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es place, or is appointed to take place; a given point of time; epoch; as, the date of a battle. He at once, Down the long series of eventful time, So fixed the dates of being, so disposed To every living soul of every kind The field of motion, and the hour of rest. Akenside.

At all ages the death rate is higher in towns than in rural districts. Darwin. -- Death rattle, a rattling or gurgling in the throat of a dying person. -- Death's door, the boundary of life; the partition dividing life from death. -- Death stroke, a stroke causing death. -- Death throe, the spasm of death. -- Deat…

To destroy a considerable part of; as, to decimate an army in battle; to decimate a people by disease.

- To clear the decks (Naut.), to remove every unnecessary incumbrance in preparation for battle; to prepare for action. -- To sweep the deck (Card Playing), to clear off all the stakes on the table by winning them.

An overthrow, as of an army in battle; loss of a battle; repulse suffered; discomfiture; -- opposed to victory.

To deprive of horns; to prevent the growth or the horns of (cattle) by burning their ends soon after they start. See Dishorn. "Dehorning cattle." Farm Journal (1886).

To pasture; to feed; to graze; also, to use for pasture. [R.] Cattle, to graze and departure in his grounds. Blackstone. A right to cut wood upon or departure land. Washburn.

nt and less depth; -- the reverse of ploy; as, to deploy a column of troops into line of battle.

To refuse; to decline. [Obs.] "To detrect the battle." Holinshed.

One of a breed of hardy cattle originating in the country of Devon, England. Those of pure blood have a deep red color. The small, longhorned variety, called North Devons, is distinguished by the superiority of its working oxen.

In a diffident manner. To stand diffidently against each other with their thoughts in battle array. Hobbes.

anging sound; clamor; roar. Think you a little din can daunt mine ears Shak. He knew the battle's din afar. Sir W. Scott. The dust and din and steam of town. Tennyson.

w into disorder; to break the array of. Who with fiery steeds Oft disarrayed the foes in battle ranged. Fenton.

To deprive of horns; as, to dishorn cattle. "Dishorn the spirit." Shak.

sabling terror; a sinking of the spirits; consternation. I . . . can not think of such a battle without dismay. Macaulay. Thou with a tiger spring dost leap upon thy prey, And tear his helpless breast, o'erwhelmed with wild dismay. Mrs. Barbauld.

diseases of brutes; as, a distemper in dogs; the horse distemper; the horn distemper in cattle. They heighten distempers to diseases. Suckling.

for the performance of a duty, as for nonpayment of rent or taxes, or for injury done by cattle, etc.

Without horns; as, dodded cattle; without beards; as, dodded corn. Halliwell.

A perennial, creeping grass (Cynodon dactylon), highly prized, in Hindostan, as food for cattle, and acclimated in the United States. [Written also doub grass.]

penal decree; condemnation. The first dooms of London provide especially the recovery of cattle belonging to the citizens. J. R. Green. Now against himself he sounds this doom. Shak.