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Fitted or intended to teach; conveying instruction; preceptive; instructive; teaching some moral lesson; as, didactic essays. "Didactical writings." Jer. Taylor. The finest didactic poem in any language. Macaulay.

act of directing, of aiming, regulating, guiding, or ordering; guidance; management; superintendence; administration; as, the direction o. I do commit his youth To your direction. Shak. All nature is but art, unknown to thee;direction, which thou canst not see. Pope.

One who, or that which, directs; one who regulates, guides, or orders; a manager or superintendent. In all affairs thou sole director. Swift.

Pertaining to discipline; intended for discipline; corrective; belonging to a course of training. Those canons . . . were only disciplinary. Bp. Ferne. The evils of the . . . are disciplinary and remedial. Buckminster.

A quoit; a circular plate of some heavy material intended to be pitched or hurled as a trial of strength and skill.

To change the guise or appearance of; especially, to conceal by an unusual dress, or one intended to mislead or deceive. Bunyan was forced to disguise himself as a wagoner. Macaulay.

A song; a lay; a little poem intended to be sung. "Religious, martial, or civil ditties." Milton.ditties sing. Sandys.

To turn aside; to turn off from any course or intended application; to deflect; as, to divert a river from its channel; to divert commerce from its usual course. That crude apple that diverted Eve. Milton.

Any mechanical contrivance intended to remedy a difficulty or serve some purpose in an exigency; as, the doctor of a calico- printing machine, which is a knife to remove superfluous coloring matter; the doctor, or auxiliary engine, called also donkey engine.

See Butterfish. -- Trade dollar, a silver coin formerly made at the United States mint, intended for export, and not legal tender at home. It contained 378 grains of silver and 42 grains of alloy.

A composition, in prose or poetry, accommodated to action, and intended to exhibit a picture of human life, or to depict a series of grave or humorous actions of more than ordinary interest, tending toward some striking result. It is commonly designed to be spoken and represented by actors on the stage. A divine pastor…

ange; specifically: (a) To prepare for use; to fit for any use; to render suitable for an intended purpose; to get ready; as, to dress a slain animal; to dress meat; to dress leather or cloth; to dress or trim a lamp; to dress a garden; to dress a horse, by currying and rubbing; to dress grain, by cleansing it; in mini…

The tendency of an act, argument, course of conduct, or the like; object aimed at or intended; intention; hence, also, import or meaning of a sentence or discourse; aim. He has made the drift of the whole poem a compliment on his country in general. Addison. Now thou knowest my drift. Sir W. Scott.

t men. Milton. Philip's dwelling fronted on the street. Tennyson. Dwelling house, a house intended to be occupied as a residence, in distinction from a store, office, or other building. -- Dwelling place, place of residence.

An instrument intended to replace the knife in many operations, the parts operated on being severed by the crushing effect produced by the gradual tightening of a steel chain, so that hemorrhage rarely follows.

. -- Edge stone, a curbstone. -- Edge tool. (a) Any tool instrument having a sharp edge intended for cutting. (b) A tool for forming or dressing an edge; an edging tool. -- To be on edge, to be eager, impatient, or anxious. -- To set the teeth on edge, to cause a disagreeable tingling sensation in the teeth, as by…

To superintend the publication of; to revise and prepare for publication; to select, correct, arrange, etc., the matter of, for publication; as, to edit a newspaper. Philosophical treatises which have never been edited. Enfield.

One who edits; esp., a person who prepares, superintends, revises, and corrects a book, magazine, or newspaper, etc., for publication.

The office or charge of an editor; care and superintendence of a publication.

Consequence intended; purpose; meaning; general intent; -- with to. They spake to her to that effect. 2 Chron. xxxiv. 22.