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The act of reducing in rank, character, or reputation, or of abasing; a lowering from one's standing or rank in office or society; diminution; as, the degradation of a peer, a knight, a general, or a bishop. He saw many removes and degradations in all the other offices of which he had been possessed. Clarendon.…

To reduce from a higher to a lower rank or degree; to lower in rank' to deprive of office or dignity; to strip of honors; as, to degrade a nobleman, or a general officer. Prynne was sentenced by the Star Chamber Court to be degraded from the bar. Palfrey.

Reduced in rank, character, or reputation; debased; sunken; low; base. The Netherlands . . . were reduced practically to a very degraded condition. Motley.

Deprivation of rank or office; degradation. [R.] Milton.

One of a series of progressive steps upward or downward, in quality, rank, acquirement, and the like; a stage in progression; grade; gradation; as, degrees of vice and virtue; to advance by slow degrees; degree of comparison.

To make a god of; to exalt to the rank of a deity; to enroll among the deities; to apotheosize; as, Julius Cæsar was deified.

Cranstone deigned she greet. Sir W. Scott. Round turned he, as not deigning Those craven ranks to see. Macaulay.

A half-vill, consisting of five freemen or frankpledges. Blackstone.

endent upon friends. England, long dependent and degraded, was again a power of the first rank. Macaulay. Dependent covenant or contract (Law), one not binding until some connecting stipulation is performed. -- Dependent variable (Math.), a varying quantity whose changes are arbitrary, but are regarded as produced by…

To put out of place, order, or rank; to disturb the proper arrangement or order of; to throw into disorder, confusion, or embarrassment; to disorder; to disarrange; as, to derange the plans of a commander, or the affairs of a nation.

To act beneath one-s rank, place, birth, or character; to degenerate. [R.] You are a fool granted; therefore your issues, being foolish, do not derogate. Shak. Would Charles X. derogate from his ancestors Would he be the degenerate scion of that royal line Hazlitt.

An officer who assigned to each his rank and place in public shows and ceremonies.

r into; as, after the general fell, the command devolved upon (or on) the next officer in rank. His estate . . . devolved to Lord Somerville. Johnson.

wet with dew or as with dew; to bedew; to moisten; as with dew. The grasses grew A little ranker since they dewed them so. A. B. Saxton.

A subordinate or local assembly; a diet of inferior rank.

To invest with dignity or honor; to make illustrious; to give distinction to; to exalt in rank; to honor. Your worth will dignity our feast. B. Jonson.

One who possesses exalted rank or holds a position of dignity or honor; especially, one who holds an ecclesiastical rank above that of a parochial priest or clergyman.

Elevated rank; honorable station; high office, political or ecclesiastical; degree of excellence; preferment; exaltation. Macaulay. And the king said, What honor and dignity hath been done to Mordecai for this Esth. vi. 3. Reuben, thou art my firstborn, . . . the excellency of dignity, and the excellency of power. Gen.…

. The world's opinion or diminution of me. Eikon Basilike. Nor thinks it diminution to be ranked In military honor next. Philips.

her working parts. Direct-acting steam engine, one in which motion is transmitted to the crank without the intervention of a beam or lever; -- also called direct-action steam engine. -- Direct-acting steam pump, one in which the steam piston rod is directly connected with the pump rod; -- also called direct-action ste…