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Webster’s Dictionary (1828)



1,692 words match “WIS”

DEXTERITY n.
ers; quickness and skill in managing any complicated or difficult affair; adroitness. His wisdom . . . was turned . . . into a dexterity to deliver himself. Bacon. He had conducted his own defense with singular boldness and dexterity. Hallam.
DIASPORA n.
hose Jews who, after the Exile, were scattered through the Old World, and afterwards to Jewish Christians living among heathen. Cf. James i.1.
DIFFERENCE n.
n addition to a coat of arms to distinguish the bearings of two persons, which would otherwise be the same. See Augmentation, and Marks of cadency, under Cadency.
DIGEST v.
To appropriate for strengthening and comfort. Grant that we may in such wise hear them [the Scriptures], read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them. Book of Common Prayer.
DIGRESSION n.
iscourse 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.
DIRECT v.
To give direction; to point out a course; to act as guide. Wisdom is profitable to direct. Eccl. x. 10.
DIRECTOR n.
A slender grooved instrument upon which a knife is made to slide when it is wished to limit the extent of motion of the latter, or prevent its injuring the parts beneath.
DISAFFECTION n.
Disorder; bad constitution. [R.] Wiseman.
DISCIPLINE n.
Self- inflicted and voluntary corporal punishment, as penance, or otherwise; specifically, a penitential scourge.
DISCOURAGER n.
One who discourages. The promoter of truth and the discourager of error. Sir G. C. Lewis.
DISCRETION n.
The quality of being discreet; wise conduct and management; cautious discernment, especially as to matters of propriety and self- control; prudence; circumspection; wariness. The better part of valor is discretion. Shak. The greatest parts without discretion may be fatal to their owner. Hume.
DISCURE v.
; to discoure. [Obs.] I will, if please you it discure, assay To ease you of that ill, so wisely as I may. Spenser.
DISCUTIENT a.
medicinal application) which serves to disperse morbid matter. "Foment with discutiens." Wiseman.
DISENTWINE v.
To free from being entwined or twisted. Shelley.
DISPASSIONATE a.
ed, prejudiced, swerved, or carried away by passion or feeling; judicial; calm; composed. Wise and dispassionate men. Clarendon.
DISPERSE v.
ute; to diffuse; to spread; as, the Jews are dispersed among all nations. The lips of the wise disperse knowledge. Prov. xv. 7. Two lions, in the still, dark night, A herd of beeves disperse. Cowper.
DISPLAT v.
To untwist; to uncurl; to unplat. [Obs.] Hakewill.
DISPOSE v.
and present woes. Dryden. Suspicions dispose kings to tyranny, husbands to jealousy, and wise men to irresolution and melancholy. Bacon. To dispose of. (a) To determine the fate of; to exercise the power of control over; to fix the condition, application, employment, etc. of; to direct or assign for a use. Freedom to…
DISPOSITIVE a.
Disposing; tending to regulate; decretive. [Obs.] His dispositive wisdom and power. Bates.
DISPOSSESSION n.
The putting out of possession, wrongfully or otherwise, of one who is in possession of a freehold, no matter in what title; -- called also ouster.
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