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A woman of doubtful reputation or suspected character; an adventuress. [Colloq.] De Quincey.

Capable of being demonstrated; that can be proved beyond doubt or question. The grand articles of our belief are as demonstrable as geometry. Glanvill.

asoning or proof; to prove by deduction; to establish so as to exclude the possibility of doubt or denial. We can not demonstrate these things so as to show that the contrary often involves a contradiction. Tillotson.

e act of demonstrating; an exhibition; proof; especially, proof beyond the possibility of doubt; indubitable evidence, to the senses or reason. Those intervening ideas which serve to show the agreement of any two others are called "proofs;" and where agreement or disagreement is by this means plainly and clearly percei…

To delay; to pause; to suspend proceedings or judgment in view of a doubt or difficulty; to hesitate; to put off the determination or conclusion of an affair. Upon this rub, the English embassadors thought fit to demur. Hayward.

ure, as if there had been neither life nor soul in her. L'Estrange. Miss Lizzy, I have no doubt, would be as demure and coquettish, as if ten winters more had gone over her head. Miss Mitford.

clusions or opinions from evidence. As touching traditional communication, . . . I do not doubt but many of those truths have had the help of that derivation. Sir M. Hale.

ruction. Esth. ix. 5. 'Tis safer to be that which we destroy Than by destruction dwell in doubtful joy. Shak. Destruction of venerable establishment. Hallam.

The state of being diffident; distrust; want of confidence; doubt of the power, ability, or disposition of others. [Archaic] That affliction grew heavy upon me, and weighed me down even to a diffidence of God's mercy. Donne.

Doubt-dispelling; decisive. [R.] A kind of peremptory and discussive voice. Hopkins.

dismembering, or the state of being dismembered; cutting in piece; m The Castilians would doubtless have resented the dismemberment of the unwieldy body of which they formed the head. Macaulay.

to vanish; to clear away; to banish; to dissipate; as, to dispel a cloud, vapors, cares, doubts, illusions. [Satan] gently raised their fainting courage, and dispelled their fears. Milton. I saw myself the lambent easy light Gild the brown horror, and dispel the night. Dryden.

rd, rebuke me not in thine anger, neither chasten me in thy hot displeasure. Ps. vi. 1. Undoubtedly he will relent, and turn From his displeasure. Milton.

apable of being disputed; liable to be called in question, controverted, or contested; or doubtful certainty or propriety; controvertible; as, disputable opinions, propositions, points, or questions. Actions, every one of which is very disputable. Jer. Taylor.

lear up; to resolve. "Dissolved the mystery." Tennyson. Make interpretations and dissolve doubts. Dan. v. 16.

ting passions, or by a variety of motives or of cares; to confound; to harass. Horror and doubt distract His troubled thoughts. Milton.

t twixt fear and pity." Spenser. As if thou wert distraught and mad with terror. Shak. To doubt betwixt our senses and our souls Which are the most distraught and full of pain. Mrs. Browning.

st in; not to confide in or rely upon; to deem of questionable sufficiency or reality; to doubt; to be suspicious of; to mistrust. Not distrusting my health. 2 Mac. ix. 22. To distrust the justice of your cause. Dryden. He that requireth the oath doth distrust that other. Udall. Of all afraid, Distrusting all, a wise,…

Able; strong; valiant; redoubtable; as, a doughty hero. Sir Thopas wex [grew] a doughty swain. Chaucer. Doughty families, hugging old musty quarrels to their hearts, buffet each other from generation to generation. Motley.

Doubt; as, out of dread. [Obs.] Chaucer.