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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.

To eat up with greediness; to consume ravenously; to feast upon like a wild beast or a glutton; to prey upon. Some evil beast hath devoured him. Gen. xxxvii. 20.

Moisture from the atmosphere condensed by cool bodies upon their surfaces, particularly at night. Her tears fell with the dews at even. Tennyson.

The flesh upon the human throat, especially when with age. [Burlesque] On her withered dewlap pour the ale. Shak.

species. -- Dial lock, a lock provided with one or more plates having numbers or letters upon them. These plates must be adjusted in a certain determined way before the lock can be operated. -- Dial plate, the plane or disk of a dial or timepiece on which lines and figures for indicating the time are placed.…

One celebrated upon the completion of sixty, or, according to some, seventy-five, years from the beginning of the thing commemorated.

To draw flowers or figures, as upon cloth. "If you diaper on folds." Peacham.

Any small cubical or square body. Words . . . pasted upon little flat tablets or dies. Watts.

ected shaft. -- Differential duties (Polit. Econ.), duties which are not imposed equally upon the same products imported from different countries. -- Differential galvanometer (Elec.), a galvanometer having two coils or circuits, usually equal, through which currents passing in opposite directions are measured by the…

Hard to manage or to please; not easily wrought upon; austere; stubborn; as, a difficult person.

ubt of the power, ability, or disposition of others. [Archaic] That affliction grew heavy upon me, and weighed me down even to a diffidence of God's mercy. Donne.

To enlarge upon; to relate at large; to tell copiously or diffusely. [R.] Do me the favor to dilate at full What hath befallen of them and thee till now. Shak.

gish; -- said of actions or measures. Alva, as usual, brought his dilatory policy to bear upon hiMotley. Dilatory plea (Law), a plea designed to create delay in the trial of a cause, generally founded upon some matter not connected with the merits of the case.

To dine upon; to have to eat. [Obs.] "What will ye dine." Chaucer.

To strike; to thump; to pound. [Obs.] Diken, or delven, or dingen upon sheaves. Piers Plowman.

An attachment to a clock by which the quarter hours are struck upon bells of different tones.

A mineral of the scapolite group; -- so called from the double effect of fire upon it, in fusing it, and rendering it phosphorescent.

. -- Direct examination (Law), the first examination of a witness in the orderly course, upon the merits. Abbott. -- Direct fire (Mil.), fire, the direction of which is perpendicular to the line of troops or to the parapet aimed at. -- Direct process (Metal.), one which yields metal in working condition by a single…

Acting directly, as one part upon another, without the intervention of other working parts. Direct-acting steam engine, one in which motion is transmitted to the crank without the intervention of a beam or lever; -- also called direct-action steam engine. -- Direct-acting steam pump, one in which the steam piston rod…

The name and residence of a person to whom any thing is sent, written upon the thing sent; superscription; address; as, the direction of a letter.