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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.

Gradual failure of health, strength, soundness, prosperity, or of any species of excellence or perfection; tendency toward dissolution or extinction; corruption; rottenness; decline; deterioration; as, the decay of the body; the decay of virtue; the decay of the Roman empire; a castle in decay. Perhaps my God, though h…

To lead into danger by artifice; to lure into a net or snare; to entrap; to insnare; to allure; to entice; as, to decoy troops into an ambush; to decoy ducks into a net. Did to a lonely cot his steps decoy. Thomson. E'en while fashion's brightest arts decoy, The heart, distrusting, asks if this be joy. Goldsmith.…

A duck used to lure wild ducks into a decoy; hence, a person employed to lure others into danger. Beau. & Fl.

Failure; miscarriage. [Obs.] Possibility of defailance in degree or continuance. Comber.

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.

h 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.

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

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.

cise an attracting force upon; to call towards itself; to attract; hence, to entice; to allure; to induce. The poet Did feign that Orpheus drew trees, stones, and floods. Shak. All eyes you draw, and with the eyes the heart. Dryden.

To entice; to allure from step; to decoy; -- with on. [Obs.] See drilled him on to five-fifty. Addison.

Worldly things, as opposed to spiritual things; the pursuits, interests, and allurements of this life. Our weary souls by earth beguiled. Keble.

To draw on, by exciting hope or desire; to allure; to attract; as, the bait enticed the fishes. Often in a bad sense: To lead astray; to induce to evil; to tempt; as, the sirens enticed them to listen. Roses blushing as they blow, And enticing men to pull. Beau. & Fl. My son, if sinners entice thee, consent thou not. P…

That which entices, or incites to evil; means of allurement; alluring object; as, an enticement to sin.

One who entices; one who incites or allures to evil. Burton.

one happening at or near the time of the equinox, in any part of the world. Equinoctial colure (Astron.), the meridian passing through the equinoctial points. -- Equinoctial line (Astron.), the celestial equator; -- so called because when the sun is on it, the nights and days are of equal length in all parts of the wo…

A fault of a player of the side in the field which results in failure to put out a player on the other side, or gives him an unearned base. Law of error, or Law of frequency of error (Mensuration), the law which expresses the relation between the magnitude of an error and the frequency with which that error will be com…