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A woman whose husband is unfaithful to her. [Obs.]

art of a sleeve turned back from the hand. He would visit his mistress in a morning gown, band,short cuffs, and a peaked beard. Arbuthnot.

oncealment; in secret. -- Curtain lecture, a querulous lecture given by a wife to her husband within the bed curtains, or in bed. Jerrold. A curtain lecture is worth all the sermons in the world for teaching the virtues of patience and long-suffering. W. Irving. -- The curtain falls, the performance closes. -- The cu…

the life estate which a husband has in the lands of his deceased wife, which by the common law takes effect where he has had issue by her, born alive, and capable of inheriting the lands. Mozley & W.

A round, flattish, wooden block, encircled by a rope, or an iron band, and pierced with three holes to receive the lanyard; -- used to extend the shrouds and stays, and for other purposes. Called also deadman's eye. Totten.

Act of abandoning a person or cause to which one is bound by allegiance or duty, or to which one has attached himself; desertion; failure in duty; a falling away; apostasy; backsliding. "Defection and falling away from God." Sir W. Raleigh. The general defection of the whole realm. Sir J. Davies.

To corrupt the chastity of; to debauch; to violate. The husband murder'd and the wife defiled. Prior.

To bind up; to bandage.

A binding up; a bandaging. Wiseman.

To disorganize, or disband and send home, as troops which have been mobilized.

all square block or projection in cornices, a number of which are ranged in an ornamental band; -- used particularly in the Ionic, Corinthian, and Composite orders.

To forsake; to abandon; to desist or deviate (from); not to adhere to; -- with from; as, we can not depart from our rules; to depart from a title or defense in legal pleading. If the plan of the convention be found to depart from republican principles. Madison.

Deviation or abandonment, as from or of a rule or course of action, a plan, or a purpose. Any departure from a national standard. Prescott.

Given up or forsaken by the natural owner or guardian; left and abandoned; as, derelict lands. The affections which these exposed or derelict children bear to their mothers, have no grounds of nature or assiduity but civility and opinion. Jer. Taylor.

The act of leaving with an intention not to reclaim or resume; an utter forsaking abandonment. Cession or dereliction, actual or tacit, of other powers. Burke.

e (especially something which one should stay by and support); to leave in the lurch; to abandon; to forsake; -- implying blame, except sometimes when used of localities; as, to desert a friend, a principle, a cause, one's country. "The deserted fortress." Prescott.

rty, a friend, or any one to whom he owes service; especially, a soldier or a seaman who abandons the service without leave; one guilty of desertion.

The act of deserting or forsaking; abandonment of a service, a cause, a party, a friend, or any post of duty; the quitting of one's duties willfully and without right; esp., an absconding from military or naval service. Such a resignation would have seemed to his superior a desertion or a reproach. Bancroft.…

A state of despair, or utter hopeless; abandonment of hope; extreme recklessness; reckless fury. In the desperation of the moment, the officers even tried to cut their way through with their swords. W. Irving.

To leave destitute; to forsake; to abandon. [Obs.] To forsake or destitute a plantation. Bacon.