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Deficiency; imperfection. [R.] Ld. Digby. Jer. Taylor.

Liable to defect; imperfect. [R.] "A defectible understanding." Jer. Taylor.

Having defects; imperfect. [Obs.] "Some one defectious piece." Sir P. Sidney.

Wanting in something; incomplete; lacking a part; deficient; imperfect; faulty; -- applied either to natural or moral qualities; as, a defective limb; defective timber; a defective copy or account; a defective character; defective rules.

Great imperfection. [Obs.] W. Montagu.

Full of defects; imperfect. [Obs.] Barrow.

The state of being deficient; inadequacy; want; failure; imperfection; shortcoming; defect. "A deficiencyof blood." Arbuthnot. [Marlborough] was so miserably ignorant, that his deficiencies made him the ridicule of his contemporaries. Buckle. Deficiency of a curve (Geom.), the amount by which the number of double point…

p completeness; wanting, as regards a requirement; not sufficient; inadequate; defective; imperfect; incomplete; lacking; as, deficient parts; deficient estate; deficient strength; deficient in judgment. The style was indeed deficient in ease and variety. Macaulay. Deficient number. (Arith.) See under Abundant. -- De*…

An imperfect or half cadence, falling on the dominant instead of on the key note.

Separate; unconnected, or imperfectly connected; as, detached parcels. "Extensive and detached empire." Burke. Detached escapement. See Escapement.

Effected or produced by a flood or deluge of water; -- said of coarse and imperfectly stratified deposits along ancient or existing water courses. Similar unstratified deposits were formed by the agency of ice. The time of deposition has been called the Diluvian epoch.

In a dim or obscure manner; not brightly or clearly; with imperfect sight.

it of obedience in; to drill. Ill armed, and worse disciplined. Clarendon. His mind . . . imperfectly disciplined by nature. Macaulay.

Imperfectly baked; hence, not brought to perfection; unfinished; also, of weak or dull understanding. [Colloq.] Halliwell.

To sleep imperfectly or unsoundly; to slumber; to be heavy with sleepiness; to doze. "He drowsed upon his couch." South. In the pool drowsed the cattle up to their knees. Lowell.

Imperfect obscurity; a middle degree between light and darkness; twilight; as, the dusk of the evening.

sion, and often chemical changes when the circuit passes between the poles or through any imperfectly conducting substance or space. It is generally brought into action by any disturbance of molecular equilibrium, whether from a chemical, physical, or mechanical, cause.

To clear from spots or stains, or from any imperfection. [Obs.] Hales.

An optical toy; a card on which confused or imperfect figures are drawn, but which form to the eye regular figures when the card is rapidly revolved. See Thaumatrope.

To judge and form an opinion of the value of, from imperfect data, -- either the extrinsic (money), or intrinsic (moral), value; to fix the worth of roughly or in a general way; as, to estimate the value of goods or land; to estimate the worth or talents of a person. It is by the weight of silver, and not the name of t…