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To restrain from proceeding; to stay or stop; to delay; as, we were detained by an accident. Let us detain thee, until we shall have made ready a kid for thee. Judges xiii. 15.

The state of being detained (stopped or hindered); delay from necessity.

That which is determined upon; result of deliberation; purpose; conclusion formed; fixed resolution. So bloodthirsty a determination to obtain convictions. Hallam.

Writ of detinue (Law), one that lies against him who wrongfully detains goods or chattels delivered to him, or in possession, to recover the thing itself, or its value and damages, from the detainer. It is now in a great measure superseded by other remedies.

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…

To transfer from one person to another; to deliver over; to hand down; -- generally with upon, sometimes with to or into. They devolved a considerable share of their power upon their favorite. Burke. They devolved their whole authority into the hands of the council of sixty. Addison.

erly by the senses. Longing they look, and gaping at the sight, Devour her o'er with vast delight. Dryden.

ed or difficult affair; adroitness. His wisdom . . . was turned . . . into a dexterity to deliver himself. Bacon. He had conducted his own defense with singular boldness and dexterity. Hallam.

Same as Dialectics. Plato placed his dialectic above all sciences. Liddell & Scott.

Delaware; -- a nickname alluding to its small size.

the Diatomaceæ, a family of minute unicellular Algæ having a siliceous covering of great delicacy, each individual multiplying by spontaneous division. By some authors diatoms are called Bacillariæ, but this word is not in general use.

To say; to utter; to communicate authoritatively; to deliver (a command) to a subordinate; to declare with authority; to impose; as, to dictate the terms of a treaty; a general dictates orders to his troops. Whatsoever is dictated to us by God must be believed. Watts.

ld cover, is said to have cut it into thin strips long enough to inclose a spot for a citadel.

tive or administrative assembly in Germany, Poland, and some other countries of Europe; a deliberative convention; a council; as, the Diet of Worms, held in 1521.

Poured out; widely spread; not restrained; copious; full; esp., of style, opposed to concise or terse; verbose; prolix; as, a diffuse style; a diffuse writer. A diffuse and various knowledge of divine and human things. Milton.

Spread abroad; dispersed; loose; flowing; diffuse. It grew to be a widely diffused opinion. Hawthorne. -- Dif*fus"ed*ly, adv. -- Dif*fus"ed*ness, n.

Having the quality of diffusing; capable of spreading every way by flowing; spreading widely; widely reaching; copious; diffuse. "A plentiful and diffusive perfume." Hare.

To turn up, or delve in, (earth) with a spade or a hoe; to open, loosen, or break up (the soil) with a spade, or other sharp instrument; to pierce, open, or loosen, as if with a spade. Be first to dig the ground. Dryden.

est; the United States Digest. A complete digest of Hindu and Mahommedan laws after the model of Justinian's celebrated Pandects. Sir W. Jones. They made a sort of institute and digest of anarchy, called the Rights of Man. Burke.

To work as a ditcher; to dig. [Obs.] He would thresh and thereto dike and delve. Chaucer.