Search the Dictionary

ake away or deduct a part of; -- used chiefly of money, accounts, rents, income, etc. To show what may be practicably and safely defalcated from the [the estimates]. Burke.

o know, Make use of every friend -- any every foe. Pope. Among boys little tenderness is shown to personal defects. Macaulay.

practice in self defense, as in fencing, boxing, etc. A man of great defense. Spenser. By how much defense is better than no skill. Shak.

to tarnish, as reputation; to taint. He is . . . among the greatest prelates of this age, however his character may be defiled by . . . dirty hands. Swift.

Aptly; fitly; dexterously; neatly. "Deftly dancing." Drayton. Thyself and office deftly show. Shak.

efy thee to the trial of mortal fight. Milton. I defy the enemies of our constitution to show the contrary. Burke.

ncient blood. Swift. 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.

In a manner to show or point out; directly; absolutely; definitely. When Christ spake it deictically. Hammond.

An accuser; an informer. [R.] Howell.

To allay; to temper. [Obs.] The watery showers delay the raging wind. Surrey.

Affected by slight causes; showing slight changes; as, a delicate thermometer.

deliver a blow; to deliver a broadside, or a ball. Shaking his head and delivering some show of tears. Sidney. An uninstructed bowler . . . thinks to attain the jack by delivering his bowl straightforward. Sir W. Scott.

Resources; means. [Obs.] You know How narrow our demeans are. Massinger.

To point out; to show; to exhibit; to make evident. Shak.

t; indubitable evidence, to the senses or reason. Those intervening ideas which serve to show the agreement of any two others are called "proofs;" and where agreement or disagreement is by this means plainly and clearly perceived, it is called demonstration. Locke.

ast, and demure. Milton. Nan was very much delighted in her demure way, and that delight showed itself in her face and in her clear bright eyes. W. Black.

In a demure manner; soberly; gravely; -- now, commonly, with a mere show of gravity or modesty. They . . . looked as demurely as they could; for 't was a hanging matter to laugh unseasonably. Dryden.

The state of being demure; gravity; the show of gravity or modesty.

That number placed below the line in vulgar fractions which shows into how many parts the integer or unit is divided.

Formation of teeth; toothed form. [R.] How did it [a bill] get its barb, its dentation Paley.