Search the Dictionary

ent or known; to confer distinction upon; -- with by or for."To distinguish themselves by means never tried before." Johnson.

To wrest from the true meaning; to pervert; as, to distort passages of Scripture, or their meaning.

A wresting from the true meaning. Bp. Wren.

An ambiguity of meaning; a disagreement of difference in opinion. Sir T. Browne.

telling of future events; the pretended art discovering secret or future by preternatural means. There shall not be found among you any one that . . . useth divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter. Deut. xviii. 10.

vination; one who pretends to predict events, or to reveal occult things, by supernatural means. The diviners have seen a lie, and have told false dreams; they comfort in vain. Zech. x. 2.

An academical title, originally meaning a men so well versed in his department as to be qualified to teach it. Hence: One who has taken the highest degree conferred by a university or college, or has received a diploma of the highest degree; as, a doctor of divinity, of law, of medicine, of music, or of philosophy. Suc…

To evade a duty by low craft; to practice mean shifts; to use tricky devices; to play fast and loose; to quibble. Some dodging casuist with more craft than sincerity. Milton.

A mean, worthless fellow; a wretch. What is thy servant, which is but a dog, that he should do this great thing 2 Kings viii. 13 (Rev. Ver. )

A sort of loose or irregular verse; mean or undignified poetry. Doggerel like that of Hudibras. Addison. The ill-spelt lines of doggerel in which he expressed his reverence for the brave sufferers. Macaulay.

A place fit only for dogs; a vile, mean habitation or apartment. Dryden.

f a dogmatist; arrogance or positiveness in stating opinion. The self-importance of his demeanor, and the dogmatism of his conversation. Sir W. Scott.

supposed to have contained the principal maxims of the common law, the penalties for misdemeanors, and the forms of judicial proceedings. Domebook was probably a general name for book of judgments. Burrill.

A high order of angels in the celestial hierarchy; -- a meaning given by the schoolmen. Thrones, dominations, princedoms, virtues, powers. Milton.

Passage; means of approach or access. I am the door; by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved. John x. 9.

A hamlet. "A mean fishing dorp." Howell.

-- Double star (Astron.), two stars so near to each other as to be seen separate only by means of a telescope. Such stars may be only optically near to each other, or may be physically connected so that they revolve round their common center of gravity, and in the latter case are called also binary stars. -- Double t…

Having a deceitful look. [R.] "Deceitful meanings is double- eyed." Spenser.

Uncertainty of meaning; ambiguity; indefiniteness. " The doubtfulness of his expressions." Locke.

Like dough; soft. He demeans himself . . . like a dough-kneaded thing. Milton.