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Possible definitions for aural

mural
Painting applied to and made integral with the surface of a wall or ceiling. Its roots can be found in the universal desire that led prehistoric peoples to create cave paintings--the desire to decorate their surroundings and express their ideas and beliefs. The Romans produced large numbers of murals in Pompeii and Ostia, but mural painting (not synonymous with fresco) reached its highest degree of creative achievement in Europe with the work of such Renaissance masters as Masaccio, Fra Angelico, Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, and Raphael. In the 20th cent., the mural was embraced by artists of the Cubist and Fauve movements in Paris, revolutionary painters in Mexico (e.g., D. Rivera, J. C. Orozco, D. A. Siqueiros), and Depression-era artists under the sponsorship of the U.S. government (e.g., B. Shahn, T. H. Benton).


Absalom
In ancient Israel, the third and most beloved son of David. His story is told in II Samuel 13-19. An attractive but lawless man, he killed his half-brother Amnon as revenge for the latter's rape of Tamar, Absalom's sister, and was banished from the kingdom for a time. He later raised a rebellion against his father, capturing Jerusalem but meeting defeat in the forest of Ephraim, where he was killed by his cousin Joab, who found him caught by the hair in an oak tree. Despite Absalom's treachery, David greatly lamented his death.


Adal
Historic Islamic state, E Africa, southwest of the Gulf of Aden, with its capital at Harer (now in Ethiopia). Its rivalry with Christian Ethiopia began in the 14th cent. In the 16th cent. Adal launched a series of attacks, led by Ahmed Gran, who succeeded by 1533 in gaining control of most of central Ethiopia. Gran was killed in battle in 1543, and the Oromo invasions of the later 16th cent. ended Adal's power.


Agra
City (pop., 1991: 892,000), W central Uttar Pradesh, India. It was founded by Sikander Lodi in the early 18th cent. on the Yumana River southeast of New Delhi, and was intermittently the Mughal capital. The city fell successively to the Jats and the Marathas in the late 18th cent., and finally to the British in 1803. It is the site of the Taj Mahal and the imperial palace of Akbar.


alfalfa
Perennial, clover-like legume (Medicago sativa), widely grown primarily for hay, pasturage, and silage. It is known for its tolerance of drought, heat, and cold, and for its value in soil improvement. The plant, which grows 1-3 ft (30-90 cm) tall, develops numerous stems that arise from a much-branched crown at soil level, each bearing many three-leaved leaflets. Its long primary root--as long as 50 ft (15 m) in some plants--accounts for its unusual ability to tolerate drought. Its remarkable capacity for regeneration of dense growths of new stems and leaves following cutting makes possible as many as 13 crops of hay in one growing season. Alfalfa hay is very nutritious and palatable, high in ...

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