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A precious stone or gem excelling in brilliancy and beautiful play of prismatic colors, and remarkable for extreme hardness.

A double star; -- applied to the nucleus of a cell, when, during cell division, the loops of the nuclear network separate into two groups, preparatory to the formation of two daughter nuclei. See Karyokinesis.

One of the Diatomaceæ, a family of minute unicellular Algæ having a siliceous covering of great delicacy, each individual multiplying by spontaneous division. By some authors diatoms are called Bacillariæ, but this word is not in general use.

ds of food or drink; different states of health; different shapes; different degrees of excellence. Men are as different from each other, as the regions in which they are born are different. Dryden.

The state of being worthy or honorable; elevation of mind or character; true worth; excellence.

ame species, and to animals in which the ovum is produced by one individual and the sperm cell by another; -- opposed to monoecious.

The soft, spongy, or cancellated substance between the plates of the skull.

sadvantageous position in which he had been placed, he gave clear indications of future excellence. Prescott. -- Dis*ad`van*ta"geous*ly, adv. -- Dis*ad`van*ta"geous*ness, n.

assimilation. Disassimilative processes constitute a marked feature in the life of animal cells. McKendrick.

Pertaining to, or resembling, a disk; as, discal cells.

ance. A compliance will discommend me to Mr. Coventry, and a discompliance to my lord chancellor. Pepys.

The art and manner of speaking and conversing. Of excellent breeding, admirable discourse. Shak.

obvious satire, or implied dislike. Hannah More. We have spoken of the dislike of these excellent women for Sheridan and Fox. J. Morley. His dislike of a particular kind of sensational stories. A. W. Ward.

any one in marriage under his or her degree; injurious union with something of inferior excellence; a lowering in rank or estimation. [Eng.] And thought that match a foul disparagement. Spenser.

Inequality; difference in age, rank, condition, or excellence; dissimilitude; -- followed by between, in, of, as to, etc.; as, disparity in, or of, years; a disparity as to color. The disparity between God and his intelligent creatures. I. Taylor. The disparity of numbers was not such as ought to cause any uneasiness.…

One of the partitions which divide a compound ovary into cells.

Having two thecæ, cells, or compartments.

Godlike; heavenly; excellent in the highest degree; supremely admirable; apparently above what is human. In this application, the word admits of comparison; as, the divinest mind. Sir J. Davies. "The divine Desdemona." Shak. A divine sentence is in the lips of the king. Prov. xvi. 10. But not to one in this benighted a…

In a divine or godlike manner; holily; admirably or excellently in a supreme degree. Most divinely fair. Tennyson.

The quality of being divine; superhuman or supreme excellence. Shak.