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To fix the form or character of; to shape; to prescribe imperatively; to regulate; to settle. The character of the soul is determined by the character of its God. J. Edwards. Something divinely beautiful . . . that at some time or other might influence or even determine her course of life. W. Black.…

; -- often with from. It has been the fashion to detract both from the moral and literary character of Cicero. V. Knox.

A charge made to students and barristers for incidental repairs of the rooms they occupy. [Eng.]

The character in which Sanskrit is written.

Pertaining to, or characteristic of, the process of development; as, the developmental power of a germ. Carpenter.

; -- used adjectively. Longfellow. -- Devil's apron (Bot.), the large kelp (Laminaria saccharina, and L. longicruris) of the Atlantic ocean, having a blackish, leathery expansion, shaped somewhat like an apron. -- Devil's coachhorse. (Zoöl.) (a) The black rove beetle (Ocypus olens). [Eng.] (b) A large, predacious, he…

Resembling, characteristic of, or pertaining to, the devil; diabolical; wicked in the extreme. "Devilish wickedness." Sir P. Sidney. This wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish. James iii. 15.

The character or person of a devil or the devil. Cowley.

To deprive of glasslike character; to take away vitreous luster and transparency from.

A servant who has charge of the dairy; a dairymaid. [Obs.] Chaucer.

Character, action, or principles appropriate to the devil.

of recognizing the presence of disease from its signs or symptoms, and deciding as to its character; also, the decision arrived at.

hed from ether forms nearly related to it; a variety or subdivision of a language; speech characterized by local peculiarities or specific circumstances; as, the Ionic and Attic were dialects of Greece; the Yorkshire dialect; the dialect of the learned. In the midst of this Babel of dialects there suddenly appeared a s…

That form or condition of magnetic action which characterizes diamagnetics.

Characteristic of a dictator; imperious; dogmatical; overbearing; as, a dictatorial tone or manner. -- Dic`ta*to"ri*al*ly, adv. -- Dic`ta*to"ri*al*ness, n.

A cheat. [Colloq.] Jeremy Diddler, a character in a play by James Kenney, entitled "Raising the wind." The name is applied to any needy, tricky, constant borrower; a confidence man.

that takes diet. Shak. Diet kitchen, a kitchen in which diet is prepared for invalids; a charitable establishment that provides proper food for the sick poor.

differs from another; that which distinguishes or causes to differ;; mark of distinction; characteristic quality; specific attribute. The marks and differences of sovereignty. Davies.

The formal or distinguishing part of the essence of a species; the characteristic attribute of a species; specific difference.

indicating a difference; creating a difference; discriminating; special; as, differential characteristics; differential duties; a differential rate. For whom he produced differential favors. Motley.