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e -May strengthen my decays. Herbert. His [Johnson's] failure was not to be ascribed to intellectual decay. Macaulay. Which has caused the decay of the consonants to follow somewhat different laws. James Byrne.

To translate from secret characters or ciphers into intelligible terms; as, to decipher a letter written in secret characters.

d decorums of his station. Hallam. If your master Would have a queen his beggar, you must tell him, That majesty, to keep decorum, must No less beg than a kingdom. Shak.

Of penetrating or far-reaching intellect; not superficial; thoroughly skilled; sagacious; cunning. Deep clerks she dumbs. Shak.

state of being reduced in rank, character, or reputation; baseness; moral, physical, or intellectual degeneracy; disgrace; abasement; debasement. The . . . degradation of a needy man of letters. Macaulay. Deplorable is the degradation of our nature. South. Moments there frequently must be, when a sidegradation of his s…

ion, character, or reputation; to lessen the value of; to lower the physical, moral, or intellectual character of; to debase; to bring shame or contempt upon; to disgrace; as, vice degrades a man. O miserable mankind, to what fall Degraded, to what wretched state reserved! Milton. He pride . . . struggled hard against…

The Dolphin, a constellation near the equator and east of Aquila.

ng power to denote; designating or marking off. Proper names are preëminently denotative; telling us that such as object has such a term to denote it, but telling us nothing as to any single attribute. Latham.

That which is attached to something else as its consequence, subordinate, satellite, and the like. This earth and its dependencies. T. Burnet. Modes I call such complex ideas which . . . are considered as dependencies on or affections of substances. Locke.

To disturb in the orderly or normal action of the intellect; to render insane.

Of or pertaining to descent; moving downwards. Descending constellations or signs (Astron.), those through which the planets descent toward the south. -- Descending node (Astron.), that point in a planet's orbit where it intersects the ecliptic in passing southward. -- Descending series (Math.), a series in which eac…

To tell off or appoint for a particular service, as an officer, a troop, or a squadron.

oathe; as, we detest what is contemptible or evil. Who dares think one thing, and another tell, My heart detests him as the gates of hell. Pope.

ations which, according to this philosopher, originate in the constitution of the human intellect.

The devil. [A vulgar euphemism.] I can not tell what the dickens his name is. Shak.

To tell or utter so that another may write down; to inspire; to compose; as, to dictate a letter to an amanuensis. The mind which dictated the Iliad. Wayland. Pages dictated by the Holy Spirit. Macaulay.

e; preference. [Obs.] That now be chooseth with vile difference To be a beast, and lack intelligence. Spenser.

ng, or the state of being dilapidated, reduced to decay, partially ruined, or squandered. Tell the people that are relived by the dilapidation of their public estate. Burke.

To enlarge upon; to relate at large; to tell copiously or diffusely. [R.] Do me the favor to dilate at full What hath befallen of them and thee till now. Shak.

Dullness, or want of clearness, of vision or of intellectual perception. Dr. H. More.