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assistance from mechanical advantage, as from levers, pulleys, etc.; hence, an extreme emergency. "(As we say) at a dead lift." Robynson (More's Utopia). -- Dead line (Mil.), a line drawn within or around a military prison, to cross which involves for a prisoner the penalty of being instantly shot. -- Dead load (Civ…

.] -- Rural dean, one having, under the bishop, the especial care and inspection of the clergy within certain parishes or districts of the diocese.

Liable to undergo death; mortal. The deathless gods and deathful earth. Chapman.

Diminishing the energy of organs; reducing excitement; as, a debilitant drug.

ed, at a certain season, or a certain stage or interval of growth, as leaves (except of evergreens) in autumn, or as parts of animals, such as hair, teeth, antlers, etc.; also, shedding leaves or parts at certain seasons, stages, or intervals; as, deciduous trees; the deciduous membrane.

nce. Blackstone. Declinatory plea (O. Eng. Law), the plea of sanctuary or of benefit of clergy, before trial or conviction; -- now abolished.

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

Separated or broken up; -- said of the crest of birds when the feathers are divergent.

The bending which a beam or girder undergoes from its own weight or by reason of a load.

Undergoing or producing degeneration; tending to degenerate.

of development, or degeneration of any organ, or of the body as a whole. Degradation of energy, or Dissipation of energy (Physics), the transformation of energy into some form in which it is less available for doing work.

To overwhelm, as with a deluge; to cover; to overspread; to overpower; to submerge; to destroy; as, the northern nations deluged the Roman empire with their armies; the land is deluged with woe. At length corruption, like a general fldeluge all. Pope.

To manage; to conduct; to treat. [Our] clergy have with violence demeaned the matter. Milton.

To represent in words; to describe vividly. Cæsar's gout was then depicted in energetic language. Motley.

the taking away from a clergyman his benefice, or other spiritual promotion or dignity.

of; to profane; to put to an unworthy use; -- the opposite of consecrate. The [Russian] clergy can not suffer corporal punishment without being previously desecrated. W. Tooke. The founders of monasteries imprecated evil on those who should desecrate their donations. Salmon.

The act of deterging or cleansing, as a sore.

Cleansing; detergent. -- n.

A present of books given to a meritorious undergraduate student as a prize. [Harvard Univ., U. S.]

The series of changes which animal and vegetable organisms undergo in their passage from the embryonic state to maturity, from a lower to a higher state of organization.