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The desertion by a party to any pleading of the ground taken by him in his last antecedent pleading, and the adoption of another. Bouvier.

An insect which has the anterior pair of wings coriaceous, and does not use them in flight, as the earwig.

Second sight. I felt by anticipation the horrors of the Highland seers, whom their gift of deuteroscopy compels to witness things unmeet for mortal eye. Sir W. Scott.

A shrewd trick; an antic; a caper. To cut a dido, to play a trick; to cut a caper; -- perhaps so called from the trick of Dido, who having bought so much land as a hide would cover, is said to have cut it into thin strips long enough to inclose a spot for a citadel.

An argument which presents an antagonist with two or more alternatives, but is equally conclusive against him, whichever alternative he chooses.

An order of lamellibranchiate mollusks having an anterior and posterior adductor muscle, as the common clam. See Bivalve.

Shak. Indirectly and directly too Thou hast contrived against the very life Of the defendant. Shak.

A service for the dead, in the Roman Catholic Church, being the first antiphon of Matins for the dead, of which Dirige is the first word; a dirge. Evensongs and placebo and dirige. Wyclif. Resort, I pray you, unto my sepulture To sing my dirige with great devotion. Lamentation of Mary Magdalene.

To deduct from an account, debt, charge, and the like; to make an abatement of; as, merchants sometimes discount five or six per cent for prompt payment of bills.

Want of esteem; low estimation, inclining to dislike; disfavor; disrepute. Disesteem and contempt of the public affairs. Milton.

A circular structure either in plants or animals; as, a blood disk; germinal disk, etc.

Unpleasing; offensive; unpleasant. [Obs.] Speed. -- Dis*pleas"ant*ly, adv. [Obs.] Strype. -- Dis*pleas"ant*ness, n. [Obs.]

ion or state resulting from natural constitution; nature; quality; as, a disposition in plants to grow in a direction upward; a disposition in bodies to putrefaction.

lace; a remote place. Easily managed from a distance. W. Irving. 'T is distance lends enchantment to the view. T. Campbell. [He] waits at distance till he hears from Cato. Addison.

Having two columns in front; -- said of a temple, portico, or the like. Distyle in antis, having columns between two antæ. See Anta.

daytime; belonging to the period of daylight, distinguished from the night; -- opposed to Ant: nocturnal; as, diurnal heat; diurnal hours.

A saying in which two members of the sentence are contrasted; an antithetical proverb. [Obs.] Italy, a paradise for horses, a hell for women, as the diverb goes. Burton.

; various; more than one, but not a great number; as, divers philosophers. Also used substantively or pronominally. Divers of Antonio's creditors. Shak.

To foresee or foreknow; to detect; to anticipate; to conjecture. A sagacity which divined the evil designs. Bancroft.

A female deer or antelope; specifically, the female of the fallow deer, of which the male is called a buck. Also applied to the female of other animals, as the rabbit. See the Note under Buck.