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To suspend judgment concerning; to doubt of or hesitate about. [Obs.] The latter I demur, for in their looks Much reason, and in their actions, oft appears. Milton.

A Roman silver coin of the value of about fourteen cents; the "penny" of the New Testament; -- so called from being worth originally ten of the pieces called as.

, open, two-wheeled carriage for one horse; a kind of gig. ("The term and vehicle common about 1825." Latham.)

of night, or of winter. From you unclouded depth above. Keble. The depth closed me round about. Jonah ii. 5.

elineate; to trace or mark out; as, to describe a circle by the compasses; a torch waved about the head in such a way as to describe a circle.

spondency. The people, when once infected, lose their relish for happiness [and] saunter about with looks of despondence. Goldsmith.

ul, n., pl. Dessert-spoonfuls, as much as a dessert spoon will hold, usually reckoned at about two and a half fluid drams.

n 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.

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…

Leaping or skipping about. [Obs.] I shot at it [a bird], but it was so desultory that I missed my aim. Gilbert White.

ipbuilding), built by forming the outer skin of two layers of planking, making angles of about 45º with the keel, in opposite directions. -- Diagonal cleavage. See under Cleavage. -- Diagonal molding (Arch.), a chevron or zigzag molding. -- Diagonal rib. (Arch.) See Cross-springer. -- Diagonal scale, a scale which…

The principal meal of the day, eaten by most people about midday, but by many (especially in cities) at a later hour.

crops. -- Diogenes' tub, the tub which the philosopher Diogenes is said to have carried about with him as his house, in which he lived.

A mode of scenic representation, invented by Daguerre and Bouton, in which a painting is seen from a distance through a large opening. By a combination of transparent and opaque painting, and of transmitted and reflected light, and by contrivances such as screens and shutters, much diversity of scenic effect is produce…

An extinct Quaternary marsupial from Australia, about as large as the hippopotamus; -- so named because of its two large front teeth. See Illustration in Appendix.

A statue of an athlete holding the discus, or about to throw it

ith a thick strongly refracting rim, and a thinner central portion. One of them measures about

r with. [Obs.] I have spoken to my brother, who is the patron, to discourse the minister about it. Evelyn.

ive of an edge; to blunt; to dull. Served a little to disedge The sharpness of that pain about her heart. Tennyson.

ange by liquor; to intoxicate. I have just left the right worshipful, and his myrmidons, about a sneaker or five gallons; the whole magistracy was pretty well disguised before I gave them the ship. Spectator.