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The act of divining; a foreseeing or foretelling of future events; the pretended art discovering secret or future by preternatural means. There shall not be found among you any one that . . . useth divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter. Deut. xviii. 10.

The art or practice of applying tests to ascertain the nature, quality, etc., of objects, as of metals or ores, of medicines, or of facts pertaining to physiology.

Proving by experiments or tests. Docimastic art, metallurgy, or the art of assaying metals; the art of separating metals from foreign matters, and determining the nature and quantity of metallic substances contained in any ore or mineral.

A treatise on the art of testing, as in assaying metals, etc.

The solid part of an animal's tail, as distinguished from the hair; the stump of a tail; the part of a tail left after clipping or cutting. Grew.

the doctrine of atoms; the doctrine of chances. "The doctrine of gravitation." I. Watts. Articles of faith and doctrine. Hooker. The Monroe doctrine (Politics), a policy enunciated by President Monroe (Message, Dec. 2, 1823), the essential feature of which is that the United States will regard as an unfriendly act any…

To start suddenly aside, as to avoid a blow or a missile; to shift place by a sudden start. Milton.

trickery; artifice. [Obs.] Hacket.

A grappling iron, with a claw or claws, for fastening into wood or other heavy articles, for the purpose of raising or moving them.

Articles of home manufacture, especially cotton goods. [U. S.]

The art of house-keeping, cookery, etc. [R.] R. Park.

Pertaining to, or situated near, the back, or dorsum, of an animal or of one of its parts; notal; tergal; neural; as, the dorsal fin of a fish; the dorsal artery of the tongue; -- opposed to ventral.

d physician, worse than his distemper, who shall dose, and bleed, and kill him, "secundum artem." South

Divided into two; acting two parts, one openly and the other secretly; equivocal; deceitful; insincere. With a double heart do they speak. Ps. xii. 2.

A peculiar action of the tongue by flute players in articulating staccato notes; also, the rapid repetition of notes in cornet playing.

A turning and winding; as, the doubling of a hunted hare; shift; trick; artifice. Dryden.

Open; artless; undisguised; absolute; unmixed; as, downright atheism. The downright impossibilities charged upon it. South. Gloomy fancies which in her amounted to downright insanity. Prescott. -- Down"right`ly, adv. -- Down"right`ness, n.

The art of carrying off surplus water, as from land. Draining tile. Same as Draintile.

A small piece of artillery. [Obs.] Two or three shots, made at them by a couple of drakes, made them stagger. Clarendon.

The art of dramatic composition and representation.