ppl. a. [f. prec. + -ED.]
1. Brought to a sharp point, pointed. fig. Of speech: Sharp, pointed, stinging.
1611. Coryat, Crudities, 261. The toppe whereof on both sides above their forehead is acuminated in two peakes.
1615. Crooke, Body of Man, 440. Pericles had an accuminated head and somewhat long.
1790. Cowper, Iliad, XV. 635. A spear Tough grain’d, acuminated, sharp with brass.
1833–48. H. Coleridge, North. Worthies, III. 332–3. That very polish, that diligent selection and considerate collocation of words, that tight-lacing of sentences into symmetry, that exquisite propriety of each part and particle of the whole, which make [Congreve’s] ‘The Way of the World’ so perfect a model of acuminated satire, detract more from scenic illusion than they add to histrionic effect.
1866. Huxley, Prehist. Rem. Caithn., 91. The palate is narrowed, and its arch somewhat acuminated in front.
2. Intellectually sharpened, made keen in discernment; acutely concentrated (in attention).
1831. G. P. R. James, De L’Orme, xlvi. 313. Mounted troopers … acuminated in every point of stratagem.
1861. H. Macmillan, Footn. fr. Page of Nat., 14. We observe with speechless admiration that the Divine attention is acuminated and His skill concentrated on these vital atoms.
