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To represent by words written or spoken; to give an account of; to make known to others by words or signs; as, the geographer describes countries and cities.

A deserted or forsaken region; a barren tract incapable of supporting population, as the vast sand plains of Asia and Africa are destitute and vegetation. A dreary desert and a gloomy waste. Pope.

The state of being forsaken; desolation; as, the king in his desertion.

Left alone; forsaken; lonely; comfortless. Have mercy upon, for I am desolate. Ps. xxv. 16. Voice of the poor and desolate. Keble.

A place or country wasted and forsaken. How is Babylon become a desolation! Jer. l. 23.

; complete despondency. We in dark dreams are tossing to and fro, Pine with regret, or sicken with despair. Keble. Before he [Bunyan] was ten, his sports were interrupted by fits of remorse and despair. Macaulay.

Forsaken; not having in possession (something necessary, or desirable); deficient; lacking; devoid; -- often followed by of. In thee is my trust; leave not my soul destitute. Ps. cxli. 8. Totally destitute of all shadow of influence. Burke.

To be taken away, lost, or alienated, as a title or an estate.

A very wicked person; hence, any great evil. "That devil Glendower." "The devil drunkenness." Shak. Have not I chosen you twelve, and one of you is a devil John vi. 70.

or downward; to pass on. Every headlong stream Devolves its winding waters to the main. Akenside. Devolved his rounded periods. Tennyson.

A cheat. [Colloq.] Jeremy Diddler, a character in a play by James Kenney, entitled "Raising the wind." The name is applied to any needy, tricky, constant borrower; a confidence man.

be, marked on its faces with spots from one to six, and used in playing games by being shaken in a box and thrown from it. See Dice.

ering; the state or measure of being different or unlike; distinction; dissimilarity; unlikeness; variation; as, a difference of quality in paper; a difference in degrees of heat, or of light; what is the difference between the innocent and the guilty Differencies of administration, but the same Lord. 1 Cor. xii. 5.…

er eye with slow dilation rolled. Tennyson. A gigantic dilation of the hateful figure. Dickens.

and persevering application; devoted and painstaking effort to accomplish what is undertaken; assiduity in service. That which ordinary men are fit for, I am qualified in; and the best of me is diligence. Shak.

by mixing; to reduce, especially by the addition of water; to temper; to attenuate; to weaken. Lest these colors should be diluted and weakened by the mixture of any adventitious light. Sir I. Newton.

dim, obscure, or dark; to make less bright or distinct; to take away the luster of; to darken; to dull; to obscure; to eclipse. A king among his courtiers, who dims all his attendants. Dryden. Now set the sun, and twilight dimmed the ways. Cowper.

To lessen the authority or dignity of; to put down; to degrade; to abase; to weaken. This doth nothing diminish their opinion. Robynson (More's Utopia). I will diminish them, that they shall no more rule over the nations. Ezek. xxix. 15. O thou . . . at whose sight all the stars Hide their diminished heads. Milton.…

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

Two metrical feet taken together, or included in one measure. Hadley. Trochaic, iambic, and anapestic verses . . . are measured by dipodies. W. W. Goodwin.