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drop the bait gently on the surface of the water. To catch a club by dapping with a grasshoper. Walton.

O dark, dark, dark, amid the blaze of noon, Irrecoverable dark, total eclipse Without all hope of day! milton. In the dark and silent grave. Sir W. Raleigh.

A sudden check; abashment; frustration; ruin; as, his hopes received a dash.

A vain fancy speculation; a reverie; a castle in the air; unfounded hope. Mrs. Lambert's little daydream was over. Thackeray.

per authority for the execution of a criminal. (b) That which puts an end to expectation, hope, or joy. -- Death wound. (a) A fatal wound or injury. (b) (Naut.) The springing of a fatal leak. -- Spiritual death (Scripture), the corruption and perversion of the soul by sin, with the loss of the favor of God. -- The g…

A mortal or crushing blow; a stroke or event which kills or destroys. The deathblow of my hope. Byron.

me 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.

To render null and void, as a title; to frustrate, as hope; to deprive, as of an estate. He finds himself naturally to dread a superior Being that can defeat all his designs, and disappoint all his hopes. Tillotson. The escheators . . . defeated the right heir of his succession. Hallam. In one instance he defeated his…

posed to construction; as, the demolition of a house, of military works, of a town, or of hopes.

r subverting morals. Especially: The act of corrupting or subverting discipline, courage, hope, etc., or the state of being corrupted or subverted in discipline, courage, etc.; as, the demoralization of an army or navy.

think it unnatural that those who have an object depending, which strongly engages their hopes and fears, should be somewhat inclined to superstition. Burke.

, adv. Hopelessly; despairingly; in the manner of one ruined; as, deperditely wicked. [Archaic]

To regard as hopeless; to give up. [Obs.] Bacon.

Fully prostrate; humble; low; rude. [Obs.] How may weak mortal ever hope to file His unsmooth tongue, and his deprostrate style. G. Fletcher.

ning in value; disparagement; detraction; depreciation; -- followed by of, from, or to. I hope it is no derogation to the Christian religion. Locke. He counted it no derogation of his manhood to be seen to weep. F. W. Robertson.

To be hopeless; to have no hope; to give up all hope or expectation; -- often with of. We despaired even of life. 2 Cor. i. 8. Never despair of God's blessings here. Wake.

Hopeless. [Obs.] Spenser.

Feeling or expressing despair; hopeless. -- De*spair"ing*ly, adv. -- De*spair"ing*ness, n.

Without hope; given to despair; hopeless. [Obs.] I am desperate of obtaining her. Shak.

The act of despairing or becoming desperate; a giving up of hope. This desperation of success chills all our industry. Hammond.