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Of or pertaining to the class Diandria; having two stamens.

ition or constitution, esp. a morbid habit which predisposes to a particular disease, or class of diseases.

Division into two; especially, the division of a class into two subclasses opposed to each other by contradiction, as the division of the term man into white and not white.

An authoritative statement; a dogmatic saying; an apothegm. A class of critical dicta everywhere current. M. Arnold.

A plant with netveined leaves, and monocotyledonous embryos, belonging to the class Dictyogenæ, proposed by Lindley for the orders Dioscoreaceæ, Smilaceæ, Trilliaceæ, etc.

The subclass of Mammalia which includes the marsupials. See Marsupialia.

A Linnæan class of plants having four stamens disposed in pairs of unequal length.

(Mach.) (a) A portable hoisting apparatus, the same in principle as the differential windlass. (b) A hoisting pulley to which power is applied through a differential gearing. -- Differential screw, a compound screw by which a motion is produced equal to the difference of the motions of the component screws. -- Diffe…

To distinguish or mark by a specific difference; to effect a difference in, as regards classification; to develop differential characteristics in; to specialize; to desynonymize. The word then was differentiated into the two forms then and than. Earle. Two or more of the forms assumed by the same original word become d…

To distribute or arrange methodically; to work over and classify; to reduce to portions for ready use or application; as, to digest the laws, etc. Joining them together and digesting them into order. Blair. We have cause to be glad that matters are so well digested. Shak.

The act or process of digesting; reduction to order; classification; thoughtful consideration.

A Linnæan class of plants having the stamens and pistils on different plants.

A unit employed by oculists in numbering glasses according to the metric system; a refractive power equal to that of a glass whose principal focal distance is one meter.

Of or pertaining to the dioptre, or to the metric system of numbering glasses. -- n.

ion by means of the refraction of light; refractive; as, the dioptric system; a dioptric glass or telescope. "Dioptrical principles." Nichol. Dioptric curve (Geom.), a Cartesian oval. See under Cartesian.

in passing from one medium into another, or through different mediums, as air, water, or glass, and esp. through different lenses; -- distinguished from catoptrics, which refers to reflected light.

rument for determining the time of apparent noon. It consists of two mirrors and a plane glass disposed in the form of a prism, so that, by the reflections of the sun's rays from their surfaces, two images are presented to the eye, moving in opposite directions, and coinciding at the instant the sun's center is on the…

A book containing the names and residences of the inhabitants of any place, or of classes of them; an address book; as, a business directory.

t. -- Discharging rod (Elec.), a bent wire, with knobs at both ends, and insulated by a glass handle. It is employed for discharging a Leyden jar or an electrical battery. See Discharger.

Bearing the stamens on a discoid outgrowth of the receptacle; - - said of a subclass of plants. Cf. Calycifloral.