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Affording entertainment; pleasing; amusing; diverting. -- En`ter*tain"ing*ly, adv. -- En`ter*tain"ing*ness, n.

east; a formal or elegant meal. (b) That which engages the attention agreeably, amuses or diverts, whether in private, as by conversation, etc., or in public, by performances of some kind; amusement. Theatrical entertainments conducted with greater elegance and refinement. Prescott.

the creation; the birth of Christ was the epoch which gave rise to the Christian era. In divers ages, . . . divers epochs of time were used. Usher. Great epochs and crises in the kingdom of God. Trench. The acquittal of the bishops was not the only event which makes the 30th of June, 1688, a great epoch in history. Ma…

To divert from its original use or purpose, or from its former possessor; to alienate. They . . . have estranged this place, and have burned incense in it unto other gods. Jer. xix. 4.

Diverging from, or lacking conformity to, a type.

the homogeneous to the heterogeneous in structure, and from the single and simple to the diverse and manifold in quality or function. The pocess is by some limited to organic beings; by others it is applied to the inorganic and the psychical. It is also applied to explain the existence and growth of institutions, mann…

ee of inconvenience, pain, or suffering; greatest need or peril; extreme need; necessity. Divers evils and extremities that follow upon such a compulsion shall here be set in view. Milton. Upon mere extremity he summoned this last Parliament. Milton.

an vaulting. -- Fan vaulting (Arch.), an elaborate system of vaulting, in which the ribs diverge somewhat like the rays of a fan, as in Henry VII.'s chapel in Westminster Abbey. It is peculiar to English Gothic. -- Fan wheel, the wheel of a fan blower. -- Fan window. Same as Fan light (above).

ons of good breeding; as, to dress, dance, sing, ride, etc., in the fashion. The innocent diversions in fashion. Locke. As now existing, fashion is a form of social regulation analogous to constitutional government as a form of political regulation. H. Spencer.

Having the veins (of a leaf) diverging from the two sides of a midrib.

A name loosely applied in popular usage to many animals of diverse characteristics, living in the water.

Having many nerves diverging radiately from the base; -- said of a leaf.

See under Aplanatic. -- Conjugate focus (Opt.), the focus for rays which have a sensible divergence, as from a near object; -- so called because the positions of the object and its image are interchangeable. -- Focus tube (Phys.), a vacuum tube for Roentgen rays in which the cathode rays are focused upon the anticath…

To checker; to diversify. [R. & Poet.] The painted windows, frecking gloom with glow. Lowell.

To ornament with raised work; to variegate; to diversify. Whose skirt with gold was fretted all about. Spenser. Yon gray lines, That fret the clouds, are messengers of day. Shak.

bitterness; rancor. He hath . . . compassed me with gall and travail. Lam. iii. 5. Comedy diverted without gall. Dryden.

To play at any sport or diversion.

s, plants, animals, etc., and applies the principles of physics to the explanation of the diversities of climate, productions, etc. -- Political geography treats of the different countries into which earth is divided with regard to political and social and institutions and conditions.

To prate; to jabber; to babble. [Obs.] Here many, clepid filosophirs, glavern diversely. Wyclif.

of merganser (M. merganser) of Northern Europe and America; -- called also merganser, dundiver, sawbill, sawneb, shelduck, and sheldrake. See Merganser.