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rive of synonymous character; to discriminate in use; -- applied to words which have been employed as synonyms. Coleridge. Trench.

Fitted for, or skilled in, detecting; employed in detecting crime or criminals; as, a detective officer.

series of compound in the series, and not to its composition, but which is now generally employed in the same sense as bi- or di-, although little used.

A sort of electroscope, invented by Rousseau, in which the dry pile is employed to measure the amount of electricity transmitted by different bodies, or to determine their conducting power. Nichol.

cience of ideas or of the nature and laws of being -- higher metaphysics. By Kant, it was employed to signify the logic of appearances or illusions, whether these arise from accident or error, or from those necessary limitations which, according to this philosopher, originate in the constitution of the human intellect.…

A cotton fabric employed for hangings and furniture coverings, and formerly used for women's under-garments. It is of many patterns, both plain and twilled, and occasionally is printed in colors.

A unit employed by oculists in numbering glasses according to the metric system; a refractive power equal to that of a glass whose principal focal distance is one meter.

ween nations (particularly in securing treaties), including the methods and forms usually employed.

A person employed in, or skilled in, diplomacy; a diplomat. In ability, Avaux had no superior among the numerous able diplomatics whom his country then possessed. Macaulay.

rod (Elec.), a bent wire, with knobs at both ends, and insulated by a glass handle. It is employed for discharging a Leyden jar or an electrical battery. See Discharger.

The state of being disemployed, or deprived of employment. This glut of leisure and disemployment. Jer. Taylor.

The state of being unemployed; want of occupation. [R.]

Subject to disposal; free to be used or employed as occasion may require; not assigned to any service or use. The great of this kingdom . . . has easily afforded a disposable surplus. Burke.

The value of a dollar; the unit commonly employed in the United States in reckoning money values. Chop dollar. See under 9th Chop. -- Dollar fish (Zoöl.), a fish of the United States coast (Stromateus triacanthus), having a flat, roundish form and a bright silvery luster; -- called also butterfish, and Lafayette. See…

ties named from him. Dominican nuns, an order of nuns founded by St. Dominic, and chiefly employed in teaching. -- Dominican tertiaries (the third order of St. Dominic). See Tertiary.

A road for shipping in the English Channel or Straits of Dover, near Deal, employed as a naval rendezvous in time of war. On the 11th [June, 1771] we run up the channel . . . at noon we were abreast of Dover, and about three came to an anchor in the Downs, and went ashore at Deal. Cook (First Voyage).…

Any old woman who is employed to guard a younger one; a governess. Arbuthnot.

One employed in soliciting the payment of debts.

rdplay in which backswords or cutlasses are used, and the edge, rather than the point, is employed. -- Edge rail. (Railroad) (a) A rail set on edge; -- applied to a rail of more depth than width. (b) A guard rail by the side of the main rail at a switch. Knight. -- Edge railway, a railway having the rails set on edge…

An Arabian tree (Trichilia emetica). The fruit, which is emetic, is sometimes employed in the composition of an ointment for the cure of the itch.