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The interval between two notes; as, the distance of a fourth or seventh. Angular distance, the distance made at the eye by lines drawn from the eye to two objects. -- Lunar distance. See under Lunar. -- North polar distance (Astron.), the distance on the heavens of a heavenly body from the north pole. It is the compl…

To twist of natural or regular shape; to twist aside physically; as, to distort the limbs, or the body. Whose face was distorted with pain. Thackeray.

The act of distorting, or twisting out of natural or regular shape; a twisting or writhing motion; as, the distortions of the face or body.

To turn from a regular or designed course. [Obs.] And disturb His inmost counsels from their destined aim. Milton.

An interruption of a state of peace or quiet; derangement of the regular course of things; disquiet; disorder; as, a disturbance of religious exercises; a disturbance of the galvanic current.

and of revelers to a flute accompaniment; hence, in general, a poem written in a wild irregular strain. Bentley.

To make a brief abstract of and inscribe in a book; as, judgments regularly docketed.

Low in style, and irregular in measure; as, doggerel rhymes. This may well be rhyme doggerel, quod he. Chaucer.

Any exercise, physical or mental, enforced with regularity and by constant repetition; as, a severe drill in Latin grammar.

quantities of a fluid to a test tube or other vessel. -- Dropping fire, a continued irregular discharge of firearms. -- Dropping tube, a tube for ejecting any liquid in drops.

Such as (a thing) ought to be; fulfilling obligation; proper; lawful; regular; appointed; sufficient; exact; as, due process of law; due service; in due time.

In a due, fit, or becoming manner; as it (anything) ought to be; properly; regularly.

e power of discriminating between different tones; as, a nice ear for music; -- in the singular only. Songs . . . not all ungrateful to thine ear. Tennyson.

or laws; deviating from an appointed sphere or way; departing from the usual course; irregular; anomalous; odd; as, eccentric conduct. "This brave and eccentric young man." Macaulay. He shines eccentric, like a comet's blaze. Savage. Eccentric anomaly. (Astron.) See Anomaly. -- Eccentric chuck (Mach.), a lathe chuck…

The termination of the past participle of regular, or weak, verbs; also, of analogous participial adjectives from nouns; as, pigmented; talented.

building, and the like; a sudden turn in a line of coast or course of a river; also, an angular or jointed part of any structure, as the raised arm of a chair or sofa, or a short pipe fitting, turning at an angle or bent.

An oval or oblong figure, bounded by a regular curve, which corresponds to an oblique projection of a circle, or an oblique section of a cone through its opposite sides. The greatest diameter of the ellipse is the major axis, and the least diameter is the minor axis. See Conic section, under Conic, and cf. Focus.…

The angular distance of a planet from the sun; as, the elongation of Venus or Mercury.

tercalation; the insertion of days, months, or years, in an account of time, to produce regularity; as, the embolism of a lunar month in the Greek year.

wn observation; especially, in medicine, one who deviates from the rules of science and regular practice; an ignorant and unlicensed pretender; a quack; a charlatan. Among the Greek physicians, those who founded their practice on experience called themselves empirics. Krauth-Fleming. Swallow down opinions as silly peop…