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The most quiet or deathlike time; the period of profoundest repose, inertness, or gloom; as, the dead of winter. When the drum beat at dead of night. Campbell.

A group or division of ten; esp., a period of ten years; a decennium; as, a decade of years or days; a decade of soldiers; the second decade of Livy. [Written also decad.] During this notable decade of years. Gladstone.

A period of ten years.

Consisting of ten years; happening every ten years; as, a decennial period; decennial games. Hallam.

A period of ten years. "The present decennium." Hallam. "The last decennium of Chaucer's life." A. W. Ward.

A falling off; a tendency to a worse state; diminution or decay; deterioration; also, the period when a thing is tending toward extinction or a less perfect state; as, the decline of life; the decline of strength; the decline of virtue and religion. Their fathers lived in the decline of literature. Swift.…

g and two falling clauses, placed in alternate opposition to each other; as, a decussated period.

ent or greatness; limited; fixed; as, definite dimensions; a definite measure; a definite period or interval. Elements combine in definite proportions. Whewell.

e, but is indirectly exercised through a system of representation and delegated authority periodically renewed; a constitutional representative government; a republic.

y headlong stream Devolves its winding waters to the main. Akenside. Devolved his rounded periods. Tennyson.

Of or pertaining to Devon or Devonshire in England; as, the Devonian rocks, period, or system. Devonian age (Geol.), the age next older than the Carboniferous and later than the Silurian; -- called also the Age of fishes. The various strata of this age compose the Devonian formation or system, and include the old red s…

A wild dog found in Australia, but supposed to have introduced at a very early period. It has a wolflike face, bushy tail, and a reddish brown color.

to Dionysius, a monk of the 6th century; as, the Dionysian, or Christian, era. Dionysian period, a period of 532 years, depending on the cycle of the sun, or 28 years, and the cycle of the moon, or 19 years; -- sometimes called the Greek paschal cycle, or Victorian period.

A morbid an uncontrollable craving (often periodic) for drink, esp. for alcoholic liquors; also improperly used to denote acute and chronic alcoholism.

s no recommendation of the new religion to the wits and philosophers of that disputations period. Buckminster. -- Dis`pu*ta"tious*ly, adv. -- Dis`pu*ta"tious*ness, n.

Length or interval of time; period, past or future, between two eras or events. Ten years' distance between one and the other. Prior. The writings of Euclid at the distance of two thousand years. Playfair.

Relating to the daytime; belonging to the period of daylight, distinguished from the night; -- opposed to Ant: nocturnal; as, diurnal heat; diurnal hours.

A period of from four to six weeks, in the summer, variously placed by almanac makers between the early part of July and the early part of September; canicular days; -- so called in reference to the rising in ancient times of the Dog Star (Sirius) with the sun. Popularly, the sultry, close part of the summer.…

n among the ancient Greeks, having a different value in different States and at different periods. The average value of the Attic drachma is computed to have been about 19 cents.

eerless; gloomy; melancholy; depressing; as, a dull story or sermon; a dull occupation or period; hence, cloudy; overcast; as, a dull day. Along life's dullest, dreariest walk. Keble.