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vancement; quality; extent; as, tastes differ in kind as well as in degree. The degree of excellence which proclaims genius, is different in different times and different places. Sir. J. Reynolds.

Rare; excellent; costly. [Obs.] Chaucer.

guish themselves by devices on their shields. Addison. A banner with this strange device -Excelsior. Longfellow.

A precious stone or gem excelling in brilliancy and beautiful play of prismatic colors, and remarkable for extreme hardness.

inds of food or drink; different states of health; different shapes; different degrees of excellence. Men are as different from each other, as the regions in which they are born are different. Dryden.

The state of being worthy or honorable; elevation of mind or character; true worth; excellence.

disadvantageous position in which he had been placed, he gave clear indications of future excellence. Prescott. -- Dis*ad`van*ta"geous*ly, adv. -- Dis*ad`van*ta"geous*ness, n.

One who disciplines; one who excels in training, especially with training, especially with regard to order and obedience; one who enforces rigid discipline; a stickler for the observance of rules and methods of training; as, he is a better disciplinarian than scholar.

The art and manner of speaking and conversing. Of excellent breeding, admirable discourse. Shak.

e obvious satire, or implied dislike. Hannah More. We have spoken of the dislike of these excellent women for Sheridan and Fox. J. Morley. His dislike of a particular kind of sensational stories. A. W. Ward.

g any one in marriage under his or her degree; injurious union with something of inferior excellence; a lowering in rank or estimation. [Eng.] And thought that match a foul disparagement. Spenser.

Inequality; difference in age, rank, condition, or excellence; dissimilitude; -- followed by between, in, of, as to, etc.; as, disparity in, or of, years; a disparity as to color. The disparity between God and his intelligent creatures. I. Taylor. The disparity of numbers was not such as ought to cause any uneasiness.…

Godlike; heavenly; excellent in the highest degree; supremely admirable; apparently above what is human. In this application, the word admits of comparison; as, the divinest mind. Sir J. Davies. "The divine Desdemona." Shak. A divine sentence is in the lips of the king. Prov. xvi. 10. But not to one in this benighted a…

In a divine or godlike manner; holily; admirably or excellently in a supreme degree. Most divinely fair. Tennyson.

The quality of being divine; superhuman or supreme excellence. Shak.

y which they improve their banquet, and innocent dodges, if we may be permitted to use an excellent phrase that has become vernacular since the appearance of the last dictionaries. Thackeray.

A lively or comic picture. [Obs.] I bought an excellent drollery, which I afterward parted with to my brother George of Wotton. Evelyn.

A variety of pear of large size and excellent flavor.

times nine Shall he dwindle, peak and pine. Shak. Religious societies, though begun with excellent intentions, are said to have dwindled into factious clubs. Swift.

Selecting; choosing (what is true or excellent in doctrines, opinions, etc.) from various sources or systems; as, an eclectic philosopher.