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r successor; transference; especially, the transfer or transmission of the crown or royal authority to a successor.

letting down; a lowering; dejection. "Demission of mind." Hammond. Demission of sovereign authority. L'Estrange.

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

ispositions of their courts needs not the deposition of their examples, since it hath the authority of a known principle. W. Montagu.

ommissioning a deputy or representative; office of a deputy or delegate; vicegerency. The authority of conscience stands founded upon its vicegerency and deputation under God. South.

To remove or drive from a throne; to depose; to divest of supreme authority and dignity. "The Protector was dethroned." Hume.

Pertaining to a second canon, or ecclesiastical writing of inferior authority; -- said of the Apocrypha, certain Epistles, etc.

To take away, as an authority, title, etc., to deprive; to alienate, as an estate.

ved by the natives to be connected with sorcery. -- Devil may care, reckless, defiant of authority; -- used adjectively. Longfellow. -- Devil's apron (Bot.), the large kelp (Laminaria saccharina, and L. longicruris) of the Atlantic ocean, having a blackish, leathery expansion, shaped somewhat like an apron. -- Devil…

a considerable share of their power upon their favorite. Burke. They devolved their whole authority into the hands of the council of sixty. Addison.

to communicate authoritatively; to deliver (a command) to a subordinate; to declare with authority; to impose; as, to dictate the terms of a treaty; a general dictates orders to his troops. Whatsoever is dictated to us by God must be believed. Watts.

One invested with absolute authority; especially, a magistrate created in times of exigence and distress, and invested with unlimited power. Invested with the authority of a dictator, nay, of a pope, over our language. Macaulay.

To lessen the authority or dignity of; to put down; to degrade; to abase; to weaken. This doth nothing diminish their opinion. Robynson (More's Utopia). I will diminish them, that they shall no more rule over the nations. Ezek. xxix. 15. O thou . . . at whose sight all the stars Hide their diminished heads. Milton.…

t of a bishop's jurisdiction; the district in which a bishop exercises his ecclesiastical authority. [Frequently, but improperly, spelt diocess.]

To point out to with authority; to instruct as a superior; to order; as, he directed them to go. I 'll first direct my men what they shall do. Shak.

of being disaffected; alienation or want of affection or good will, esp. toward those in authority; unfriendliness; dislike. In the making laws, princes must have regard to . . . the affections and disaffections of the people. Jer. Taylor.

To deprive of credit or authority; to discredit. [R.] W. Wotton.

witness their offense; Disclaims the war, asserts his innocence. Dryden. He disclaims the authority of Jesus. Farmer.

of credibility; to destroy confidence or trust in; to cause disbelief in the accuracy or authority of. An occasion might be given to the . . . papists of discrediting our common English Bible. Strype.

To dethrone; to depose from sovereign authority. Milton.