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A writ authorizing the keeper of a prison to continue to keep a person in custody.

To bring to a conclusion, as a question or controversy; to settle authoritative or judicial sentence; to decide; as, the court has determined the cause.

To remove or drive from a throne; to depose; to divest of supreme authority and dignity. "The Protector was dethroned." Hume.

Pertaining to a second canon, or ecclesiastical writing of inferior authority; -- said of the Apocrypha, certain Epistles, etc.

To take away, as an authority, title, etc., to deprive; to alienate, as an estate.

d by the natives to be connected with sorcery. -- Devil may care, reckless, defiant of authority; -- used adjectively. Longfellow. -- Devil's apron (Bot.), the large kelp (Laminaria saccharina, and L. longicruris) of the Atlantic ocean, having a blackish, leathery expansion, shaped somewhat like an apron. -- Devil's…

considerable share of their power upon their favorite. Burke. They devolved their whole authority into the hands of the council of sixty. Addison.

overing of great delicacy, each individual multiplying by spontaneous division. By some authors diatoms are called Bacillariæ, but this word is not in general use.

To say; to utter; to communicate authoritatively; to deliver (a command) to a subordinate; to declare with authority; to impose; as, to dictate the terms of a treaty; a general dictates orders to his troops. Whatsoever is dictated to us by God must be believed. Watts.

The speaking to, or the giving orders to, in an overbearing manner; authoritative utterance; as, his habit, even with friends, was that of dictatio.

One who dictates; one who prescribes rules and maxims authoritatively for the direction of others. Locke.

An authoritative statement; a dogmatic saying; an apothegm. A class of critical dicta everywhere current. M. Arnold.

d abroad; dispersed; loose; flowing; diffuse. It grew to be a widely diffused opinion. Hawthorne. -- Dif*fus"ed*ly, adv. -- Dif*fus"ed*ness, n.

eneral sense to the Pandects of Justinian (see Pandect), but is also specially given by authors to compilations of laws on particular topics; a summary of laws; as, Comyn's Digest; the United States Digest. A complete digest of Hindu and Mahommedan laws after the model of Justinian's celebrated Pandects. Sir W. Jones.…

To lessen the authority or dignity of; to put down; to degrade; to abase; to weaken. This doth nothing diminish their opinion. Robynson (More's Utopia). I will diminish them, that they shall no more rule over the nations. Ezek. xxix. 15. O thou . . . at whose sight all the stars Hide their diminished heads. Milton.…

of a bishop's jurisdiction; the district in which a bishop exercises his ecclesiastical authority. [Frequently, but improperly, spelt diocess.]

To plunge or engage thoroughly in any affair. He was . . . dipt in the rebellion of the Commons. Dryden.

To point out to with authority; to instruct as a superior; to order; as, he directed them to go. I 'll first direct my men what they shall do. Shak.

That which is imposed by directing; a guiding or authoritative instruction; prescription; order; command; as, he grave directions to the servants. The princes digged the well . . . by the direction of the law giver. Numb. xxi. 18.

Having the quality of a director, or authoritative guide; directive.