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A unit employed by oculists in numbering glasses according to the metric system; a refractive power equal to that of a glass whose principal focal distance is one meter.

Of or pertaining to the dioptre, or to the metric system of numbering glasses. -- n.

portion; as, 3:6::12:24. -- Discrete quantity, that which must be divided into units, as number, and is opposed to continued quantity, as duration, or extension.

lor. The disparity between God and his intelligent creatures. I. Taylor. The disparity of numbers was not such as ought to cause any uneasiness. Macaulay.

Causing uneasiness. [R.] So distasteful and disquietous to a number of men. Milton.

omething proposed; nonagreement, nonconcurrence, or disagreement. The dissent of no small number [of peers] is frequently recorded. Hallam.

Several; sundry; various; more than one, but not a great number; as, divers philosophers. Also used substantively or pronominally. Divers of Antonio's creditors. Shak.

To make partition of among a number; to apportion, as profits of stock among proprietors; to give in shares; to distribute; to mete out; to share. True justice unto people to divide. Spenser. Ye shall divide the land by lot. Num. xxxiii. 54.

A number or quantity which is to be divided.

rnatural power or virtue; something which inspires awe. They say there is divinity in odd numbers. Shak. There's such divinity doth hedge a king. Shak.

The process of finding how many times one number or quantity is contained in another; the reverse of multiplication; also, the rule by which the operation is performed.

The number by which the dividend is divided. Common divisor. (Math.) See under Common, a.

A Linnæan class of plants including all that have any number of stamens between twelve and nineteen.

hat second object causes a third to fall, etc.; the process can be repeated an indefinite number of times. Derived from an entertainment using dominoes arranged in a row, each standing on edge and therefore easily knocked over; when the first is made to fall against the next, it starts a sequence which ends when all ha…

Having the petals in a flower considerably increased beyond the natural number, usually as the result of cultivation and the expense of the stamens, or stamens and pistils. The white water lily and some other plants have their blossoms naturally double.

Two dice, each of which, when thrown, has the same number of spots on the face lying uppermost; as, to throw doublets.

A state of depression; low state; abasement. [Colloq.] It the downs of life too much outnumber the ups. M. Arnold.

An indefinite small number. Milton. A baker's dozen, thirteen; -- called also a long dozen.

a box or wheel, as a lottery ticket; to receive from a lottery by the drawing out of the numbers for prizes or blanks; hence, to obtain by good fortune; to win; to gain; as, he drew a prize.

A collection of cattle driven, or cattle collected for driving; a number of animals, as oxen, sheep, or swine, driven in a body.