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A round, flattish, wooden block, encircled by a rope, or an iron band, and pierced with three holes to receive the lanyard; -- used to extend the shrouds and stays, and for other purposes. Called also deadman's eye. Totten.

The division of a piece of timber made by sawing; a board or plank; particularly, a board or plank of fir or pine above seven inches in width, and exceeding six feet in length. If narrower than this, it is called a batten; if shorter, a deal end.

Precious. [Obs.] Piers Plowman.

That which is plucked off or rent away; a fragment; a piece. Glanvill.

eeply. Deep-versed in books, and shallow in himself. Milton. Drink deep, or taste not the Pierian spring. Pope.

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

One who defends; a defender. The rampiers and ditches which the defendants had cast up. Spotswood.

ties; to deteriorate. When wit transgresseth decency, it degenerates into insolence and impiety. Tillotson.

A tearing in pieces. [Obs.] Bailey.

e; luxurious; voluptuous; alluring. [R.] Dives, for his delicate life, to the devil went. Piers Plowman. Haarlem is a very delicate town. Evelyn.

To throw or pull down; to raze; to destroy the fabric of; to pull to pieces; to ruin; as, to demolish an edifice, or a wall. I expected the fabric of my book would long since have been demolished, and laid even with the ground. Tillotson.

pression, as of the feelings, by outward signs; a manifestation; a show. Did your letters pierce the queen to any demonstration of grief Shak. Loyal demonstrations toward the prince. Prescott.

ts; the "penny" of the New Testament; -- so called from being worth originally ten of the pieces called as.

thou knowest, conscience, I came not to chide Nor deprave thy person with a proud heart. Piers Plowman.

ess; neglectful; unfaithful. They easily prevailed, so as to seize upon the vacant, unoccupied, and derelict minds of his [Chatham's] friends; and instantly they turned the vessel wholly out of the course of his policy. Burke. A government which is either unable or unwilling to redress such wrongs is derelict to its hi…

Precious. [Obs.] Piers Plowman.

A tract, which may be capable of sustaining a population, but has been left unoccupied and uncultivated; a wilderness; a solitary place. He will make her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of the Lord. Is. li. 3.

boration of a theme or subject; the unfolding of a musical idea; the evolution of a whole piece or movement from a leading theme or motive. Development theory (Biol.), the doctrine that animals and plants possess the power of passing by slow and successive stages from a lower to a higher state of organization, and that…

often with a reflexive pronoun; as, to devote one's self to science, to one's friends, to piety, etc.

Expressing devotion or piety; as, eyes devout; sighs devout; a devout posture. Milton.