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to Dionysius, a monk of the 6th century; as, the Dionysian, or Christian, era. Dionysian period, a period of 532 years, depending on the cycle of the sun, or 28 years, and the cycle of the moon, or 19 years; -- sometimes called the Greek paschal cycle, or Victorian period.

A person employed in, or skilled in, diplomacy; a diplomat. In ability, Avaux had no superior among the numerous able diplomatics whom his country then possessed. Macaulay.

A morbid an uncontrollable craving (often periodic) for drink, esp. for alcoholic liquors; also improperly used to denote acute and chronic alcoholism.

To point out to with authority; to instruct as a superior; to order; as, he directed them to go. I 'll first direct my men what they shall do. Shak.

he act of directing, of aiming, regulating, guiding, or ordering; guidance; management; superintendence; administration; as, the direction o. I do commit his youth To your direction. Shak. All nature is but art, unknown to thee;direction, which thou canst not see. Pope.

One who, or that which, directs; one who regulates, guides, or orders; a manager or superintendent. In all affairs thou sole director. Swift.

Attended with disadvantage; unfavorable to success or prosperity; inconvenient; prejudicial; -- opposed to advantageous; as, the situation of an army is disadvantageous for attack or defense. Even in the disadvantageous position in which he had been placed, he gave clear indications of future excellence. Prescott. -- D…

To refuse to confirm; to annul, as a judicial decision, by a contrary judgment of a superior tribunal.

Overthrow or annulment by the decision of a superior tribunal; as, disaffirmance of judgment.

y sad; comfortless; filled with grief; as, a bereaved and disconsolate parent. One morn a Peri at the gate Of Eden stood disconsolate. Moore. The ladies and the knights, no shelter nigh, Were dropping wet, disconsolate and wan. Dryden.

draw aside the curtains, and discover The several caskets to this noble prince. Shak. Prosperity doth best discover vice; but adversity doth best discover virtue. Bacon. We will discover ourselves unto them. 1 Sam. xiv. 8. Discover not a secret to another. Prov. xxv. 9.

have, in truth, been the mortal diseases under which popular governments have every where perished. Madison. Disease germ. See under Germ.

To disenchant; to free from illusion. "The bitter disillusionizing experience of postnuptial life." W. Black.

Not loyal; not true to a sovereign or lawful superior, or to the government under which one lives; false where allegiance is due; faithless; as, a subject disloyal to the king; a husband disloyal to his wife. Without a thought disloyal. Mrs. Browning.

Not to obey; to neglect or refuse to obey (a superior or his commands, the laws, etc.); to transgress the commands of (one in authority); to violate, as an order; as, refractory children disobey their parents; men disobey their Maker and the laws. Not to disobey her lord's behest. Tennyson.

f; to send away hastily. Unless dispatched to the mansion house in the country . . . they perish among the lumber of garrets. Walpole.

the claim of a pauper to public support; to deprive of the privilege of suing in forma pauperis.

s no recommendation of the new religion to the wits and philosophers of that disputations period. Buckminster. -- Dis`pu*ta"tious*ly, adv. -- Dis`pu*ta"tious*ness, n.

d; intentional neglect; omission of notice; want of attention; slight. The disregard of experience. Whewell.

nder; bursting and opening with an elastic force; dehiscing explosively; as, a dissilient pericarp.