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e, vigor, spirit, activity, etc.; dullness; inertness; languor; coldness; vapidness; indifference; as, the deadness of a limb, a body, or a tree; the deadness of an eye; deadness of the affections; the deadness of beer or cider; deadness to the world, and the like.

contend in words; to dispute; hence, to deliberate; to consider; to discuss or examine different arguments in the mind; -- often followed by on or upon. He presents that great soul debating upon the subject of life and death with his intimate friends. Tatler.

ctual decay. Macaulay. Which has caused the decay of the consonants to follow somewhat different laws. James Byrne.

Fig.: With reference to the end of the year and to the winter season; as, the December of his life.

Inference; deduction; thing deduced. [R.] Dryden.

That deduces; inferential.

That which is deduced or drawn from premises by a process of reasoning; an inference; a conclusion. Make fair deductions; see to what they mount. Pope.

By deduction; by way of inference; by consequence. Sir T. Browne.

An overthrow, as of an army in battle; loss of a battle; repulse suffered; discomfiture; -- opposed to victory.

To yield deference to the wishes of another; to submit to the opinion of another, or to authority; -- with to. The house, deferring to legal right, acquiesced. Bancroft.

The art or act of determining the directions and heights of the lines of rampart with reference to the protection of the interior from exposure to an enemy's fire from any point within range, or from any works which may be erected. Farrow.

Definiteness. [R.] Definitude . . . is a knowledge of minute differences. Sir W. Hamilton.

ffer in kind as well as in degree. The degree of excellence which proclaims genius, is different in different times and different places. Sir. J. Reynolds.

or layers; one of the methods by which the various blastodermic layers of the ovum are differentiated.

An undifferentiated aggregate of cells or plastids.

To deserve; -- said in reference to both praise and blame. [Obs.] If I have demerited any love or thanks. Udall. Executed as a traitor . . . as he well demerited. State Trials (1645).

Transmission by formal act or conveyance to an heir or successor; transference; especially, the transfer or transmission of the crown or royal authority to a successor.

demonstration (called also reductio ad absurdum), in which the correct conclusion is an inference from the demonstration that any other hypothesis must be incorrect.

or proceed further. Demurrer to evidence, an exception taken by a party to the evidence offered by the opposite party, and an objecting to proceed further, on the allegation that such evidence is not sufficient in law to maintain the issue, and a reference to the court to determine the point. Bouvier.…

Pertaining to a denomination, especially to a sect or society. "Denominational differences." Buckle.