COMMUTE v.
To exchange; to put or substitute something else in place of, as a smaller penalty, obligation, or payment, for a greater, or a single thing for an aggregate; hence; to lessen; to diminish; as, to commute a sentence of death to one of imprisonment for life; to commute tithes; to commute charges for fares. The sounds wa…
DEPUTY n.
d as the substitue of another, and empowered to act for him, in his name or his behalf; a substitute in office; a lieutenant; a representative; a delegate; a vicegerent; as, the deputy of a prince, of a sheriff, of a township, etc. There was then [in the days of Jehoshaphat] no king in Edom; a deputy was king. 1 Kings…
DEXTRIN n.
A translucent, gummy, amorphous substance, nearly tasteless and odorless, used as a substitute for gum, for sizing, etc., and obtained from starch by the action of heat, acids, or diastase. It is of somewhat variable composition, containing several carbohydrates which change easily to their respective varieties of suga…
DO v.
be used with the verb to be; as, do be quiet. Do, did, and done often stand as a general substitute or representative verb, and thus save the repetition of the principal verb. "To live and die is all we have to do." Denham. In the case of do and did as auxiliaries, the sense may be completed by the infinitive (without…