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Webster’s Dictionary (1828)



1,835 words match “BEE”

DESPECIFICATE v.
cation or qualities; to specificate; to desynonymize. [R.] Inaptitude and ineptitude have been usefully despecificated. Fitzed. Hall.
DESPOIL v.
the summer fair. Gower. A law which restored to them an immense domain of which they had been despoiled. Macaulay. Despoiled of innocence, of faith, of bliss. Milton.
DESULTORY a.
; as, desultory minds. Atterbury. He [Goldsmith] knew nothing accurately; his reading had been desultory. Macaulay.
DESYNONYMIZE v.
o deprive of synonymous character; to discriminate in use; -- applied to words which have been employed as synonyms. Coleridge. Trench.
DETAINER n.
ongs to another; detention of what is another's, even though the original taking may have been lawful. Forcible detainer is indictable at common law.
DETERMINE v.
of; to limit; to bound; to bring to an end; to finish. The knowledge of men hitherto hath been determined by the view or sight. Bacon. Now, where is he that will not stay so long Till his friend sickness hath determined me Shak.
DETRACT v.
om one's credit; to lessen reputation; to derogate; to defame; -- often with from. It has been the fashion to detract both from the moral and literary character of Cicero. V. Knox.
DEUTEROGENIC a.
Of secondary origin; -- said of certain rocks whose material has been derived from older rocks.
DEVELOPMENT n.
The equivalent expression into which another has been developed.
DEVIL n.
ansion, shaped somewhat like an apron. -- Devil's coachhorse. (Zoöl.) (a) The black rove beetle (Ocypus olens). [Eng.] (b) A large, predacious, hemipterous insect (Prionotus cristatus); the wheel bug. [U.S.] -- Devil's darning-needle. (Zoöl.) See under Darn, v. t. -- Devil's fingers, Devil's hand (Zoöl.), the common…
DICTOGRAPH n.
und-magnifying device enabling the ordinary mouthpiece to be dispensed with. Much use has been made of it for overhearing, or for recording, conversations for the purpose of obtaining evidence for use in litigation.
DIDYMIUM n.
metal cerium; -- hence its name. It was formerly supposed to be an element, but has since been found to consist of two simpler elementary substances, neodymium and praseodymium. See Neodymium, and Praseodymium.
DIGNITY n.
ellence; preferment; exaltation. Macaulay. And the king said, What honor and dignity hath been done to Mordecai for this Esth. vi. 3. Reuben, thou art my firstborn, . . . the excellency of dignity, and the excellency of power. Gen. xlix. 3.
DILUVIAL a.
imilar unstratified deposits were formed by the agency of ice. The time of deposition has been called the Diluvian epoch.
DIN v.
To utter with a din; to repeat noisily; to ding. This hath been often dinned in my ears. Swift. To din into, to fix in the mind of another by frequent and noisy repetitions. Sir W. Scott.
DIRECTLY adv.
Without circumlocution or ambiguity; absolutely; in express terms. No man hath hitherto been so impious as plainly and directly to condemn prayer. Hooker.
DISADVANTAGEOUS a.
sadvantageous for attack or defense. Even in the disadvantageous position in which he had been placed, he gave clear indications of future excellence. Prescott. -- Dis*ad`van*ta"geous*ly, adv. -- Dis*ad`van*ta"geous*ness, n.
DISAFFIRM v.
To assert the contrary of; to contradict; to deny; -- said of that which has been asserted.
DISAPPROPRIATE v.
ssion a spiritual corporation. Appropriations of the several parsonages . . . would heave been, by the rules of the common law, disappropriated. Blackstone.
DISCLOSE v.
To make known, as that which has been kept secret or hidden; to reveal; to expose; as, events have disclosed his designs. If I disclose my passion, Our friendship 's an end. Addison.
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