Search the Dictionary

directing; a guiding or authoritative instruction; prescription; order; command; as, he grave directions to the servants. The princes digged the well . . . by the direction of the law giver. Numb. xxi. 18.

A piece of music of a mournful character, to accompany funeral rites; a funeral hymn. The raven croaked, and hollow shrieks of owls Sung dirges at her funeral. Ford.

In placer mining, earth, gravel, etc., before washing. Dirt bed (Geom.), a layer of clayey earth forming a stratum in a geological formation. Dirt beds are common among the coal measures. -- Dirt eating. (a) The use of certain kinds of clay for food, existing among some tribes of Indians; geophagism. Humboldt. (b) (Me…

; as, a discontinuance of conversation or intercourse; discontinuance of a highway or of travel.

o bring reproach upon; to make less reputable; to disgrace. He. . . least discredits his travels who returns the same man he went. Sir H. Wotton.

h or heedless; cautious. It is the discreet man, not the witty, nor the learned, nor the brave, who guides the conversation, and gives measures to society. Addison. Satire 's my weapon, but I 'm too discreet To run amuck, and tilt at all I meet. Pope. The sea is silent, the sea is discreet. Longfellow.…

opposition, or variety, by means of discretive particles, as but, though, yet, etc.; as, travelers change their climate, but not their temper.

To release one's self; to become detached; to free one's self. From a friends's grave how soon we disengage! Young.

rable in riches, how much more in poverty! Ecclus. x. 31. To find ourselves dishonorable graves. Shak. -- Dis*hon"or*a*ble*ness, n. -- Dis*hon"or*a*bly, adv.

To take out of the grave or tomb; to unbury; to exhume; to dig up.

onstriction. Disjunct tetrachords (Mus.), tetrachords so disposed to each other that the gravest note of the upper is one note higher than the acutest note of the other.

To do an act which contravenes the will or desires of; to offend by an act of unkindness or incivility; to displease; to refrain from obliging; to be unaccommodating to. Those . . . who slight and disoblige their friends, shall infallibly come to know the value of them by having none when they shall most need them. Sou…

Neglect of order or system; irregularity. From vulgar bounds with brave disorder part, And snatch a grace beyond the reach of art. Pope.

ispatch box, a box for carrying dispatches; a box for papers and other conveniences when traveling.

ments and facts bearing upon it; elaborate essay; dissertation. For accurate research or grave disquisition he was not well qualified. Macaulay.

To explore by diving; to plunge into. [R.] The Curtii bravely dived the gulf of fame. Denham. He dives the hollow, climbs the steeps. Emerson.

Sea gravel mixed with sand. [Prov. Eng.]

as. Addison. The ill-spelt lines of doggerel in which he expressed his reverence for the brave sufferers. Macaulay.

querades, to conceal the upper part of the face. Dominos were formerly worn by ladies in traveling.

A roll of cloth for wiping off the face of a copperplate, leaving the ink in the engraved lines.