The art or practice of giving new and permanent colors; the art of coloring cloth, hatsE, the second vowel and the fifth letter of the English Alphabet, seems to be the ancient Phenician and Hebrew E inverted, corresponding nearly with the Chaldaic and later Hebrew. Its long and natural sound in English coincides with the sound of i in the Italian and French language, and is formed by a narrower opening of the glottis than that of a. It has a long sound, as in here, mere, me; a short sound, as in met, men; and the sound of a open or long, in there, preyAs a final letter, it is generally quiescent; but it serves to lengthen the sound of the preceding vowel, or at least to indicate that the preceding vowel is to have its long sound, as in mane, cane, plume, which, without the final e, would be pronounced man, canAfter c and g, the final e serves to change these letters from hard to soft, or to indicate that c is to be pronounced as s, and g, as j. Thus without the final e, in mace this word would be pronounced mac and rage would be pronounced rag. In a numerous class of words, indeed in almost every word, except a few from the Greek, the final e is silent, serving no purpose whatever, unless to show from what language we have received the words, and in many cases, it does not answer this purpose. In words, ending in ive, as active; in ile, as futile; in ine, as in sanguine, examine; in ite as in definite; e is, for the most partIn some of these words, the use of e is borrowed from the French; in most or all cases, it is not authorized by the Latin originals; it is worse than useless, as it leads to a wrong pronunciation; and the retaining of it in such words is, beyond measure

Staining; giving a new and permanent color.