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oem, or play, as is appropriate to the time, place, or other circumstances represented or described. I began last night to read Walter Scott's Lay of the Last Minstrel . . . .I was extremely delighted with the poetical beauty of some parts . . . .The costume, too, is admirable. Sir J. Mackintosh.

One who describes crystals, or the manner of their formation; one versed in crystallography.

A line described according to some low, and having no finite portion of it a straight line. Axis of a curve. See under Axis. -- Curve of quickest descent. See Brachystochrone. -- Curve tracing (Math.), the process of determining the shape, location, singular points, and other perculiarities of a curve from its equati…

than one, cylindrical surface. -- Cylindric, or Cylindrical, surface (Geom.), a surface described by a straight line that moves according to any law, but so as to be constantly parallel to a given line. -- Cylindrical vault. (Arch.) See under Vault, n.

A certain surface of the third degree, described by a moving straight line; -- used to illustrate the motions of a rigid body and also the forces acting on the body.

ast sickness. That often-quoted passage from Lord Hervey in which the Queen's deathbed is described. Thackeray.

Changed in features; deformed. [R.] Features when defeatured in the . . . way I have described. De Quincey.

To determine the precise signification of; to fix the meaning of; to describe accurately; to explain; to expound or interpret; as, to define a word, a phrase, or a scientific term. They define virtue to be life ordered according to nature. Robynson (More's Utopia).

To portray to the mind or understanding by words; to set forth; to describe. Customs or habits delineated with great accuracy. Walpole.

To paint; to picture; hence, to describe; to delineate in words; to depict. [Obs.] And do unwilling worship to the saint That on his shield depainted he did see. Spenser. In few words shall see the nature of many memorable persons . . . depainted. Holland.

To represent in words; to describe vividly. Cæsar's gout was then depicted in energetic language. Motley.

That can be described; capable of description.

Tending to describe; having the quality of representing; containing description; as, a descriptive figure; a descriptive phrase; a descriptive narration; a story descriptive of the age. Descriptive anatomy, that part of anatomy which treats of the forms and relations of parts, but not of their textures. -- Descriptive…

To describe. [Obs.] Spenser.

Capable of being developed. J. Peile. Developable surface (Math.), a surface described by a moving right line, and such that consecutive positions of the generator intersect each other. Hence, the surface can be developed into a plane.

To say; to relate; to describe. [Obs.] Chaucer.

To express the specific difference of; to describe the properties of (a thing) whereby it is differenced from another of the same class; to discriminate. Earle.

The line of motion along which a describent line or surface is carried in the genesis of any plane or solid figure; a directrix. Hutton.

To describe. [Obs.] Chaucer.

earth's rotation upon the apparent direction of motion of light. -- Diurnal arc, the arc described by the sun during the daytime or while above the horizon; hence, the arc described by the moon or a star from rising to setting. -- Diurnal circle, the apparent circle described by a celestial body in consequence of the…