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Capable of flowing or spreading in all directions; that may be diffused.

The act of diffusing, or the state of being diffused; a spreading; extension; dissemination; circulation; dispersion. A diffusion of knowledge which has undermined superstition. Burke.

g; capable of spreading every way by flowing; spreading widely; widely reaching; copious; diffuse. "A plentiful and diffusive perfume." Hare.

The quality or state of being diffusive or diffuse; extensiveness; expansion; dispersion. Especially of style: Diffuseness; want of conciseness; prolixity. The fault that I find with a modern legend, it its diffusiveness. Addison.

Tendency to become diffused; tendency, as of heat, to become equalized by spreading through a conducting medium.

Prolixity; diffuse discourse. [Obs.] "What needeth greater dilatation" Chaucer.

To enlarge upon; to relate at large; to tell copiously or diffusely. [R.] Do me the favor to dilate at full What hath befallen of them and thee till now. Shak.

To scatter abroad; to drive to different parts; to distribute; to diffuse; to spread; as, the Jews are dispersed among all nations. The lips of the wise disperse knowledge. Prov. xv. 7. Two lions, in the still, dark night, A herd of beeves disperse. Cowper.

adcast or as seed; to scatter for growth and propagation, like seed; to spread abroad; to diffuse; as, principles, ideas, opinions, and errors are disseminated when they are spread abroad for propagation.

A swelling produced by gas or air diffused in the cellular tissue. Emphysema of the lungs, Pulmonary emphysema (Med.), a common disease of the lungs in which the air cells are distended and their partition walls ruptured by an abnormal pressure of the air contained in them.

To speak or write at length; to be diffuse in speaking or writing; to expatiate; to dilate. To enlarge upon this theme. M. Arnold.

St. Anthony's fire; a febrile disease accompanied with a diffused inflammation of the skin, which, starting usually from a single point, spreads gradually over its surface. It is usually regarded as contagious, and often occurs epidemically.

A disease of the skin, in which a diffused inflammation forms rose-colored patches of variable size.

To lay open by extending; to open wide; to spread out; to diffuse; as, a flower expands its leaves. Then with expanded wings he steers his flight. Milton.

To expand; to spread; to extend; to diffuse; to broaden. Afford art an ample field in which to expatiate itself. Dryden.

Report or opinion generally diffused; renown; public estimation; celebrity, either favorable or unfavorable; as, the fame of Washington. I find thou art no less than fame hath bruited. Shak.

t To such a tender ball as the eye confined, . . . And not, as feeling, through all parts diffused Milton.

ny fluid substance; as, a flood of light; a flood of lava; hence, a great quantity widely diffused; an overflowing; a superabundance; as, a flood of bank notes; a flood of paper currency.

To become diffused, divulged, or spread abroad, as news, fame etc. (d) To expire; to die; to cease; to come to an end; as, the light has gone out. Life itself goes out at thy displeasure. Addison. -- To go over. (a) To traverse; to cross, as a river, boundary, etc.; to change sides. I must not go over Jordan. Deut. iv.…

-- called also hair eel, hairworm, and hair snake, from the absurd, but common and widely diffused, notion that they are metamorphosed horsehairs.