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strip or pluck off the feather of; to deprive of of plumage. On the depluming of the pope every bird had his own feather. Fuller.

The invention and conduct of the subject; the disposition of every part, and the general order of the whole. Arts of design, those into which the designing of artistic forms and figures enters as a principal part, as architecture, painting, engraving, sculpture. -- School of design, one in which are taught the inventi…

The act or state of desisting; cessation. [R.] Boyle. If fatigue of body or brain were in every case followed by desistance . . . then would the system be but seldom out of working order. H. Spencer.

To roll onward or downward; to pass on. Every headlong stream Devolves its winding waters to the main. Akenside. Devolved his rounded periods. Tennyson.

appeared a standard English language. Earle. [Charles V.] could address his subjects from every quarter in their native dialect. Prescott.

An authoritative statement; a dogmatic saying; an apothegm. A class of critical dicta everywhere current. M. Arnold.

, or by prescribed rules; to regulate medicinally the food of. She diets him with fasting every day. Spenser.

The supposed act or tendency in being of every kind, whether organic or inorganic, to assume or produce a more complex structure or functions.

To pass by spreading every way, to diffuse itself.

Having the quality of diffusing; capable of spreading every way by flowing; spreading widely; widely reaching; copious; diffuse. "A plentiful and diffusive perfume." Hare.

A ditch; a channel for water made by digging. Little channels or dikes cut to every bed. Ray.

A state of things in which evils or obstacles present themselves on every side, and it is difficult to determine what course to pursue; a vexatious alternative or predicament; a difficult choice or position. A strong dilemma in a desperate case! To act with infamy, or quit the place. Swift. Horns of a dilemma, alternat…

The mark left by a blow; an indentation or impression made by violence; a dent. Dryden. Every dint a sword had beaten in it [the shield]. Tennyson.

ss from military service; as, to disband an army. They disbanded themselves and returned, every man to his own dwelling. Knolles.

tate of being discomfited; rout; overthrow; defeat; frustration; confusion and dejection. Every man's sword was against his fellow, and there was a very great discomfiture. 1 Sam. xiv. 20. A hope destined to end . . . in discomfiture and disgrace. Macaulay.

Dissatisfied; uneasy in mind; malcontent. And every one that was in distress, and every one that was in debt, and every one that was discontented, gathered themselves unto him. 1 Sam. xxii. 2. -- Dis`con*tent"ed*ly, adv. -- Dis`con*tent"ed*ness, n.

inuous; interrupted; broken off. A path that is zigzag, discontinuous, and intersected at every turn by human negligence. De Quincey.

or from the prosecution of anything; a determent; as, the revolution was commenced under every possible discouragement. "Discouragements from vice." Swift.

Containing dialogue or conversation; interlocutory. The epic is everywhere interlaced with dialogue or discoursive scenes. Dryden.

or or disesteem; ill repute; reproach; -- applied to persons or things. It is the duty of every Christian to be concerned for the reputation or discredit his life may bring on his profession. Rogers.