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Extreme depression or sudden failing o

Having elevations or depressions in form like one half of a bivalve shell; -- applied principally to a surface produced by fracture.

The act or process of reducing, by depression of temperature or increase of pressure, etc., to another and denser form, as gas to the condition of a liquid or steam to water.

To cheer in distress or depression; to alleviate the grief and raise the spirits of; to relieve; to comfort; to soothe. And empty heads console with empty sound. Pope. I am much consoled by the reflection that the religion of Christ has been attacked in vain by all the wits and philosophers, and its triumph has been co…

To chamfer or form a depression around the top of (a hole in wood, metal, etc.) for the reception of the head of a screw or bolt below the surface, either wholly or in part; as, to countersink a hole for a screw.

An act of civility, respect, or reverence, made by women, consisting of a slight depression or dropping of the body, with bending of the kness. [Written also curtsy.] The lady drops a courtesy in token of obedience, and the ceremony proceeds as usual. Golgsmith.

To depress with fear; to daunt the spirits or courage of; to overawe. To vanquish a people already cowed. Shak. THe French king was cowed. J. R. Green.

Hollow; cuplike; also, full of cups, or small depressions.

A genus of plants of the Primrose family, having depressed rounded corms, and pretty nodding flowers with the petals so reflexed as to point upwards, whence it is called rabbit's ears. It is also called sow bread, because hogs are said to eat the corms.

Dejection; depression; cloud of the mind. Even now, while thus I stand blest in thy presence, A secret damp of grief comes o'er my soul. Addison. It must have thrown a damp over your autumn excursion. J. D. Forbes.

To depress; to check; to make dull; to lessen. In a way that considerably dampened our enthusiasm. The Century.

To put to shame; to confound; to confuse; to abash; to depress. South. Dash the proud gamesPope.

To bend downward; to bring down; to depress; to cause to bend, or fall. In melancholy deep, with head declined. Thomson. And now fair Phoebus gan decline in haste His weary wagon to the western vale. Spenser.

A casting down; depression. [Obs. or Archaic] Hallywell.

Tending to lower, depress, or degrade.

To let fall; to depress. [R.] They [peacocks] demit and let fall the same [i. e., their train]. Sir T. Browne.

A slight depression, or small notch or hollow, made by a blow or by pressure; an indentation. A blow that would have made a dent in a pound of butter. De Quincey.

Serving to depress. [R.] "Depriment muscles." Derham.

e, or spirit; to be thoroughly disheartened; to lose all courage; to become dispirited or depressed; to take an unhopeful view. I should despair, or at least despond. Scott's Letters. Others depress their own minds, [and] despond at the first difficulty. Locke. We wish that . . . desponding patriotism may turn its eyes…

The state of desponding; loss of hope and cessation of effort; discouragement; depression or dejection of the mind. The unhappy prince seemed, during some days, to be sunk in despondency. Macaulay.