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connection; without logical sequence; disconnected; immethodical; aimless; as, desultory minds. Atterbury. He [Goldsmith] knew nothing accurately; his reading had been desultory. Macaulay.

To make worse; to make inferior in quality or value; to impair; as, to deteriorate the mind. Whately. The art of war . . . was greatly deteriorated. Southey.

The quality of mind reaches definite conclusions; decision of character; resoluteness. He only is a well-made man who has a good determination. Emerson.

ate or form of being; as, sunshine and rain develop the bud into a flower; to develop the mind. The sound developed itself into a real compound. J. Peile. All insects . . . acquire the jointed legs before the wings are fully developed. Owen.

To form in the mind by new combinations of ideas, new applications of principles, or new arrangement of parts; to formulate by thought; to contrive; to excogitate; to invent; to plan; to scheme; as, to devise an engine, a new mode of writing, a plan of defense, or an argument. To devise curious works. Ex. CCTV. 32. Dev…

used in, devotion; as, a devotional posture; devotional exercises; a devotional frame of mind.

oncerning, motives and character. The quick eye for effects, the clear diagnosis of men's minds, and the love of epigram. Compton Reade. My diagnosis of his character proved correct. J. Payn. Differential diagnosis (Med.), the determination of the distinguishing characteristics as between two similar diseases or condit…

houghts; language; tongue; form of speech. This book is writ in such a dialect As may the minds of listless men affect. Bunyan. The universal dialect of the world. South.

her 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.

istinguished; -- with from. One star differeth from another star in glory. 1 Cor. xv. 41. Minds differ, as rivers differ. Macaulay.

To think over and arrange methodically in the mind; to reduce to a plan or method; to receive in the mind and consider carefully; to get an understanding of; to comprehend. Feelingly digest the words you speak in prayer. Sir H. Sidney. How shall this bosom multiplied digest The senate's courtesy Shak.…

The state of being worthy or honorable; elevation of mind or character; true worth; excellence.

isily; to ding. This hath been often dinned in my ears. Swift. To din into, to fix in the mind of another by frequent and noisy repetitions. Sir W. Scott.

The act of disbelieving;; a state of the mind in which one is fully persuaded that an opinion, assertion, or doctrine is not true; refusal of assent, credit, or credence; denial of belief. Our belief or disbelief of a thing does not alter the nature of the thing. Tillotson. No sadder proof can be given by a man of his…

To relieve one's self of a burden; to ease the mind. Milton.

The power or faculty of the mind by which it distinguishes one thing from another; power of viewing differences in objects, and their relations and tendencies; penetrative and discriminate mental vision; acuteness; sagacity; insight; as, the errors of youth often proceed from the want of discernment.…

form a habit of obedience in; to drill. Ill armed, and worse disciplined. Clarendon. His mind . . . imperfectly disciplined by nature. Macaulay.

plays, Disclosing rock, and slope, and forest brown! Byron. Her lively looks a sprightly mind disclose. Pope.

le; to destroy the composure or equanimity; to agitate. Opposition . . . discomposeth the mind's serenity. Glanvill.

lves. Milton. Disagreement and disconformity betwixt the speech and the conception of the mind. Hakewill.