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To become resolved or returned from existing combinations; to undergo dissolution; to decay; to rot.

To cause to turn aside; to bend; as, rays of light are often deflected. Sitting with their knees deflected under them. Lord (1630).

Turned aside; deviating from a direct line or course.

The act of turning aside, or state of being turned aside; a turning from a right line or proper course; a bending, esp. downward; deviation. The other leads to the same point, through certain deflections. Lowth.

A bending or turning aside; deflection. Bailey.

t. These degenerate days. Pope. I had planted thee a noble vine . . . : how then art thou turned into the degenerate plant of a strange vine unto me Jer. ii. 21.

t our forsaken seats. Pope. Yet not Lord Cranstone deigned she greet. Sir W. Scott. Round turned he, as not deigning Those craven ranks to see. Macaulay.

and. The demand [is] by the word of the holy ones. Dan. iv. 17. He that has confidence to turn his wishes into demands will be but a little way from thinking he ought to obtain them. Locke.

en in order to extend their front. -Wilhelm. Deployments . . . which cause the soldier to turn his back to the enemy are not suited to war.H.L. Scott.

as if the polarization had been anulled. The word is inappropriate, as the ray does not return to the unpolarized condition.

the vacant, unoccupied, and derelict minds of his [Chatham's] friends; and instantly they turned the vessel wholly out of the course of his policy. Burke. A government which is either unable or unwilling to redress such wrongs is derelict to its highest duties. J. Buchanan.

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

To laugh at with contempt; to laugh to scorn; to turn to ridicule or make sport of; to mock; to scoff at. And the Pharisees, also, . . . derided him. Luke xvi. 14. Sport that wrinkled Care derides. And Laughter holding both his sides. Milton.

To turn the course of, as water; to divert and distribute into subordinate channels; to diffuse; to communicate; to transmit; -- followed by to, into, on, upon. [Obs.] For fear it [water] choke up the pits . . . they [the workman] derive it by other drains. Holland. Her due loves derived to that vile witch's share. Spe…

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. Webster.

nceived of as determining the future, whether in general or of an individual. But who can turn the stream of destiny Spenser. Fame comes only when deserved, and then is as inevitable as destiny, for it is destiny. Longfellow. The Destinies (Anc. Myth.), the three Parcæ, or Fates; the supposed powers which preside over…

To turn form the original or plain meaning; to pervert; to wrest. Hammond.

A turning; a circuitous route; a deviation from a direct course; as, the detours of the Mississippi.

To go out of the way; to turn aside from a course or a method; to stray or go astray; to err; to digress; to diverge; to vary. Thus Pegasus, a nearer way to take, May boldly deviate from the common track. Pope.

Disposal; power of disposal. [Obs.] They are entirely at our devotion, and may be turned backward and forward, as we please. Godwin.