Search the Dictionary

One who deposes or testifies under oath; one who gives evidence; usually, one who testifies in writing.

To testify under oath; to bear testimony to; -- now usually said of bearing testimony which is officially written down for future use. Abbott. To depose the yearly rent or valuation of lands. Bacon.

divest; to hinder from possessing; to debar; to shut out from; -- with a remoter object, usually preceded by of. God hath deprived her of wisdom. Job xxxix. 17. It was seldom that anger deprived him of power over himself. Macaulay.

To appoint; to assign; to choose. [R.] The most conspicuous places in cities are usually deputed for the erection of statues. Barrow.

A straight wind without apparent cyclonic tendency, usually accompanied with rain and often destructive, common in the prairie regions of the United States.

To take away; to detract; to withdraw; -- usually with from. If we did derogate from them whom their industry hath made great. Hooker. It derogates little from his fortitude, while it adds infinitely to the honor of his humanity. Burke.

Transmission of an estate by inheritance, usually, but not necessarily, in the descending line; title to inherit an estate by reason of consanguinity. Abbott.

That which is deserved; the reward or the punishment justly due; claim to recompense, usually in a good sense; right to reward; merit. According to their deserts will I judge them. Ezek. vii. 27. Andronicus, surnamed Pius For many good and great deserts to Rome. Shak. His reputation falls far below his desert. A. Hamil…

To be worthy of recompense; -- usually with ill or with well. One man may merit or deserve of another. South.

To intend or purpose; -- usually with for before the remote object, but sometimes with to. Ask of politicians the end for which laws were originally designed. Burke. He was designed to the study of the law. Dryden.

That which designates; a distinguishing mark or name; distinctive title; appellation. The usual designation of the days of the week. Whewell.

A table, frame, or case, usually with sloping top, but often with flat top, for the use writers and readers. It often has a drawer or repository underneath.

To deprive for spoil; to plunder; to rob; to pillage; to strip; to divest; -- usually followed by of. The clothed earth is then bare, Despoiled is 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.…

n. -- Dessert-spoonful, n., pl. Dessert-spoonfuls, as much as a dessert spoon will hold, usually reckoned at about two and a half fluid drams.

o explode gun cotton in blasting operations. -- Detonating tube, a strong tube of glass, usually graduated, closed at one end, and furnished with two wires passing through its sides at opposite points, and nearly meeting, for the purpose of exploding gaseous mixtures by an electric spark, as in gas analysis, etc.…

One of the secondary, and usually sexual, zooids produced by budding or fission from the primary zooids, in animals having alternate generations. In the tapeworms, the joints are deuterozooids.

taining in the molecule two atoms of oxygen united with some other element or radical; -- usually called dioxide, or less frequently, binoxide.

The voluntary and unnecessary departure of a ship from, or delay in, the regular and usual course of the specific voyage insured, thus releasing the underwriters from their responsibility. Deviation of a falling body (Physics), that deviation from a strictly vertical line of descent which occurs in a body falling freel…

hard-boiled egg, sliced into halves and with the yolk removed and replaced with a paste, usually made from the yolk and mayonnaise, seasoned with salt and/or spices such as paprika.

Duty; service owed; hence, due act of civility or respect; -- now usually in the plural; as, they paid their devoirs to the ladies. "Do now your devoid, young knights!" Chaucer.