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Wanting confidence in one's self; distrustful of one's own powers; not self-reliant; timid; modest; bashful; characterized by modest reserve. The diffident maidens, Folding their hands in prayer. Longfellow.

s; biventral; -- applied to muscles which are fleshy at each end and have a tendon in the middle, and esp. to the muscle which pulls down the lower jaw.

Consisting of two hexagonal parts united; thus, a dihexagonal pyramid is composed of two hexagonal pyramids placed base to base.

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

ect or change 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.

To make concave, or depress in the middle, like a dish; as, to dish a wheel by inclining the spokes.

Cut into distinct parts, by incisions which reach the midrib; - - said of a leaf.

ays. Dogday cicada (Zoöl.), a large American cicada (C. pruinosa), which trills loudly in midsummer.

ory, of a flat, oblong shape, plain at the back, but on the face divided by a line in the middle, and either left blank or variously dotted after the manner of dice. The game is played by matching the spots or the blank of an unmatched half of a domino already played Hoyle.

To make of two thicknesses or folds by turning or bending together in the middle; to fold one part upon another part of; as, to double the leaf of a book, and the like; to clinch, as the fist; -- often followed by up; as, to double up a sheet of paper or cloth. Prior. Then the old man Was wroth, and doubled up his hand…

A contemptuous nickname for a timid, yielding politician, or one who is easily molded. [Political cant, U. S.]

In the Middle Ages, a large, fast-sailing galley, or cutter; a large, swift war vessel. [Hist. or Archaic] Fuller. The great dromond swinging from the quay. W. Morris.

Most men being in sensual pleasures drowned. Sir J. Davies. My private voice is drowned amid the senate. Addison. To drown up, to swallow up. [Obs.] Holland.

Free from moisture; having little humidity or none; arid; not wet or moist; deficient in the natural or normal supply of moisture, as rain or fluid of any kind; -- said especially: (a) Of the weather: Free from rain or mist. The weather, we agreed, was too dry for the season. Addison.

A Russian religious sect founded about the middle of the 18th century at Kharkov. They believe that Christ was wholly human, but that his soul reappears from time to time in mortals. They accept the Ten Commandments and the "useful" portions of the Bible, but deny the need of rulers, priests, or churches, and have no c…

ly on in solemn dump. Hudibras. Doleful dumps the mind oppress. Shak. I was musing in the midst of my dumps. Bunyan.

Imperfect obscurity; a middle degree between light and darkness; twilight; as, the dusk of the evening.

Fear or timidity, especially of something supernatural. [Written also eiryness.] The sense of eariness, as twilight came on. De Quincey.

ent pitching when closehauled. -- To ease the helm (Naut.), to put the helm more nearly amidships, to lessen the effect on the ship, or the strain on the wheel rope. Ham. Nav. Encyc.

To remove the epidermis of (a skin) with a concave knife, blunt in its middle part, -- as in making chamois leather.