Dictionary
An American Dictionary of the English Language
Revised and enlarged (Goodrich & Porter)
Springfield, Mass. · G. & C. Merriam · 1865
- Entries
- 95,912
- Pages
- 1,538
- Illustrations
- 2,133
Look up a word as the writers of the time used it.
Daw'dle, v. i. p. 335To waste time in trifling employment; to trifle.Daw'dle, v. t. p. 335To waste by trifling; as, to dawdle away a whole morning.Daw'dle, n. p. 335One who dawdles; a dawdler.Dāw'dler, n. p. 335One who wastes time in trifling employments; an idler.Daw'ish, adv. p. 335Like a daw. Bale.Dawk, n. p. 335The mail post. [Hindostan.] Dawk bungalow, a house for rest at the end of a stage for those who travel dawk.—To travel dawk, to journey in palanquins carried by relays of men taken at fixed stations…Dawk, n. p. 335A hollow, rupture, or incision in timber. [Cant.] Moxon.Dawk, v. t. p. 335To cut or mark with an incision; to gash.Dawm, n. p. 335An East Indian copper coin, equal in value to one fortieth of a rupee.Dawn, v. i. p. 335To begin to grow light in the morning; to grow light; as, the day dawns; the morning dawns. In the end of the Sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week. Matt. xxviii. 1. 2. To…Dawn, n. p. 336The break of day; the first appearance of light in the morning. And oft at dawn, deep noon, or falling eve. Thomson. 2. First opening or expansion; first appearance; beginning; rise. “The dawn of…Dāy (dā), n. p. 336The interval between one night and the next; the period from sunrise to sunset, or from dawn to darkness; hence, the light; sunshine. The fire That severs day from night. Shak. 2. The period of the…Dāy'-bēd, n. p. 336A couch or sofa. Shak.Dāy'-bōōk, n. p. 336A journal of accounts; a book in which are recorded the debts and credits, or accounts of the day, in their order.Dāy'-breāk, n. p. 336The time of the first appearance of light in the morning.Dāy'-cōal, n. p. 336(Mining.) The upper stratum of coal, as nearest the light or surface.Dāy'-drēam, n. p. 336A vain fancy or speculation; a reverie; a castle in the air; unfounded hope.Dāy'-flow'er, n. p. 336(Bot.) A genus of plants, the Commelyna.Dāy'-flȳ, n. p. 336(Entom.) A neuropterous insect of the genus Ephemera, which lives but a few hours or a day.Dāy'-lā'bōr, n. p. 336Labor hired or performed by the day.Dāy'-lā'bōr-er, n. p. 336One who works by the day.Dāy'light, n. p. 336The light of day; the light of the sun, as opposed to that of the moon, or artificial light. To burn day-light, to keep a light burning during the day; hence, to perform a superfluous or unnecessary…Dāy'-līl'y, n. p. 336(Bot.) A lily which blooms during the day, or for a day only; a plant of the genera Hemerocallis and Funkia.Dāy'-māid, n. p. 336A dairy-maid.Dāy'-māre, n. p. 336(Med.) A kind of incubus which occurs during wakefulness, attended by the peculiar pressure on the chest which characterizes nightmare. Dunglison.Dāy'-nĕt, n. p. 336A net for catching larks, &c.Dāy'-peep, n. p. 336Early morning; the dawn. Milton.Dāy'-rūle, n. p. 336(Eng. Law.) An order of court (now abolished) allowing a prisoner, under certain circumstances, to go beyond the prison limits for a single day.Dāy'sight, n. p. 336(Med.) A disease (Hemeralopia) in which the eyes can see clearly by daylight, but are incapable of vision in artificial light. Dunglison.Dāy's-man, n. p. 336An umpire or arbiter; a mediator. Neither is there any daysman betwixt us. Job ix. 33.Dāy'spring, n. p. 336The beginning of the day, or first appearance of light; the dawn. Whereby the dayspring from on high hath visited us. Luke i. 78.Dāy'-stār, n. p. 336The morning star; the star which ushers in the day. Till the day dawn, and the day-star arise in your heart. 2 Peter i. 19. 2. The sun, as the orb of day. So sinks the day-star in the ocean bed, And…Dāy'-strēam, n. p. 336A stream that flows during the day.Dāy'-tīme, n. p. 336The time between sunrise and sunsetting; continuance of the day;—opposed to night.Dāy'-wēa'ried, a. p. 336Wearied with the labor of the day. Shak.Dāy'-wom'an, n. p. 336A dairy-maid.Dāy'-wȯrk, n. p. 336Work by the day; day-labor.Dāze, v. t. p. 336To overpower with light; to dim or blind by too strong a light; to dazzle; also, to confuse; to bewilder. While flashing beams do daze his feeble eyen. Spenser. He comes out of the room in a dazed…Dāze, n. p. 336(Mining.) A glittering stone.Dāz'zle, n. p. 336A light of dazzling brilliancy; brightness; splendor.Dāz'zle, v. t. p. 336To overpower with light; to deprive of the power of seeing, or of seeing distinctly, by a brilliant light. Those heavenly shapes Will dazzle now the earthly, with their blaze Insufferably bright.…Dāz'le, v. i. p. 336To be overpoweringly or intensely bright; to excite admiration by brilliancy. Ah, friend! to dazzle, let the vain design. Pope. 2. To be overpowered by light; to be rendered blind or dim, and…Dāz'le-ment, n. p. 336The act or power of dazzling. [Obs.] Donne.Dāz'zling-ly, adv. p. 336In a dazzling manner.De. p. 336A Latin prefix denoting a moving from, separation; as in debark, decline, decease, deduct, decamp. Hence, it often expresses a negative, as in derange. Sometimes it augments the sense, as in deprave…Dēa'con, n. p. 336(Eccl.) An officer in Christian churches appointed to perform certain subordinate duties varying in different communions. In the Roman Catholic and Episcopal churches, a person admitted to the lowest…Dēa'con-ess, n. p. 336A female deacon in the primitive church.Dēa'con-hōōd, n. p. 336The state of being a deacon; office of a deacon; deaconry.Dēa'con-ry or Dēa'con-ship, n. p. 336The office or ministry of a deacon or deaconess.Dĕad, a. p. 336Deprived of life; put to death; reduced to that state of a being in which the organs of motion and life have irrevocably ceased to perform their functions; as, a dead tree; a dead man. “The queen, my…Dĕad, adv. p. 336To a degree resembling death; to the last degree; completely; wholly; exactly. [Colloq.] I was tired of reading, and dead sleepy. Dickens.Dĕad, n. p. 336The most quiet or death-like time; the period of profoundest repose, inertness, or gloom; as, the dead of night; the dead of winter. 2. (pl.) Those who are dead; the deceased; the departed. This is…Dĕad, v. i. p. 336To lose life or force. [Obs.] Bacon.Dĕad, v. t. p. 336To make dead; to deprive of life, force, or vigor. [Obs.] Heaven's stern decree, With many an ill, hath numbed and deaded me. Chapman.Dĕad'-ăn'gle, n. p. 336(Mil.) The space in front of a parapet which soldiers within it can not see and can not fire upon.Dead'-cen/ter p. 336Dead'-point, n. p. 336(Mach.) Either of the two opposite points in the orbit of a crank, at which the crank and the connecting-rod lie in the same straight line; as A and B; the corresponding positions of the cross-head…Dead'-col'or-ing, n. p. 336(Paint.) The first layer of colors, usually some shade of gray, on which are laid the finishing colors which give life and beauty to the picture.Dead'-dō'ing, a. p. 336Putting to death; destructive; killing. [Obs.] Hudibras.Dĕad'-dōor, n. p. 336(Ship-building.) A door fitted to the outside of the quarter gallery door, to be used in case the latter should be carried away.