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An extinct eocene bird from New Mexico, larger than the ostrich.

t, or spiritless, as liquor. To die in the last ditch, to fight till death; to die rather than surrender. "There is one certain way," replied the Prince [William of Orange] " by which I can be sure never to see my country's ruin, -- I will die in the last ditch." Hume (Hist. of Eng. ). -- To die out, to cease gradually…

A small interval, less than any in actual practice, but used in the mathematical calculation of intervals.

se that the whole of dietetics lies in determining whether or not bread is more nutritive than potatoes. H. Spencer.

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 differentiated in signification. Dr. Murray.

work with a spade or other like implement; to do servile work; to delve. Dig for it more than for hid treasures. Job iii. 21. I can not dig; to beg I am ashamed. Luke xvi. 3.

se deviating from its main design or subject. The digressions I can not excuse otherwise, than by the confidence that no man will read them. Sir W. Temple.

nsions of a room, or of a ship; the dimensions of a farm, of a kingdom. Gentlemen of more than ordinary dimensions. W. Irving. Space of dimension, extension that has length but no breadth or thickness; a straight or curved line. -- Space of two dimensions, extension which has length and breadth, but no thickness; a pl…

Ethane; -- sometimes so called because regarded as consisting of two methyl radicals. See Ethane.

To make smaller by a half step; to make (an interval) less than minor; as, a diminished seventh.

eep. Shak. To dine with Duke Humphrey, to go without dinner; -- a phrase common in Elizabethan literature, said to be from the practice of the poor gentry, who beguiled the dinner hour by a promenade near the tomb of Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, in Old Saint Paul's.

e nomination or designation of candidates for public office by direct popular vote rather than through the action of a convention or body of elected nominating representatives or delegates. The term is applied both to the nomination of candidates without any nominating convention, and, loosely, to the nomination effect…

nce; to make distinction; as, to discern between good and evil, truth and falsehood. More than sixscore thousand that cannot discern between their right hand their left. Jonah iv. 11.

employment; to send away from service; to dismiss. Discharge the common sort With pay and thanks. Shak. Grindal . . . was discharged the government of his see. Milton.

er for the observance of rules and methods of training; as, he is a better disciplinarian than scholar.

made by a tenant in tail, or other tenant, seized in right of another, of a larger estate than the tenant was entitled to, whereby the party ousted or injured was driven to his real action, and could not enter. This effect of such alienation is now obviated by statute in both England and the United States.…

Shakespeare] delights to show is not intense, but discursive. Hazlitt. A man rather tacit than discursive. Carlyle.

h disfigures; a defacement; a blot. Uncommon expressions . . . are a disfigurement rather than any embellishment of discourse. Hume.

passion steals into the heart more imperceptibly and covers itself under more disguises, than pride. Addison.

nature; as, an act of cruelty may excite disgust. The manner of doing is more consequence than the thing done, and upon that depends the satisfaction or disgust wherewith it is received. Locke. In a vulgar hack writer such oddities would have excited only disgust. Macaulay.