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Prolixity; diffuse discourse. [Obs.] "What needeth greater dilatation" Chaucer.

Of or pertaining to a flood or deluge, esp. to the great deluge in the days of Noah; diluvian.

held in honor of the Olympian god Dionysus. They correspond to the Roman Bacchanalia; the greater Dionysia were held at Athens in March or April, and were celebrated with elaborate performances of both tragedies and comedies.

ce, with a horizontal line; -- called also inclination. -- Dip of a stratum (Geol.), its greatest angle of inclination to the horizon, or that of a line perpendicular to its direction or strike; -- called also the pitch.

s Mexicanus). The Dipper (Astron.), the seven principal stars in the constellation of the Great Bear; popularly so called from their arrangement in the form of a dipper; -- called also Charles's Wain. See Ursa Major, under Ursa.

Evil in great degree; dreadful; dismal; horrible; terrible; lamentable. Dire was the tossing, deep the groans. Milton. Gorgons and hydras and chimeras dire. Milton.

A style of dress prevalent at the time of the French Directory, characterized by great extravagance of design and imitating the Greek and Roman costumes.

placebo and dirige. Wyclif. Resort, I pray you, unto my sepulture To sing my dirige with great devotion. Lamentation of Mary Magdalene.

under the disadvantage of being unknown by sight to any of you. Burke. Abandoned by their great patron, the faction henceforward acted at disadvantage. Palfrey.

r things of which we have not thoroughly considered the value, our disappointment will be greater our pleasure in the fruition of them. Addison. In disappointment thou canst bless. Keble.

Tillotson. No sadder proof can be given by a man of his own littleness that disbelief in great men. Carlyle.

rns, distinguishes, perceives, or judges; as, a discerner of truth, of right and wrong. A great observer and discerner of men's natures. Clarendon.

on, as a Leyden jar. The galleys also did oftentimes, out of their prows, discharge their great pieces against the city. Knolles. Feeling in other cases discharges itself in indirect muscular actions. H. Spencer.

; confusion and dejection. Every man's sword was against his fellow, and there was a very great discomfiture. 1 Sam. xiv. 20. A hope destined to end . . . in discomfiture and disgrace. Macaulay.

ol; prudence; circumspection; wariness. The better part of valor is discretion. Shak. The greatest parts without discretion may be fatal to their owner. Hume.

of being discriminating; faculty of nicely distinguishing; acute discernment; as, to show great discrimination in the choice of means.

examination by argument; debate; disputation; agitation. The liberty of discussion is the great safeguard of all other liberties. Macaulay. Discussion of a problem or an equation (Math.), the operation of assigning different reasonable values to the arbitrary quantities and interpreting the result. Math. Dict.…

listine . . . saw Dawid, he disdained him; for he was but a youth. 1 Sam. xvii. 42. 'T is great, 't manly to disdain disguise. Young.

of ease; uneasiness; trouble; vexation; disquiet. [Obs.] So all that night they passed in great disease. Spenser. To shield thee from diseases of the world. Shak.

the affections a favorite pursuit, the mind from study. To disengage him and the kingdom, great sums were to be borrowed. Milton. Caloric and light must be disengaged during the process. Transl. of Lavoisier.