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a chapter; he is an ecclesiastical magistrate next in degree to bishop, and has immediate charge of the cathedral and its estates. -- Dean of peculiars, a dean holding a preferment which has some peculiarity relative to spiritual superiors and the jurisdiction exercised in it. [Eng.] -- Rural dean, one having, under t…

Murder; murderous character. Not to suffer a man of death to live. Bacon.

purity, station, etc.; to degrade; to lower; to deteriorate; to abase; as, to debase the character by crime; to debase the mind by frivolity; to debase style by vulgar words. The coin which was adulterated and debased. Hale. It is a kind of taking God's name in vain to debase religion with such frivolous disputes. Hoo…

To lead away from purity or excellence; to corrupt in character or principles; to mar; to vitiate; to pollute; to seduce; as, to debauch one's self by intemperance; to debauch a woman; to debauch an army. Learning not debauched by ambition. Burke. A man must have got his conscience thoroughly debauched and hardened bef…

To charge with debt; -- the opposite of, and correlative to, credit; as, to debit a purchaser for the goods sold.

Characterized by courteousness, affability, or gentleness; of good appearance and manners; graceful; complaisant. Was never prince so meek and debonair. Spenser.

A Linnæan order of plants characterized by having ten styles.

A Linnæan class of plants characterized by having ten stamens.

Full of, or characterized by, deceit; serving to mislead or insnare; trickish; fraudulent; cheating; insincere. Harboring foul deceitful thoughts. Shak.

To free from a charm; to disenchant.

Possessed of, or characterized by, a decidua.

To translate from secret characters or ciphers into intelligible terms; as, to decipher a letter written in secret characters.

Marked by promptness and decision. A noble instance of this attribute of the decisive character. J. Foster.

Characterized by rhetorical display; pretentiously rhetorical; without solid sense or argument; bombastic; noisy; as, a declamatory way or style.

Containing or involving a declination or refusal, as of submission to a charge or sentence. Blackstone. Declinatory plea (O. Eng. Law), the plea of sanctuary or of benefit of clergy, before trial or conviction; -- now abolished.

Suitable to a character, or to the time, place, and occasion; marked with decorum; becoming; proper; seemly; befitting; as, a decorous speech; decorous behavior; a decorous dress for a judge. A decorous pretext the war. Motley. -- De*co"rous*ly, adv. -- De*co"rous*ness, n.

of manner or conduct; grace arising from suitableness of speech and behavior to one's own character, or to the place and occasion; decency of conduct; seemliness; that which is seemly or suitable. Negligent of the duties and decorums of his station. Hallam. If your master Would have a queen his beggar, you must tell hi…

A hydrocarbon radical, C10H21, never existing alone, but regarded as the characteristic constituent of a number of compounds of the paraffin series.

To charge; to accuse. [R.] Rebecca is . . . defamed of sorcery practiced on the person of a noble knight. Sir W. Scott.

alities; as, a defective limb; defective timber; a defective copy or account; a defective character; defective rules.