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The act of destining or appointing.

n or application of; to set apart by design for a future use or purpose; to fix, as by destiny or by an authoritative decree; to doom; to ordain or preordain; to appoint; -- often with the remoter object preceded by to or for. We are decreed, Reserved, and destined to eternal woe. Milton. Till the loathsome opposite Of…

A believer in destiny; a fatalist. [R.]

That to which any person or thing is destined; predetermined state; condition foreordained by the Divine or by human will; fate; lot; doom. Thither he Will come to know his destiny. Shak. No man of woman born, Coward or brave, can shun his destiny. Bryant.

a form of action for the recovery of a personal chattel wrongfully detained. Writ of detinue (Law), one that lies against him who wrongfully detains goods or chattels delivered to him, or in possession, to recover the thing itself, or its value and damages, from the detainer. It is now in a great measure superseded by…

from Detonate. Detonating gas, a mixture of two volumes of hydrogen with one volume of oxygen, which explodes with a loud report upon ignition. -- Detonating powder, any powder or solid substance, as fulminate of mercury, which when struck, explodes with violence and a loud report. -- Detonating primer, a primer expl…

In a detracting manner.

Dewrotting; the process of decomposing the gummy matter of flax and hemp and setting the fibrous part, by exposure on a sward to dew, rain, and sunshine.

Capable of transmitting the chemical or actinic rays of light; as, diactinic media.

Adamantine. [Obs.]

A subordinate or local assembly; a diet of inferior rank.

Originated or taught by Diophantus, the Greek writer on algebra. Diophantine analysis (Alg.), that branch of indeterminate analysis which has for its object the discovery of rational values that satisfy given equations containing squares or cubes; as, for example, to find values of x and y which make x2 + y2 an exact s…

Acting directly, as one part upon another, without the intervention of other working parts. Direct-acting steam engine, one in which motion is transmitted to the crank without the intervention of a beam or lever; -- also called direct-action steam engine. -- Direct-acting steam pump, one in which the steam piston rod…

The state of being dirty; filthiness; foulness; nastiness; baseness; sordidness.

Discontented. [Obs.] Shak.

Admitting of being discontinued. [R.]

The act of discontinuing, or the state of being discontinued; want of continued connection or continuity; breaking off; cessation; interruption; as, a discontinuance of conversation or intercourse; discontinuance of a highway or of travel.

Breach or interruption of continuity; separation of parts in a connected series; discontinuance. Upon any discontinuation of parts, made either by bubbles or by shaking the glass, the whole mercury falls. Sir I. Newton.

To interrupt the continuance of; to intermit, as a practice or habit; to put an end to; to cause to cease; to cease using, to stop; to leave off. Set up their conventicles again, which had been discontinued. Bp. Burnet. I have discontinued school Above a twelvemonth. Shak. Taught the Greek tongue, discontinued before i…

One whose possession of an estate is broken off, or discontinued; one whose estate is subject to discontinuance.