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Scarcity which renders dear; want; lack; specifically, lack of food on account of failure of crops; famine. There came a dearth over all the land of Egypt. Acts vii. 11. He with her press'd, she faint with dearth. Shak. Dearth of plot, and narrowness of imagination. Dryden.

t state, to one of imperfection, adversity, or dissolution; to waste away; to decline; to fail; to become weak, corrupt, or disintegrated; to rot; to perish; as, a tree decays; fortunes decay; hopes decay. Ill fares the land, to hastening ills a prey, Where wealth accumulates and men decay. Goldsmith.…

cay, or extinction; to tend to a less perfect state; to become diminished or impaired; to fail; to sink; to diminish; to lessen; as, the day declines; virtue declines; religion declines; business declines. That empire must decline Whose chief support and sinews are of coin. Waller. And presume to know . . . Who thrives…

A failing or failure; omission of that which ought to be done; neglect to do whaas, this evil has happened through the governor's default.

One who makes default; one who fails to appear in court when court when called.

Failing; fault; imperfection, whether physical or moral; blemish; as, a defect in the ear or eye; a defect in timber or iron; a defect of memory or judgment. Trust not yourself; but, your defects to know, Make use of every friend -- any every foe. Pope. Among boys little tenderness is shown to personal defects. Macaula…

hich one is bound by allegiance or duty, or to which one has attached himself; desertion; failure in duty; a falling away; apostasy; backsliding. "Defection and falling away from God." Sir W. Raleigh. The general defection of the whole realm. Sir J. Davies.

The state of being deficient; inadequacy; want; failure; imperfection; shortcoming; defect. "A deficiencyof blood." Arbuthnot. [Marlborough] was so miserably ignorant, that his deficiencies made him the ridicule of his contemporaries. Buckle. Deficiency of a curve (Geom.), the amount by which the number of double point…

Failure or omission of duty; a fault; a misdeed; an offense; a misdemeanor; a crime. The delinquencies of the little commonwealth would be represented in the most glaring colors. Motley.

Failing in duty; offending by neglect of duty.

So as to fail in duty.

The opposition of nutrition; the failure of nutrition causing the breaking down of tissue.

To fail to accord; not to agree; to lack harmony; to differ; to be unlike; to be at variance. They reject the plainest sense of Scripture, because it seems disagree with what they call reason. Atterbury.

To frustrate; to fail; to hinder of result. His retiring foe Shrinks from the wound, and disappoints the blow. Addison.

The act of disappointing, or the state of being disappointed; defeat or failure of expectation or hope; miscarriage of design or plan; frustration. If we hope for things of which we have not thoroughly considered the value, our disappointment will be greater our pleasure in the fruition of them. Addison. In disappointm…

Failure or refusal to comply; noncompliance. A compliance will discommend me to Mr. Coventry, and a discompliance to my lord chancellor. Pepys.

To fail of edifying; to injure. [R.]

d and its vanities. Prescott. Ærius is expressly declared . . . to have been disgusted at failing. J. H. Newman. Alarmed and disgusted by the proceedings of the convention. Macaulay.

To fail to satisfy; to miss of. [Obs.] I shall displease my ends else. Beau. & Fl.

Not to provide; to fail to provide. [Obs.] Boyle.