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perish; -- said of animals and vegetables; often with of, by, with, from, and rarely for, before the cause or occasion of death; as, to die of disease or hardships; to die by fire or the sword; to die with horror at the thought. To die by the roadside of grief and hunger. Macaulay. She will die from want of care. Tenny…

pursuit; assiduous; industrious. Seest thou a man diligent in his business he shall stand before kings. Prov. xxii. 29. Diligent cultivation of elegant literature. Prescott.

In placer mining, earth, gravel, etc., before washing. Dirt bed (Geom.), a layer of clayey earth forming a stratum in a geological formation. Dirt beds are common among the coal measures. -- Dirt eating. (a) The use of certain kinds of clay for food, existing among some tribes of Indians; geophagism. Humboldt. (b) (Me…

efix from the Latin, whence F. dés, or sometimes dé-, dis-. The Latin dis- appears as di- before b, d, g, l, m, n, r, v, becomes dif- before f, and either dis- or di- before j. It is from the same root as bis twice, and duo, E. two. See Two, and cf. Bi-, Di-, Dia-. Dis- denotes separation, a parting from, as in distrib…

rofit, or other good. They would throw a construction on his conduct, to his disadvantage before the public. Bancroft.

To debase or degrade. [Obs.] Nor you nor your house were so much as spoken of before I disbased myself. B. Jonson.

have discontinued school Above a twelvemonth. Shak. Taught the Greek tongue, discontinued before in these parts the space of seven hundred years. Daniel. They modify and discriminate the voice, without appearing to discontinue it. Holder.

To take into consideration beforehand; to anticipate and form conclusions concerning (an event).

courses of natural reason. South. Sure he that made us with such large discourse, Looking before and after, gave us not That capability and godlike reason To fust in us unused. Shak.

examine or search thoroughly; to exhaust a remedy against, as against a principal debtor before proceeding against the surety. Burrill.

extricate from confusion. Vaillant has disembroiled a history that was lost to the world before his time. Addison.

yrmidons, about a sneaker or five gallons; the whole magistracy was pretty well disguised before I gave them the ship. Spectator.

d. [Obs.] Inglorious triumphs and dishonest scars. Pope. Speak no foul or dishonest words before them [the women]. Sir T. North.

To make allowance for the dispart in (a gun), when taking aim. Every gunner, before he shoots, must truly dispart his piece. Lucar.

to depopulate. Leave the land dispeopled and desolate. Sir T. More. A certain island long before dispeopled . . . by sea rivers. Milton.

To spread before the view; to show; to exhibit to the sight, or to the mind; to make manifest. His statement . . . displays very clearly the actual condition of the army. Burke.

propension to; to incline; to make inclined; -- usually followed by to, sometimes by for before the indirect object. Endure and conquer; Jove will soon dispose To future good our past and present woes. Dryden. Suspicions dispose kings to tyranny, husbands to jealousy, and wise men to irresolution and melancholy. Bacon…

of, particularly of land or real estate; to disseize; to eject; -- usually followed by of before the thing taken away; as, to dispossess a king of his crown. Usurp the land, and dispossess the swain. Goldsmith.

disparage; to blame. Dispraising the power of his adversaries. Chaucer. I dispraised him before the wicked, that the wicked might not fall in love with him. Shak.

operties necessary for any purpose; to render unfit; to incapacitate; -- with for or from before the purpose, state, or act. My common illness disqualifies me for all conversation; I mean my deafness. Swift. Me are not disqualified by their engagements in trade from being received in high society. Southey.…