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A woman who deciphers.

he decline of life; the decline of strength; the decline of virtue and religion. Their fathers lived in the decline of literature. Swift.

Separated or broken up; -- said of the crest of birds when the feathers are divergent.

A duck used to lure wild ducks into a decoy; hence, a person employed to lure others into danger. Beau. & Fl.

Protecting plea; vindication; justification. Men, brethren, and fathers, hear ye my defense. Acts xxii. 1.

One of an ancient sect of philosophers, who cultivated learned conversation at meals.

One or more persons appointed or chosen, and commissioned to represent others, as in a convention, in Congress, etc.; the collective body of delegates; as, the delegation from Massachusetts; a deputation.

A kind of rhetoric employed in proving a thing and convincing others of its truth, in order to persuade them to adopt it.

Addicted to pleasure; seeking enjoyment; luxurious; effeminate. [Obs.] Others, lastly, of a more delicious and airy spirit, retire themselves to the enjoyments of ease and luxury. Milton.

mysterious, terrible, and evil divinity, regarded by some as the author of creation, by others as a great magician who was supposed to command the spirits of the lower world. See Gorgon. Orcus and Ades, and the dreaded name Of Demogorgon. Milton.

senses or reason. Those intervening ideas which serve to show the agreement of any two others are called "proofs;" and where agreement or disagreement is by this means plainly and clearly perceived, it is called demonstration. Locke.

mability. Priestley. Dephlogisticated air, oxygen gas; -- so called by Dr. Priestly and others of his time. -- De`phlo*gis`ti*ca"tion, n.

are deplorable. Individual sufferers are in a much more deplorable conditious than any others. Burke.

The stripping or falling off of plumes or feathers. Bp. Stillingfleet

e value or claim to esteem; to undervalue. Addison. Which . . . some over-severe phoilosophers may look upon fastidiously, or undervalue and depreciate. Cudworth. To prove that the Americans ought not to be free, we are obliged to depreciate the value of freedom itself. Burke.

derelict lands. The affections which these exposed or derelict children bear to their mothers, have no grounds of nature or assiduity but civility and opinion. Jer. Taylor.

To make irreligious; to turn from religion. [R.] He would dereligionize men beyond all others. De Quincey.

To represent by words written or spoken; to give an account of; to make known to others by words or signs; as, the geographer describes countries and cities.

sed; to take an unhopeful view. I should despair, or at least despond. Scott's Letters. Others depress their own minds, [and] despond at the first difficulty. Locke. We wish that . . . desponding patriotism may turn its eyes hitherward, and be assured that foundations of our national power still stand strong. D. Webste…

The power, spirit, or principles of a despot; absolute control over others; tyrannical sway; tyranny. "The despotism of vice." Byron.