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y a single beat or excursion; -- said of galvanometers and other instruments in which the needle or index moves to the extent of its deflection and stops with little or no further oscillation. Deadbeat escapement. See under Escapement.

ometimes with of. Yet not so strictly hath our Lord imposed Labor, as to debar us when we need Refreshment. Milton. Their wages were so low as to debar them, not only from the comforts but from the common decencies of civilized life. Buckle.

y in the deck. Massinger. Between decks. See under Between. -- Deck bridge (Railroad Engineering), a bridge which carries the track upon the upper chords; -- distinguished from a through bridge, which carries the track upon the lower chords, between the girders. -- Deck curb (Arch.), a curb supporting a deck in roof…

ination compass (Physics), a compass arranged for finding the declination of the magnetic needle. -- Declination of the compass or needle, the horizontal angle which the magnetic needle makes with the true north-and-south line.

An instrument for measuring the declination of the magnetic needle.

cause to turn aside; to bend; as, rays of light are often deflected. Sitting with their knees deflected under them. Lord (1630).

, or intellectual degeneracy; disgrace; abasement; debasement. The . . . degradation of a needy man of letters. Macaulay. Deplorable is the degradation of our nature. South. Moments there frequently must be, when a sidegradation of his state. Blair.

To require as necessary or useful; to be in urgent need of; hence, to call for; as, the case demands care.

to admit to residence, with certain rights and privileges. As soon as denizened, they domineer. Dryden.

re the mind; presentation. The influence of princes upon the dispositions of their courts needs not the deposition of their examples, since it hath the authority of a known principle. W. Montagu.

Not possessing the necessaries of life; in a condition of want; needy; without possessions or resources; very poor. They wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins; being destitute, afflicted, tormented. Heb. xi. 37.

The state of being deprived of anything; the state or condition of being destitute, needy, or without resources; deficiency; lack; extreme poverty; utter want; as, the inundation caused general destitution.

To cause to deviate. [R.] To deviate a needle. J. D. Forbes.

nsequence of the rotation of the earth. -- Deviation of the compass, the angle which the needle of a ship's compass makes with the magnetic meridian by reason of the magnetism of the iron parts of the ship. -- Deviation of the line of the vertical, the difference between the actual direction of a plumb line and the d…

cious, hemipterous insect (Prionotus cristatus); the wheel bug. [U.S.] -- Devil's darning-needle. (Zoöl.) See under Darn, v. t. -- Devil's fingers, Devil's hand (Zoöl.), the common British starfish (Asterias rubens); -- also applied to a sponge with stout branches. [Prov. Eng., Irish & Scot.] -- Devil's riding-horse (…

One of the small bones in the knee joints of sheep uniting the bones above and below the joints.

racter in a play by James Kenney, entitled "Raising the wind." The name is applied to any needy, tricky, constant borrower; a confidence man.

ts passing in opposite directions are measured by the difference of their effect upon the needle. -- Differential gearing, a train of toothed wheels, usually an epicyclic train, so arranged as to constitute a differential motion. -- Differential motion, a mechanism in which a simple differential combination produces…

Prolixity; diffuse discourse. [Obs.] "What needeth greater dilatation" Chaucer.

izontal line and a tangent drawn from the eye to the surface of the ocean. -- Dip of the needle, or Magnetic dip, the angle formed, in a vertical plane, by a freely suspended magnetic needle, or the line of magnetic force, with a horizontal line; -- called also inclination. -- Dip of a stratum (Geol.), its greatest a…