Search the Dictionary

One who pretends to be what he is not; one who personates another; an impostor; a cheat. I fear thou art another counterfeit; And yet, in faith, thou bears'st thee like a king. Shak.

An opposite or opposing view; opposition; a posture in which two persons front each other. Within the gates of hell sat Death and Sin, In counterview. Milton M. Peisse has ably advocated the counterview in his preface and appendixx. Sir W. Hamilton.

A stone placed on the impost of a pier for receiving the first stone of an arch.

istance. In one form it consists of a projecting arm or jib of timber or iron, a rotating post or base, and the necessary tackle, windlass, etc.; -- so called from a fancied similarity between its arm and the neck of a crane See Illust. Of Derrick.

opinions professed or adhered to. I love him not, nor fear him; there's my creed. Shak. Apostles' creed, Athanasian creed, Nicene creed. See under Apostle, Athanasian, Nicene.

A stanchion or post of wood or iron, with two arms for supporting a boom, spare yards, etc.; -- called also crane and crutch. Totten.

A forked stanchion or post; a crotch. See Crotch.

A movement or phase in post-impressionism (which see, below). - - Cu"bist (#), n.

Post; mail; also, the mail or postal arrangements; -- spelt also dawk, and dauk. [India] Dak boat, a mail boat. Percy Smith. -- Dak bungalow, a traveler's rest-house at the and of a dak stage. -- To travel by dak, to travel by relays of palanquines or other carriage, as fast as the post along a road.…

Dead letter. (a) A letter which, after lying for a certain fixed time uncalled for at the post office to which it was directed, is then sent to the general post office to be opened. (b) That which has lost its force or authority; as, the law has become a dead letter. -- Dead-letter office, a department of the general…

specifically, to trade with. "Dealing with witches." Shak. (b) To reprove solemnly; to expostulate with. The deacons of his church, who, to use their own phrase, "dealt with him" on the sin of rejecting the aid which Providence so manifestly held out. Hawthorne. Return . . . and I will deal well with thee. Gen. xxxii.…

One who deceives; one who leads into error; a cheat; an impostor. The deceived and the deceiver are his. Job xii. 16.

. Trench. Deceptive cadence (Mus.), a cadence on the subdominant, or in some foreign key, postponing the final close.

The act or posture of lying down. The ancient manner of decumbency. Sir T. Browne.

In a decumbent posture.

duty, or to which one has attached himself; desertion; failure in duty; a falling away; apostasy; backsliding. "Defection and falling away from God." Sir W. Raleigh. The general defection of the whole realm. Sir J. Davies.

In a state or posture of defense. Milton.

To put off; to postpone to a future time; to delay the execution of; to delay; to withhold. Defer the spoil of the city until night. Shak. God . . . will not long defer To vindicate the glory of his name. Milton.

The act of delaying; postponement. [R.] My grief, joined with the instant business, Begs a deferment. Suckling.

worse; decline; degradation; debasement; degeneracy; deterioration. Our degeneration and apostasy. Bates.