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violence; utter overthrow; -- opposed to construction; as, the demolition of a house, of military works, of a town, or of hopes.

A military subdivision of a country; as, the Department of the Potomac.

A military station where stores and provisions are kept, or where recruits are assembled and drilled.

A neglect or omission as if by willful abandonment. A total dereliction of military duties. Sir W. Scott.

To abandon a service without leave; to quit military service without permission, before the expiration of one's term; to abscond. The soldiers . . . deserted in numbers. Bancroft.

duty; the quitting of one's duties willfully and without right; esp., an absconding from military or naval service. Such a resignation would have seemed to his superior a desertion or a reproach. Bancroft.

To separate for a special object or use; -- used especially in military language; as, to detach a ship from a fleet, or a company from a regiment.

Pertaining or suited to a dictator; absolute. Military powers quite dictatorial. W. Irving.

d's opinion or diminution of me. Eikon Basilike. Nor thinks it diminution to be ranked In military honor next. Philips.

te; to scatter; to disperse; to break up the organization of; especially, to dismiss from military service; as, to disband an army. They disbanded themselves and returned, every man to his own dwelling. Knolles.

e plural; as, a messenger has arrived with dispatches for the American minister; naval or military dispatches.

One of the larger districts into which a country is divided for administering military affairs.

A blunt javelin used in military games in Moslem countries.

A selecting or detaching of soldiers from an army, or from any part of it, or from a military post; also from any district, or any company or collection of persons, or from the people at large; also, the body of men thus drafted. Several of the States had supplied the deficiency by drafts to serve for the year. Marshal…

To draw from a military band or post, or from any district, company, or society; to detach; to select. Some royal seminary in Upper Egypt, from whence they drafted novices to supply their colleges and temples. Holwell.

A military vassal mentioned in Domesday Book. [Obs.] Burrill.

To train in the military art; to exercise diligently, as soldiers, in military evolutions and exercises; hence, to instruct thoroughly in the rudiments of any art or branch of knowledge; to discipline. He [Frederic the Great] drilled his people, as he drilled his grenadiers. Macaulay.

The marching leader of a military band. [U.S.]

One whose office is to best the drum, as in military exercises and marching.

An Arabian military commander, independent chieftain, or ruler of a province; also, an honorary title given to the descendants of Mohammed, in the line of his daughter Fatima; among the Turks, likewise, a title of dignity, given to certain high officials.