Dictionary
An American Dictionary of the English Language
Revised and enlarged (Goodrich & Porter)
Springfield, Mass. · G. & C. Merriam · 1865
- Entries
- 95,912
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Look up a word as the writers of the time used it.
Dip'tych or Dip'ty-chium, n. p. 377A folded writing tablet among the ancients, usually consisting of two leaves; especially, such a tablet containing the name and portrait of a magistrate under the Roman empire, and distributed by him…Di-pȳre', n. p. 377(Min.) A mineral consisting chiefly of silicate of alumina, with small proportions also of the silicates of soda and lime;— so called from the double effect of fire in producing fusion and…Di-rā/di-ā'tion, n. p. 377The emission and diffusion of rays of light.Dire, a. p. 377Evil in a great degree; dreadful; dismal; horrible; terrible. Dire was the tossing, deep the groans. Milton.Dī-rēct’, a. p. 377Straight; not crooked, oblique, or circuitous; leading immediately to a point or end; as, a direct line; direct means. “What is direct to, what slides by, the question.” Locke. 2. Straightforward…Dĭ-rĕct', v. t. p. 377To give direction or bearing to; to aim; to point; as, to direct an arrow or piece of ordnance. 2. To determine the direction or course of; to cause to go on in a particular manner; to regulate; to…Di-rĕct', v. i. p. 377To give direction; to point out a course; to act as guide. Wisdom is profitable to direct. Eccles. x. 10.Di-rēct', n. p. 377(Mus.) A character, thus [~], placed at the end of a staff on the line or space of the first note of the next staff, to apprise the performer of its situation. Moore.Di-rēct'er, n. p. 377One who directs; a director. Director plane (Geom.), the plane to which all right-lined elements in a warped surface are parallel.Di-rēc'tion, n. p. 377The act of directing, or of aiming, regulating, guiding, or ordering; guidance; management; superintendence; administration; as, the direction of public affairs or of a bank. All chance, direction…Di-rēct'ive, a. p. 377Having power to direct; tending to direct, guide, or govern; directing. “By mind as the principal and directive clause.” Cudworth. “The precepts directive of our practice in relation to God.” Barrow.Dĭ-rēct'ly, adv. p. 377In a direct manner; in a straight line or course; without curving, swerving, or deviation. 2. Without interposition or interruption; without circumlocution or ambiguity; in an immediate, express, or…Di-rēct'ness, n. p. 377The state or quality of being direct; straightness; straightforwardness; immediateness.Di-rēct'or, n. p. 377One who, or that which, directs, regulates, guides, or orders: a manager or superintendent; a counselor or instructor. 2. One of a body of persons appointed to manage the affairs of a company or…Di-rēct'o-rate, n. p. 377A body of directors, or the office of director.Dī-rec-tō'ri-al, a. p. 377Having the quality of a director, or authoritative guide; directive. 2. Pertaining to a director, a directory, or the Directory of France. “Whoever goes to the directorial presence under this…Dĭ-rĕct'or-ship, n. p. 377The condition or office of a director; directorate.Dĭ-rĕct'o-ry, a. p. 377Containing directions; enjoining; instructing; directorial.Dĭ-rĕct'o-ry, n. p. 377A collection or body of directions, rules, or ordinances; especially a book of directions for the conduct of worship; as, the Book of Common Prayer was preferred to a Directory. 2. A book containing…Dĭ-rĕct'ress, n. p. 377A female who directs or manages.Dī-rĕc'trix, n. p. 377A female who governs or directs. 2. (Geom.) (a.) A line along which a point in another line moves, and which governs its motion and determines the position of the curve generated by it, or along…Dīre'ful, a. p. 377Dire; dreadful; terrible; calamitous; as, direful fiend; a direful misfortune.Dire'ful-ly, adv. p. 377Dreadfully; terribly; wofully.Dire'ful-ness, n. p. 377Calamitousness.Di-rēmpt', a. p. 377Divided; separate. [Obs.] Stow.Dī-rĕmp't, v. t. p. 377To tear apart; to break off by violence or peremptorily; to separate forcibly. [Obs.] Holinshed.Di-rĕmp'tion, n. p. 377A tearing apart; violent separation. [Obs.] Bp. Hall.Dire'ness, n. p. 377Terribleness; horror.Di-rĕp'tion, n. p. 377The act of plundering, despoiling, or snatching away. Speed.Di-rep-ti'tious-ly, adv. p. 377With plundering violence; with violent injustice. Strype.Dirge, n. p. 377A piece of music of a mournful character, intended to accompany funeral rites. The raven croaked, and hollow shrieks of owls Sung dirges at her funeral. Ford.Dir'i-ge, n. p. 377A service for the dead in the Romish church, being a hymn beginning, “Dirige gressus meos;” a dirge. “Matins, and mass, and even-song, and placebo, and dirige.” Wycliffe. Resort, I pray you, unto my…Dir'i-gent, a. p. 377Directing. Baxter.Dĩr'i-ġent, n. p. 377(Geom.) The line of motion along which a describent line or surface is carried in the genesis of any plane or solid figure; a directrix. See DIRECTRIX. Hutton.Dĩrk, n. p. 377A kind of dagger or poniard.Dĩrk, v. t. p. 377To stab with a dirk or dagger; to poniard.Dĩrk, a. p. 377Dark. [Obs.] Spenser.Dirk, v. t. p. 378To darken. [Obs.] Spenser.Dirk'-knife, n. p. 378A clasp knife, having a large, dirk-like blade.Dĭrl, v. i. p. 378To tremble slightly; to thrill; to move quickly. Halliwell.Dirt, n. p. 378Any foul or filthy substance, as excrement, earth, mud, dust, and the like; whatever, adhering to any thing, renders it foul or unclean. Whose waters cast up mire and dirt. Isa. lvii. 20. 2.…Dirt, v. t. p. 378To make foul or filthy; to soil; to bedaub; to pollute; to defile; to dirty. Swift.Dirt'-eat'ing, n. p. 378(Met.) A disease (Cachexia Africana) of the nutritive functions among negroes, in which there is an irresistible desire to eat dirt. Dunglison. 2. The use of certain kinds of clay for food, existing…Dirt'i-ly, adv. p. 378In a dirty manner; foully; nastily; filthily; sordidly.Dirt'i-ness, n. p. 378The state of being dirty; filthiness; foulness; nastiness; baseness; sordidness.Dirt'y, a. p. 378Defiled with dirt; foul; nasty; filthy; not clean or pure; serving to defile; as, dirty hands; dirty water; a dirty white. 2. Sordid; base; groveling; as, a dirty fellow; a dirty employment.…Dirt’y, v. t. p. 378To foul; to make filthy; to soil; as, to dirty the clothes or hands. 2. To tarnish; to sully; to scandalize; — said of reputation, character, &c.Di-rŭp'tion, n. p. 378A bursting or rending asunder.Dis p. 378A prefix or inseparable preposition, from the Latin, whence Fr. des, Pr. & Sp. des and dis, It. dis. Dis denotes separation, a parting from, as in distribute, disconnect; hence it generally has the…Dis'-a-bĭl'i-ty, n. p. 378State of being disabled; deprivation of ability; want of competent physical or intellectual power, means, opportunity, and the like; incapacity; incompetency. Chatham refused to see him, pleading his…Dis-ā'ble, a. p. 378Lacking ability; unable. [Obs.] “Our disable and unactive force.” Daniel.Dis-ā'ble, v. t. p. 378To render unable or incapable; to make useless; to destroy the force, vigor, or power of action of; to deprive of competent physical or intellectual power; to incapacitate; to disqualify. “Them to…Dis-ā'ble-ment, n. p. 378The act of disabling; deprivation of ability. [Obs.] Bacon.Dis/a-būse', v. t. p. 378To free from mistake; to undeceive; to disengage from fallacy or deception; to set right. “To undeceive and disabuse the people committed to his charge.” South. If men are now sufficiently…Dĭs'ac-çĕpt', v. t. p. 378To refuse. [Obs.] N. Bacon.Dĭs'ac-cŏm'mo-dāte, v. t. p. 378To put to inconvenience; to incommode. Warburton.Dĭs'ac-cŏm'mo-dā'tion, n. p. 378A state of being unaccommodated or unsuited. Hale.Dĭs'ac-côrd', v. i. p. 378To refuse to accord or assent. [Obs.] Spenser.Dĭs'ac-côrd'ant, a. p. 378Not accordant. Fabyan.Dĭs'ac-cŭs'tom, v. t. p. 378To destroy the force of habit in; to render unaccustomed. Johnson.