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Abstraction from worldly objects; renunciation. A trial which would have demanded of him a most heroic faith and the detachment of a saint. J. H. Newman.

ertical, the difference between the actual direction of a plumb line and the direction it would have if the earth were a perfect ellipsoid and homogeneous, -- caused by the attraction of a mountain, or irregularities in the earth's density.

right hand of its wearer. To a spectator in front, as in a pictorial representation, this would be the left side. Dexter chief, or Dexter point (Her.), a point in the dexter upper corner of the shield, being in the dexter extremity of the chief, as A in the cut. -- Dexter base, a point in the dexter lower part or base…

To express as in dialogue. [R.] And dialogued for him what he would say. Shak.

Pertaining to the discursive faculty, its acts or products. I would employ . . . dianoetic to denote the operation of the discursive, elaborative, or comparative faculty. Sir W. Hamilton.

er; -- perhaps so called from the trick of Dido, who having bought so much land as a hide would cover, is said to have cut it into thin strips long enough to inclose a spot for a citadel.

An addition to a coat of arms to distinguish the bearings of two persons, which would otherwise be the same. See Augmentation, and Marks of cadency, under Cadency.

m in which a simple differential combination produces such a change of motion or force as would, with ordinary compound arrangements, require a considerable train of parts. It is used for overcoming great resistance or producing very slow or very rapid motion. -- Differential pulley. (Mach.) (a) A portable hoisting ap…

To work as a ditcher; to dig. [Obs.] He would thresh and thereto dike and delve. Chaucer.

s; detriment; hindrance; prejudice to interest, fame, credit, profit, or other good. They would throw a construction on his conduct, to his disadvantage before the public. Bancroft.

ion or possession a spiritual corporation. Appropriations of the several parsonages . . . would heave been, by the rules of the common law, disappropriated. Blackstone.

ther contents; as, the water pipe discharges freely. The cloud, if it were oily or fatty, would not discharge. Bacon.

r connection of; to disunite; to sever; to separate; to disperse. The commonwealth itself would . . . be disconnected into the dust and powder of individuality. Burke. This restriction disconnects bank paper and the precious metals. Walsh.

e or discompose the countenance of; to put of countenance; to put to shame; to abash. How would one look from his majestic brow . . . Discountenance her despised! Milton. The hermit was somewhat discountenanced by this observation. Sir W. Scott.

faction or disgust wherewith it is received. Locke. In a vulgar hack writer such oddities would have excited only disgust. Macaulay.

s an heir, from coming into possession of any property or right, which, by law or custom, would devolve on him in the course of descent. Of how fair a portion Adam disinherited his whole posterity! South.

iety lacerated and dismembered. Gladstone. By whose hands the blow should be struck which would dismember that once mighty empire. Buckle.

ct of dismembering, or the state of being dismembered; cutting in piece; m The Castilians would doubtless have resented the dismemberment of the unwieldy body of which they formed the head. Macaulay.

en they shall most need them. South. My plan has given offense to some gentlemen, whom it would not be very safe to disoblige. Addison.

employ; to dispose of. Importuned him that what he designed to bestow on her funeral, he would rather dispose among the poor. Evelyn.