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Webster’s Dictionary (1828)



1,951 words match “LAW”

DRAGON n.
ly represented as a monstrous winged serpent or lizard, with a crested head and enormous claws, and regarded as very powerful and ferocious. The dragons which appear in early paintings and sculptures are invariably representations of a winged crocodile. Fairholt.
DRAIN n.
. [Eng.] Halliwell. Box drain, Counter drain. See under Box, Counter. -- Right of drain (Law), an easement or servitude by which one man has a right to convey water in pipes through or over the estate of another. Kent.
DREADFUL a.
Inspiring awe or reverence; awful. [Obs.] "God's dreadful law." Shak.
DRIB v.
To appropriate unlawfully; to filch; to defalcate. He who drives their bargain dribs a part. Dryden.
DRIP n.
ts beyond the rest, and is of such section as to throw off the rain water. Right of drip (Law), an easement or servitude by which a man has the right to have the water flowing from his house fall on the land of his neighbor.
DROIT n.
A right; law in its aspect of the foundation of rights; also, in old law, the writ of right. Abbott. Droit d'aubaine. See under Aubaine. -- Droits of the Admiralty (Eng. Law), rights or perquisites of the Admiralty, arising from seizure of an enemy's ships in port on the breaking out of war, or those coming into port…
DRY a.
pon paper. (c) Hence: The needle with which such an engraving is made. -- Dry rent (Eng. Law), a rent reserved by deed, without a clause of distress. Bouvier. -- Dry rot, a decay of timber, reducing its fibers to the condition of a dry powdery dust, often accompanied by the presence of a peculiar fungus (Merulius lac…
DUE a. 2 definitions
Such as (a thing) ought to be; fulfilling obligation; proper; lawful; regular; appointed; sufficient; exact; as, due process of law; due service; in due time.
DUEL n.
ly arises from an injury done or an affront given by one to the other. Trial by duel (Old Law), a combat between two persons for proving a cause; trial by battel.
DUPLEX a.
operating the valves of the other. -- Duplex querela Etym: [L., double complaint] (Eccl. Law), a complaint in the nature of an appeal from the ordinary to his immediate superior, as from a bishop to an archbishop. Mozley & W. -- Duplex telegraphy, a system of telegraphy for sending two messages over the same wire sim…
DURESS n.
The state of compulsion or necessity in which a person is influenced, whether by the unlawful restrain of his liberty or by actual or threatened physical violence, to incur a civil liability or to commit an offense.
DYNAMIC; DYNAMICAL a.
Relating to physical forces, effects, or laws; as, dynamical geology. As natural science has become more dynamic, so has history. Prof. Shedd. Dynamical electricity. See under Electricity.
DYNAMICS n.
The moving moral, as well as physical, forces of any kind, or the laws which relate to them.
DYSNOMY n.
Bad legislation; the enactment of bad laws. Cockeram.
EARNEST n.
r pledge, to bind the bargain and prove the sale. Kent. Ayliffe. Benjamin. Earnest money (Law), money paid as earnest, to bind a bargain or to ratify and prove a sale.
EARTH n.
as the dwelling place of mortals, in distinction from the dwelling place of spirits. That law preserves the earth a sphere And guides the planets in their course. S. Rogers. In heaven, or earth, or under earth, in hell. Milton.
EASEMENT n.
the ownership of the soil, as a way, water course, etc. It is a species of what the civil law calls servitude. Kent.
EAVESDROPPING n.
stening to what is said, and then tattling it abroad. The offense is indictable at common law. Wharton.
ECCENTRIC a.
Deviating from stated methods, usual practice, or established forms or laws; deviating from an appointed sphere or way; departing from the usual course; irregular; anomalous; odd; as, eccentric conduct. "This brave and eccentric young man." Macaulay. He shines eccentric, like a comet's blaze. Savage. Eccentric anomaly.…
ECCLESIASTICAL a.
line of the Established Church; -- called also Christian courts. [Eng.] -- Ecclesiastical law, a combination of civil and canon law as administered in ecclesiastical courts. [Eng.] -- Ecclesiastical modes (Mus.), the church modes, or the scales anciently used. -- Ecclesiastical States, the territory formerly subject t…
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