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The temperature at which dew begins to form. It varies with the humidity and temperature of the atmosphere.

c., and obtained from starch by the action of heat, acids, or diastase. It is of somewhat variable composition, containing several carbohydrates which change easily to their respective varieties of sugar. It is so named from its rotating the plane of polarization to the right; -- called also British gum, Alsace gum, go…

, dextronic acid. Dextronic acid, a sirupy substance obtained by the partial oxidation of various carbohydrates, as dextrose, etc.

A sirupy, or white crystalline, variety of sugar, C6H12O6 (so called from turning the plane of polarization to the right), occurring in many ripe fruits. Dextrose and levulose are obtained by the inversion of cane sugar or sucrose, and hence called invert sugar. Dextrose is chiefly obtained by the action of heat and ac…

of a limited region or people, as distinguished from ether forms nearly related to it; a variety or subdivision of a language; speech characterized by local peculiarities or specific circumstances; as, the Ionic and Attic were dialects of Greece; the Yorkshire dialect; the dialect of the learned. In the midst of this…

Relating to a dialect; dialectical; as, a dialectical variant.

A figure by which arguments are placed in various points of view, and then turned to one point. Smart.

A partition in any compartment, for various purposes. Diaphragm pump, one in which a flexible diaphragm takes the place of a piston.

Having two color varieties, or two phases differing in color, independently of age or sex, as in certain birds and insects.

, disposition, and application of words in discourse, with regard to clearness, accuracy, variety, etc.; mode of expression; language; as, the diction of Chaucer's poems. His diction blazes up into a sudden explosion of prophetic grandeur. De Quincey.

To have a difference, cause of variance, or quarrel; to dispute; to contend. We 'll never differ with a crowded pit. Rowe.

he state or measure of being different or unlike; distinction; dissimilarity; unlikeness; variation; as, a difference of quality in paper; a difference in degrees of heat, or of light; what is the difference between the innocent and the guilty Differencies of administration, but the same Lord. 1 Cor. xii. 5.…

Of various or contrary nature, form, or quality; partially or totally unlike; dissimilar; as, different kinds of food or drink; different states of health; different shapes; different degrees of excellence. Men are as different from each other, as the regions in which they are born are different. Dryden.…

-- Differential coefficient, the limit of the ratio of the increment of a function of a variable to the increment of the variable itself, when these increments are made indefinitely small. -- Differential coupling, a form of slip coupling used in light machinery to regulate at pleasure the velocity of the connected…

In a different manner; variously.

o concise or terse; verbose; prolix; as, a diffuse style; a diffuse writer. A diffuse and various knowledge of divine and human things. Milton.

n argument there is hardly room to digress into a particular definition as often as a man varies the signification of any term. Locke.

d in determining the units of other physical quantities. Thus, since the unit of velocity varies directly as the unit of length and inversely as the unit of time, the dimensions of velocity are said to be length ÷ time; the dimensions of work are mass × (length)2 ÷ (time)2; the dimensions of density are mass ÷ (length)…

A crystallized variety of pyroxene, of a clear, grayish green color; mussite.

of two messages in the same direction at the same time. Diplex and contraplex are the two varieties of duplex.