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A musical instrument used by the ancients. It is supposed to have been similar to the modern kettle drum, though perhaps smaller.

tion, hissing, hooting, etc. You are not so arrant a critic as to damn them [the works of modern poets] . . . without hearing. Pope. Damn with faint praise, assent with civil leer, And without sneering teach the rest to sneer. Pope.

Being in a state between dry and wet; moderately wet; moist; humid. O'erspread with a damp sweat and holy fear. Dryden.

Moderately damp or moist. -- Damp"ish*ly, adv. -- Damp"ish*ness, n.

Moderate humidity; moisture; fogginess; moistness.

A silver coin of about 86 grains, having the figure of an archer, and hence, in modern times, called a daric.

ead coloring (Oil paint.), the layer of colors, the preparation for what is to follow. In modern painting this is usually in monochrome. -- Dead door (Shipbuilding), a storm shutter fitted to the outside of the quarter-gallery door. -- Dead flat (Naut.), the widest or midship frame. -- Dead freight (Mar. Law), a sum…

In the modern Olympic Games, a composite contest consisting of a 100-meter run, a broad jump, putting the shot, a running high-jump, a 400-meter run, throwing the discus, a 100-meter hurdle race, pole vaulting, throwing the javelin, and a 1500-meter run.

Moderate, but competent; sufficient; hence, respectable; fairly good; reasonably comfortable or satisfying; as, a decent fortune; a decent person. A decent retreat in the mutability of human affairs. Burke. -- De"cent*ly, adv. -- De"cent*ness, n.

Descending gradually; moderately steep; sloping; downhill.

A defaulter or embezzler. [Modern]

A territorial subdivision of Attica (also of modern Greece), corresponding to a township. Jowett (Thucyd).

e between two vertical lines. The theory of determinants forms a very important branch of modern mathematics.

body to which they belonged; any product of disintegration. The mass of detritus of which modern languages are composed. Farrar.

eight sounds with seven intervals, of which two are semitones and five are whole tones; a modern major or minor scale, as distinguished from the chromatic scale.

Disjoining two fourths; as, the diazeutic tone, which, like that from F to G in modern music, lay between two fourths, and, being joined to either, made a fifth. [Obs.]

A functionary in ancient Athens answering nearly to the modern juryman.

ially of style: Diffuseness; want of conciseness; prolixity. The fault that I find with a modern legend, it its diffusiveness. Addison.

An herb (Peucedanum graveolens), the seeds of which are moderately warming, pungent, and aromatic, and were formerly used as a soothing medicine for children; -- called also dill-seed. Dr. Prior.

A message transmitted by telegraph. [Modern] Dispatch boat, a swift vessel for conveying dispatches; an advice boat. -- Dispatch box, a box for carrying dispatches; a box for papers and other conveniences when traveling.