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A bar, connected with a switch, longer than the distance between any two consecutive wheels of a train (45 to 50 feet), laid inside a rail and operated by the wheels so that the switch cannot be thrown until all the train is past the switch.

h African drongo shrikes (Edolius retifer, and E. remifer), believed by the natives to be connected with sorcery. -- Devil may care, reckless, defiant of authority; -- used adjectively. Longfellow. -- Devil's apron (Bot.), the large kelp (Laminaria saccharina, and L. longicruris) of the Atlantic ocean, having a black…

A perforated block, commonly of hardened steel used in connection with a punch, for punching holes, as through plates, or blanks from plates, or for forming cups or capsules, as from sheet metal, by drawing.

form of slip coupling used in light machinery to regulate at pleasure the velocity of the connected shaft. -- Differential duties (Polit. Econ.), duties which are not imposed equally upon the same products imported from different countries. -- Differential galvanometer (Elec.), a galvanometer having two coils or circ…

. Digestive apparatus, the organs of food digestion, esp. the alimentary canal and glands connected with it. -- Digestive salt, the chloride of potassium.

designed to create delay in the trial of a cause, generally founded upon some matter not connected with the merits of the case.

A dilettante. Though few art lovers can be connoisseurs, many are dilettants. Fairholt.

Pertaining to, or connected with, diphtheria.

A picture or series of pictures painted on two tablets connected by hinges. See Triptych.

steam engine. -- Direct-acting steam pump, one in which the steam piston rod is directly connected with the pump rod; -- also called direct-action steam pump.

Coupled without intermediate connections, as an engine and a dynamo.

wo, and cf. Bi-, Di-, Dia-. Dis- denotes separation, a parting from, as in distribute, disconnect; hence it often has the force of a privative and negative, as in disarm, disoblige, disagree. Also intensive, as in dissever.

A detachment or separation from a former connection. [R.]

Freed from a former connection or dependence; disconnected. [R.]

To disconnect from things associated; to disunite; to dissociate. Florio.

ectricity, an instrument for discharging a Leyden jar, or electrical battery, by making a connection between the two surfaces; a discharging rod.

The act of discontinuing, or the state of being discontinued; want of continued connection or continuity; breaking off; cessation; interruption; as, a discontinuance of conversation or intercourse; discontinuance of a highway or of travel.

Breach or interruption of continuity; separation of parts in a connected series; discontinuance. Upon any discontinuation of parts, made either by bubbles or by shaking the glass, the whole mercury falls. Sir I. Newton.

To extricate from complication and perplexity; disengage from embarrassing connection or intermixture; to disembroil; to set free; to separate. To disentangle truth from error. Stewart. To extricate and disentangle themselves out of this labyrinth. Clarendon. A mind free and disentangled from all corporeal mixtures. Bp…

To unsettle; to break up (anything established); to deprive, as a church, of its connection with the state. M. Arnold.