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An American Dictionary of the English Language

by Noah Webster

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.

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  1. Dĕt'o-nā'tion, n.p. 365(Chem.) An explosion or sudden report made by the inflammation of certain combustible bodies, as fulminating gold.
  2. Dĕt'o-ni-zā'tion, n.p. 365(Chem.) The act of detonizing; detonation.
  3. Dēt'o-nīze, v. t.p. 365(Chem.) To cause to explode; to burn with an explosion; to calcine with detonation.
  4. Dĕt'o-nīze, v. i.p. 365(Chem.) To explode; to burn with a sudden report; to detonate. This precipitate . . . detonizes with a considerable noise. Fourcroy.
  5. De-tôr'sion, n.p. 365See DETORTION.
  6. De-tôrt', v. t.p. 365To turn from the original or plain meaning; to pervert; to wrest. Hammond.
  7. De-tôr'tion, n.p. 365The act of detorting, or the state of being detorted.
  8. Détour, n.p. 365A turning; a circuitous route; as, the detours of the Mississippi.
  9. De-trăct', v. t.p. 365To take away. “Detract much from the view of the front without.” Wotton. 2. To take credit or reputation from; to defame. That calumnious critic . . . Detracting what laboriously we do. Drayton.…
  10. De-trăct', v. i.p. 365To remove a part; to take away reputation; to depreciate worth. “Detract from a lady’s character.” Addison.
  11. De-trăct'ing-ly, adv.p. 365In a detracting manner.
  12. De-trăc'tion, n.p. 365The act of taking away or withdrawing. [Obs.] “The detraction of eggs of the said wild-fowl.” Bacon. 2. The act of taking away from the reputation or worth of another; a lessening of worth; the act…
  13. De-trăc'tious, a.p. 365Containing detraction. [Obs.] Johnson.
  14. De-trăct'ĭve, a.p. 365Tending to detract. [Obs.]
  15. De-trăct'ĭve-ness, n.p. 365The quality of being detractive.
  16. De-trăct'or, n.p. 365One who detracts or disparages. His detractors were noisy and scurrilous. Macaulay. 2. (Anat.) A muscle which draws down the part to which it is attached. Wright. Syn.—Slanderer; calumniator…
  17. De-trăct'o-ry, a.p. 365Defamatory by denial of desert; derogatory;—commonly with from. Browne.
  18. De-trăct'ress, n.p. 365A female detractor.
  19. De-trĕct', v. t.p. 365To refuse. [Obs.] [Written also detract.] “To detrect the battle.” Holinshed.
  20. Dĕt'ri-ment, n.p. 365That which injures or causes damage; mischief; harm; diminution;—used very generically; as, detriments to property, religion, morals, &c. I can repair that detriment. Milton. 2. A charge made to…
  21. Dĕt'ri-ment, v. t.p. 365To do injury to; to hurt. [Obs.] “Others might be detrimented thereby.” Fuller.
  22. Dĕt'ri-mĕnt'al, a.p. 365Causing detriment; injurious; hurtful. “Rather unseemly . . . than materially detrimental to its strength.” Burke. Syn.—Injurious; hurtful; prejudicial; disadvantageous; mischievous; pernicious.
  23. Dĕt'ri-mĕnt'al-ness, n.p. 365The quality of being detrimental.
  24. De-trī'tal, a.p. 365Pertaining to or consisting of detritus.
  25. De-trī'tion, n.p. 365A wearing off or away.
  26. De-trī'tus, n.p. 365(Geol.) A mass of substances worn off from solid bodies by attrition, and reduced to small portions; as, diluvial detritus. ☞ When the portions are large, the word debris is used.
  27. De-trude', v. t.p. 365To thrust down; to push down with force. The souls of men may . . . be detruded into the bodies of beasts. Locke.
  28. De-trŭn'cāte, v. t.p. 365To shorten by cutting; to cut off; to lop.
  29. Dē'trun-cā'tion, n.p. 365The act of cutting off. 2. (Surg.) Separation of the trunk from the head of the fetus, the latter remaining in the uterus.
  30. De-tru'sion, n.p. 365The act of thrusting or driving down. 2. The slipping of one portion of a substance over another. Forbes.
  31. Dē·tu-mēs'cence, n.p. 365Diminution of swelling. [Obs.] “The circulating wave . . . hath . . . detumescence.” Cudworth.
  32. Dē'tur, n.p. 365A present of books given to a meritorious undergraduate student, as a prize. [Harvard University, U. S.]
  33. De-tūr'bāte, v. t.p. 365To separate from associates. [Obs.] “Deturbating and thrusting out.” Foxe.
  34. Dĕt'ur-bā'tion, n.p. 365The act of deturbating; degradation. [Obs.] Bailey.
  35. De-tūrn', v. t.p. 365To turn away; to divert. [Obs.] Digby.
  36. De-tūr'pāte, v. t.p. 365To defile. [Obs.] Bp. Taylor.
  37. Dĕt′ur·pā′tion, n.p. 365The act of deturpating or corrupting. [Obs.] “Corrections and deturpations, and mistakes of transcribers.” Bp. Taylor.
  38. Deuce, n.p. 365(Gaming.) Two; a card with two spots; a die with two spots.
  39. Deuce, n.p. 365An evil spirit; a demon; the devil. [Written also deuse.] [Low.]
  40. Deu'ced, a.p. 365Devilish; extravagant; excessive; enormous. [Low.]
  41. Deïse, n.p. 365The same as DEUCE.
  42. Deu'sed, a.p. 365The same as DEUCED.
  43. Deu'ter-o-ca-nōn'ic-al, a.p. 365Pertaining to a second canon, or a canon of inferior authority; — said of the Apocrypha.
  44. Deu'ter-ōg'a-mist, n.p. 365One who marries the second time.
  45. Deu'ter-ōg'a-my, n.p. 365A second marriage, after the death of the first husband or wife; — in distinction from bigamy, as defined in the old canon law. See BIGAMY. Goldsmith.
  46. Deu'ter-ŏn'o-my, n.p. 365(Bibl.) The fifth book of the Pentateuch, containing the second giving of the law by Moses.
  47. Deu'ter-o-pa-thy or Deu'ter-op'a-thy, n.p. 365(Med.) A sympathetic affection of any part of the body, as headache from an overloaded stomach.
  48. Deu'ter-ōs'co-py, n.p. 365Second sight. I felt by anticipation the horrors of the Highland seers, whom their gift of deuteroscopy compels to witness things unmeet for mortal eye. H. Scott. 2. That which is seen at a second…
  49. Deūt'hy-drōg'ū-ret or Deū/to-hy-drōg'ū-ret, n.p. 365(Chem.) A compound of two equivalents of hydrogen with one of some other element.
  50. Deu-tōx'ide, n.p. 365(Chem.) A compound of two equivalents of oxygen with one of a base.
  51. De-vāp'o-rā'tion, n.p. 365The change of vapor into water, as in the generation of rain.
  52. De-vāst', v. t.p. 365To lay waste; to plunder; to devastate. [Obs.] Bolingbroke.
  53. Dĕv'as-tāte or De-vās'tāte, v. t.p. 365To lay waste; to ravage; to desolate. Whole countries . . . were devastated. Macaulay. Syn.—To waste; ravage; desolate; destroy; demolish; plunder; pillage.
  54. Dēv'as-tā'tion, n.p. 365The act of devastating, or the state of being devastated. Even now the devastation is begun. And half the business of destruction done. Goldsmith. 2. (Law.) Waste of the goods of the deceased by an…
  55. Dēv'as-tā'vit, n.p. 365(Law.) Waste by an executor or an administrator; mismanagement of the estate and effects of the deceased, in squandering and misapplying the assets. Bouvier.
  56. Dēve, v. i.p. 366To dive; to dip. [Prov. Eng.]
  57. De-vĕl'op, v. t.p. 366To free from a cover or envelope; to disclose or make known; to unfold gradually, as a flower from a bud; hence, to bring through a succession of states or stages, each of which is preparatory to the…
  58. De-vĕl'op, v. i.p. 366To go through a process of natural evolution or outgrowth, by successive changes from a less perfect to a more perfect or a finished state; as, the seed develops into a plant; the mind develops year…
  59. De-vĕl'op-er, n.p. 366One who develops or unfolds.
  60. De-vĕl'op-ment, n.p. 366The act of developing or disclosing that which is unknown; the gradual unfolding of a plan or method; the unraveling of a plot; gradual advancement or growth through a series of progressive changes.…