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To free from extraneous or polluting matter; to clear; to purify, as from that which materializes. We defecate the notion from materiality. Glanvill. Defecated from all the impurities of sense. Bp. Warburton.

a respectful manner; to refer; -- with to. Hereupon the commissioners . . . deferred the matter to the Earl of Northumberland. Bacon.

A discharge or flowing of humors or fluid matter, as from the nose in catarrh; -- sometimes used synonymously with inflammation. Dunglison.

To remove grease or fatty matter from, as wool or silk.

To deprive of material or physical qualities or characteristics. Dematerializing matter by stripping if of everything which . . . has distinguished matter. Milman.

To manage; to conduct; to treat. [Our] clergy have with violence demeaned the matter. Milton.

of gravity or modesty. They . . . looked as demurely as they could; for 't was a hanging matter to laugh unseasonably. Dryden.

action, for the judgment of the court on the question, whether, assuming the truth of the matter alleged by the opposite party, it is sufficient in law to sustain the action or defense, and hence whether the party resting is bound to answer or proceed further. Demurrer to evidence, an exception taken by a party to the…

the constituent parts massed or crowded together; close; compact; thick; containing much matter in a small space; heavy; opaque; as, a dense crowd; a dense forest; a dense fog. All sorts of bodies, firm and fluid, dense and rare. Ray. To replace the cloudy barrier dense. Cowper.

The ratio of mass, or quantity of matter, to bulk or volume, esp. as compared with the mass and volume of a portion of some substance used as a standard.

he dense calcified substance of which teeth are largely composed. It contains less animal matter than bone, and in the teeth of man is situated beneath the enamel.

A matter depending, or in suspense, and still to be determined; ground of controversy or quarrel. [Obs.] To go on now with my first dependence. Beau. & Fl.

To deprive of superabundant water, as by evaporation or distillation; to clear of aqueous matter; to rectify; -- used of spirits and acids.

That is deposited, or laid or thrown down; as, a deposit in a flue; especially, matter precipitated from a solution (as the siliceous deposits of hot springs), or that which is mechanically deposited (as the mud, gravel, etc., deposits of a river). The deposit already formed affording to the succeeding portion of the c…

That which is deposited; matter laid or thrown down; sediment; alluvial matter; as, banks are sometimes depositions of alluvial matter.

To free from impurities, heterogeneous matter, or feculence; to purify; to cleanse. To depurate the mass of blood. Boyle.

The act or process of depurating or freeing from foreign or impure matter, as a liquid or wound.

f ascend. The rain descended, and the floods came. Matt. vii. 25. We will here descend to matters of later date. Fuller.

One who business it is so detect criminals or discover matters of secrecy.

To cleanse; to purge away, as foul or offending matter from the body, or from an ulcer.