Search the Dictionary

The act or state of desisting; cessation. [R.] Boyle. If fatigue of body or brain were in every case followed by desistance . . . then would the system be but seldom out of working order. H. Spencer.

Determined by destiny; fated. Chaucer.

Determined by destiny; fated. [Obs.] "The order destinal." Chaucer.

A believer in destiny; a fatalist. [R.]

is destined; predetermined state; condition foreordained by the Divine or by human will; fate; lot; doom. Thither he Will come to know his destiny. Shak. No man of woman born, Coward or brave, can shun his destiny. Bryant.

Causing destruction; tending to bring about ruin, death, or devastation; ruinous; fatal; productive of serious evil; mischievous; pernicious; -- often with of or to; as, intemperance is destructive of health; evil examples are destructive to the morals of youth. Time's destructive power. Wordsworth. Destructive distill…

gion; one who is superstitiously given to religious duties and ceremonies; a bigot. While Father Le Blanc was very devout he was not a devotee. A. S. Hardy.

eased in quantity, but contains saccharine matter, in which case the disease is generally fatal. Diabetes mellitus Etym: [NL., sweet diabetes], that form of diabetes in which the urine contains saccharine matter. -- Diabetes insipidus Etym: [NL., lit., diabetes], the form of diabetes in which the urine contains no abn…

xide of lead and oil, and consisting essentially of glycerin mixed with lead salts of the fat acids.

Attended with suffering or disaster; very unfortunate; calamitous; ill-fated; as, a disastrous day; a disastrous termination of an undertaking. Wherein I spake of most disastrous chances. Shak. -- Dis*as"trous*ly, adv. -- Dis*as"trous*ness, n.

id or other contents; as, the water pipe discharges freely. The cloud, if it were oily or fatty, would not discharge. Bacon.

ter of our discontent Made glorious summer by this sun of York. Shak. The rapacity of his father's administration had excited such universal discontent. Hallam

s, he was discouraged in his undertaking; he need not be discouraged from a like attempt. Fathers, provoke not your children to anger, lest they be discouraged. Col. iii. 21.

he better part of valor is discretion. Shak. The greatest parts without discretion may be fatal to their owner. Hume.

ve of title or claim. Every ordinary offense does not disentitle a son to the love of his father. South.

Fatal; ill-omened; unlucky. [Obs.] An ugly fiend more foul than dismal day. Spenser.

Regulation of the fate, condition, application, etc., of anything; the transference of anything into new hands, a new place, condition, etc.; alienation, or parting; as, a disposal of property. A domestic affair of great importance, which is no less than the disposal of my sister Jenny for life. Tatler.…

, and wise men to irresolution and melancholy. Bacon. To dispose of. (a) To determine the fate of; to exercise the power of control over; to fix the condition, application, employment, etc. of; to direct or assign for a use. Freedom to order their actions and dispose of their possessions and persons. Locke.…

late certain evidences. W. Caxton. I shall . . . your cloister do make. Piers Plowman. A fatal plague which many did to die. Spenser. We do you to wit [i. e., We make you to know] of the grace of God bestowed on the churches of Macedonia. 2 Cor. viii. 1.

To hunt or track like a hound; to follow insidiously or indefatigably; to chase with a dog or dogs; to worry, as if by dogs; to hound with importunity. I have been pursued, dogged, and waylaid. Pope. Your sins will dog you, pursue you. Burroughs. Eager ill-bred petitioners, who do not so properly supplicate as hunt the…