to draw up forces in battle-order: aciem (copias, exercitum) instruere or in acie constituere to draw up the army in three lines: aciem triplicem instruere (B. G. 1. 24) to extend the line of battle, deploy the battalions: aciem explicare or dilatare the centre: media acies to fight a pitched battle: acie (armis, ferro) decernere to fight a pitched battle: in acie dimicare to break through the enemy's centre: per medios hostes (mediam hostium aciem) perrumpere the line of battle gives way: acies inclīnat or inclīnatur (Liv. 7. 33) the enemy's line is repulsed: acies hostium impellitur
* “acies”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
* “acies”, in William Smith et al., editor (1890), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, London: William Wayte. G. E. Marindin