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The act of defining a concept or notion by giving its essential constituents.

Anything fancifully conceived. Shak.

That which burns by refraction, as a double convex lens, or the sun's rays concentrated by such a lens, sometimes used as a cautery.

erception or scrutiny; judgment based on such scrutiny; esp., perception pf, or judgment concerning, motives and character. The quick eye for effects, the clear diagnosis of men's minds, and the love of epigram. Compton Reade. My diagnosis of his character proved correct. J. Payn. Differential diagnosis (Med.), the det…

Milton. So completely differenced by their separate and individual characters that we at once acknowledge them as distinct persons. Sir W. Scott.

Inclined to defer or put off what ought to be done at once; given the procrastination; delaying; procrastinating; loitering; as, a dilatory servant.

impressions; that is, as stated by Max Müller, the creative faculty gave to each general conception as it thrilled for the first time through the brain a phonetic expression; -- jocosely so called from the analogy of the sound of a bell induced by the stroke of the clapper.

nformity to ourselves. Milton. Disagreement and disconformity betwixt the speech and the conception of the mind. Hakewill.

To take into consideration beforehand; to anticipate and form conclusions concerning (an event).

pute; reproach; -- applied to persons or things. It is the duty of every Christian to be concerned for the reputation or discredit his life may bring on his profession. Rogers.

To change the guise or appearance of; especially, to conceal by an unusual dress, or one intended to mislead or deceive. Bunyan was forced to disguise himself as a wagoner. Macaulay.

smembered. Gladstone. By whose hands the blow should be struck which would dismember that once mighty empire. Buckle.

t at large; to release from inclosure. Till his free muse threw down the pale, And did at once dispark them all. Waller.

To discipline; to correct. [Obs.] And bitter Penance, with an iron whip, Was wont him once to disple every day. Spenser.

y in the phrase at, or in, the disposal of. The sole and absolute disposal of him an his concerns. South.

ly what Moses is recorded to have done literally, . . . break all the ten commandments at once. Boyle.

To conceal the real fact, motives, He that hateth dissembleth with his lips. Prov. xxvi. 24. He [an enemy] dissembles when he assumes an air of friendship. C. J. Smith.

One who dissembles; one who conceals his opinions or dispositions under a false appearance; a hypocrite. It is the weakest sort of politicians that are the greatest dissemblers. Bacon. Priests, princes, women, no dissemblers here. Pope.

The act of dissembling; a hiding under a false appearance; concealment by feigning; false pretension; hypocrisy. Let love be without dissimulation. Rom. xii. 9. Dissimulation . . . when a man lets fall signs and arguments that he is not that he is. Bacon. Simulation is a pretense of what is not, and dissimulation a con…

, dissuaded her with great ardor: and I stood neuter. Goldsmith. War, therefore, open or concealed, alike My voice dissuades. Milton.