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lect; the dialect of the learned. In the midst of this Babel of dialects there suddenly appeared a standard English language. Earle. [Charles V.] could address his subjects from every quarter in their native dialect. Prescott.

d laws of being -- higher metaphysics. By Kant, it was employed to signify the logic of appearances or illusions, whether these arise from accident or error, or from those necessary limitations which, according to this philosopher, originate in the constitution of the human intellect.

A hydrate of alumina, often occurring in white lamellar masses with brilliant pearly luster; -- so named on account of its decrepitating when heated before the blowpipe.

That phase of the moon in which it appears bisected, or shows only half its disk, as at the quadratures.

come imperceptible; to vanish; -- often with out or away. Blemishes may die away and disappear amidst the brightness. Spectator.

of light in passing by the edges of opaque bodies or through narrow slits, causing the appearance of parallel bands or fringes of prismatic colors, as by the action of a grating of fine lines or bars. Remarked by Grimaldi (1665), and referred by him to a property of light which he called diffraction. Whewell. Diffract…

hers under the sides, saying thus to them: Look, mother, how great a lubber doth yet wear pearls. Robynson (More's Utopia). To dig down, to undermine and cause to fall by digging; as, to dig down a wall. -- To dig from, out of, out, or up, to get out or obtain by digging; as, to dig coal from or out of a mine; to dig…

Consisting of only one half of what the normal condition requires; having the appearance of lacking one half; as, a dimidiate leaf, which has only one side developed.

To become or appear less or smaller; to lessen; as, the apparent size of an object diminishes as we recede from it.

one or both sexes of the same species of butterfly. Dimorphism is the condition of the appearance of the same species under two dissimilar forms. Darwin.

A prefix from the Latin, whence F. dés, or sometimes dé-, dis-. The Latin dis- appears as di- before b, d, g, l, m, n, r, v, becomes dif- before f, and either dis- or di- before j. It is from the same root as bis twice, and duo, E. two. See Two, and cf. Bi-, Di-, Dia-. Dis- denotes separation, a parting from, as in dis…

To lay open or expose to view; to cause to appear; to bring to light; to reveal. How softly on the Spanish shore she plays, Disclosing rock, and slope, and forest brown! Byron. Her lively looks a sprightly mind disclose. Pope.

as those univalve shells which have the whorls in one plane, so as to form a disk, as the pearly nautilus. Discoid flower (Bot.), a compound flower, consisting of tubular florets only, as a tansy, lacking the rays which are seen in the daisy and sunflower.

To alter the true complexion or appearance of; to put a false hue upon. To discolor all your ideas. Wat

The act of discoloring, or the state of being discolored; alteration of hue or appearance. Darwin.

e space of seven hundred years. Daniel. They modify and discriminate the voice, without appearing to discontinue it. Holder.

eld; roving; digressive; desultory. "Discursive notices." De Quincey. The power he [Shakespeare] delights to show is not intense, but discursive. Hazlitt. A man rather tacit than discursive. Carlyle.

To mar the figure of; to render less complete, perfect, or beautiful in appearance; to deface; to deform. Disfiguring not God's likeness, but their own. Milton.

To change the guise or appearance of; especially, to conceal by an unusual dress, or one intended to mislead or deceive. Bunyan was forced to disguise himself as a wagoner. Macaulay.

Dishonored; disgraced; disfigured. [Obs.] Dishonest with lopped arms the youth appears, Spoiled of his nose and shortened of his ears. Dryden.