Search the Dictionary

The absence of light; blackness; obscurity; gloom. And darkness was upon the face of the deep. Gen. i. 2.

etc., which specifies the time (as day, month, and year) when the writing or inscription was given, or executed, or made; as, the date of a letter, of a will, of a deed, of a coin. etc. And bonds without a date, they say, are void. Dryden.

The mud wasp; the mud dauber.

To waste time in trifling employment; to trifle; to saunter. Come some evening and dawdle over a dish of tea with me. Johnson. We . . . dawdle up and down Pall Mall. Thackeray.

One who wastes time in trifling employments; an idler; a trifler.

with reference to the existence or prominence of a person or thing; age; time. A man who was great among the Hellenes of his day. Jowett (Thucyd. ) If my debtors do not keep their day, . . . I must with patience all the terms attend. Dryden.

eculation; a reverie; a castle in the air; unfounded hope. Mrs. Lambert's little daydream was over. Thackeray.

The state of being dazed; as, he was in a daze. [Colloq.]

r which, after lying for a certain fixed time uncalled for at the post office to which it was directed, is then sent to the general post office to be opened. (b) That which has lost its force or authority; as, the law has become a dead letter. -- Dead-letter office, a department of the general post office where dead l…

[the Celtic genius] may count for a good deal . . . as a spiritual power. M. Arnold. She was resolved to be a good deal more circumspect. W. Black.

dear lady." Shak. Neither count I my life dear unto myself. Acts xx. 24. And the last joy was dearer than the rest. Pope. Dear as remember'd kisses after death. Tennyson.

prietor of all. Young. And I looked, and behold a pale horse; and his name that at on him was Death. Rev. vi. 8.

y 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. Hooker. And to debase the sons, exalts the sires. Pope.

trive for. Volunteers . . . thronged to serve under his banner, and the cause of religion was debated with the same ardor in Spain as on the plains of Palestine. Prescott.

emperance. Various ails debilitate the mind. Jenyns. The debilitated frame of Mr. Bertram was exhausted by this last effort. Sir W. Scott.

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

A decade. Averill was a decad and a half his elder. Tennyson.

A writer of a book divided into decades; as, Livy was a decadist. [R.]

away; -- generally used disparagingly. The fathers were ordered to decamp, and the house was once again converted into a tavern. Goldsmith.

ound, prosperous, or perfect 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. G…