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phthalus, etc. -- Dead plate (Mach.), a solid covering over a part of a fire grate, to prevent the entrance of air through that part. -- Dead pledge, a mortgage. See Mortgage. -- Dead point. (Mach.) See Dead center. -- Dead reckoning (Naut.), the method of determining the place of a ship from a record kept of the c…

Incapacity of perceiving sounds; the state of the organs which prevents the impression which constitute hearing; want of the sense of hearing.

A mortal or crushing blow; a stroke or event which kills or destroys. The deathblow of my hope. Byron.

To prevent from centralizing; to cause to withdraw from the center or place of concentration; to divide and distribute (what has been united or concentrated); -- esp. said of authority, or the administration of public affairs.

hers annexed; according to the French and American notation, a thousand involved to the eleventh power, or a unit with thirty-three ciphers annexed. [See the Note under Numeration.]

ine art which has for its end ornamentation, rather than the representation of objects or events.

To make darker or more intense; to darken; as, the event deepened the prevailing gloom. You must deepen your colors. Peacham.

Frustration by rendering null and void, or by prevention of success; as, the defeat of a plan or design.

That which defends; a safeguard. Wars preventive, upon just fears, are true defensive. Bacon. To be on the defensive, To stand on the defensive, to be or stand in a state or posture of defense or resistance, in opposition to aggression or attack.

y an opinion began to gain ground in Italy, that third cousins might marry, being in the seventh degree according to the civil law. Hallam.

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).

ee; a misdemeanor. Every regulation of the civil code necessarily implies a delict in the event of its violation. Jeffrey.

Demur; delay in acting or deciding. The same causes of demurral existed which prevented British troops from assisting in the expulsion of the French from Rome. Southey.

A substance used to prevent polarization, as upon the negative plate of a voltaic battery.

The act of deprecating; a praying against evil; prayer that an evil may be removed or prevented; strong expression of disapprobation. Humble deprecation. Milton.

To prevent by fear; hence, to hinder or prevent from action by fear of consequences, or difficulty, risk, etc. Addison. Potent enemies tempt and deter us from our duty. Tillotson. My own face deters me from my glass. Prior.

That which deters or prevents.

sel for holding liquid air, etc., having the space between the walls exhausted so as to prevent conduction of heat, and sometimes having the glass silvered to prevent absorption of radiant heat; -- called also, according to the particular shape, Dewar bulb, Dewar tube, etc.

One celebrated upon the completion of sixty, or, according to some, seventy-five, years from the beginning of the thing commemorated.

A register of daily events or transactions; a daily record; a journal; a blank book dated for the record of daily memoranda; as, a diary of the weather; a physician's diary.