Search the Dictionary

becoming ceremony; seemliness; hence, freedom from obscenity or indecorum; modesty. Observances of time, place, and of decency in general. Burke. Immodest words admit of no defense, For want of decency is want of sense. Roscommon.

rom ambiguity; unequivocal; unmistakable; unquestionable; clear; evident; as, a decided advantage. "A more decided taste for science." Prescott.

estimating, or calculating; to subtract; -- often with from or out of. Deduct what is but vanity, or dress. Pope. Two and a half per cent should be deducted out of the pay of the foreign troops. Bp. Burnet. We deduct from the computation of our years that part of our time which is spent in . . . infancy. Norris.…

A plant (Liatris odoratissima) whose fleshy leaves give out a fragrance compared to vanilla. Wood.

To overcome or vanquish, as an army; to check, disperse, or ruin by victory; to overthrow.

d from wrongfully; to injure by embezzlement; to cheat; to overreach; as, to defraud a servant, or a creditor, or the state; -- with of before the thing taken or withheld. We have defrauded no man. 2 Cor. vii. 2. Churches seem injured and defrauded of their rights. Hooker.

Unconstrained; easy; free. Vanbrugh.

the like; a stage in progression; grade; gradation; as, degrees of vice and virtue; to advance by slow degrees; degree of comparison.

All sorts of outworks in general, at a distance from the main works; any advanced works for protection or cover. Farrow.

To discover; to show. [Poetic] I 'll deliver Myself your loyal servant. Shak.

Behavior; conduct; bearing; demeanor. [Obs.] With grave demean and solemn vanity. West.

To quit this world; to die. Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace. Luke ii. 29. To depart with, to resign; to part with. [Obs.] Shak.

To make an attack, or incursion, as if from a vantage ground; to come suddenly and with violence; -- with on or upon. And on the suitors let thy wrath descend. Pope.

To advance; to further; to prefect; to make to increase; to promote the growth of. We must develop our own resources to the utmost. Jowett (Thucyd).

thing is developed, as a plan or method, or an image upon a photographic plate; gradual advancement or growth through a series of progressive changes; also, the result of developing, or a developed state. A new development of imagination, taste, and poetry. Channing.

That which is devised, or formed by design; a contrivance; an invention; a project; a scheme; often, a scheme to deceive; a stratagem; an artifice. His device in against Babylon, to destroy it. Jer. li. 11. Their recent device of demanding benevolences. Hallam. He disappointeth the devices of the crafty. Job v. 12.…

Skillful in contrivance; quick at inventing expedients; expert; as, a dexterous manager. Dexterous the craving, fawning crowd to quit. Pope.

A servant who has charge of the dairy; a dairymaid. [Obs.] Chaucer.

s, etc., arranged in the pattern called diaper, as cloth in weaving. "Diapered light." H. Van Laun. Engarlanded and diapered With in wrought flowers. Tennyson.

A seat behind a carriage, for a servant.