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Failing; fault; imperfection, whether physical or moral; blemish; as, a defect in the ear or eye; a defect in timber or iron; a defect of memory or judgment. Trust not yourself; but, your defects to know, Make use of every friend -- any every foe. Pope. Among boys little tenderness is shown to personal defects. Macaula…

The act of defiling, or state of being defiled, whether physically or morally; pollution; foulness; dirtiness; uncleanness. Defilements of the flesh. Hopkins. The chaste can not rake into such filth without danger of defilement. Addison.

The state of being reduced in rank, character, or reputation; baseness; moral, physical, or intellectual degeneracy; disgrace; abasement; debasement. The . . . degradation of a needy man of letters. Macaulay. Deplorable is the degradation of our nature. South. Moments there frequently must be, when a sidegradation of h…

To reduce in estimation, character, or reputation; to lessen the value of; to lower the physical, moral, or intellectual character of; to debase; to bring shame or contempt upon; to disgrace; as, vice degrades a man. O miserable mankind, to what fall Degraded, to what wretched state reserved! Milton. He pride . . . str…

To deprive of material or physical qualities or characteristics. Dematerializing matter by stripping if of everything which . . . has distinguished matter. Milman.

sity, one of the divisions of instructions; as, the medical department; the department of physics.

he derives this word from the Anglo-Saxon. From these two causes . . . an ancient set of physicians derived all diseases. Arbuthnot.

ed by motives. Its superior suitability to produce courage, as contrasted with scientific physical determinism, is obvious. F. P. Cobbe.

, thus releasing the underwriters from their responsibility. Deviation of a falling body (Physics), that deviation from a strictly vertical line of descent which occurs in a body falling freely, in consequence of the rotation of the earth. -- Deviation of the compass, the angle which the needle of a ship's compass mak…

Readiness and grace in physical activity; skill and ease in using the hands; expertness in manual acts; as, dexterity with the chisel. In youth quick bearing and dexterity. Shak.

The science of ideas or of the nature and laws of being -- higher metaphysics. By Kant, it was employed to signify the logic of appearances or illusions, whether these arise from accident or error, or from those necessary limitations which, according to this philosopher, originate in the constitution of the human intel…

rnal; a blank book dated for the record of daily memoranda; as, a diary of the weather; a physician's diary.

A physician who applies the rules of dietetics to the cure of diseases. Dunglison.

undamental units of time, length, and mass are involved in determining the units of other physical quantities. Thus, since the unit of velocity varies directly as the unit of length and inversely as the unit of time, the dimensions of velocity are said to be length ÷ time; the dimensions of work are mass × (length)2 ÷…

State of being disabled; deprivation or want of ability; absence of competent physical, intellectual, or moral power, means, fitness, and the like. Grossest faults, or disabilities to perform what was covenanted. Milton. Chatham refused to see him, pleading his disability. Bancroft.

or incapable; to destroy the force, vigor, or power of action of; to deprive of competent physical or intellectual power; to incapacitate; to disqualify; to make incompetent or unfit for service; to impair. A Christian's life is a perpetual exercise, a wrestling and warfare, for which sensual pleasure disables him. Jer…

r; education; development of the faculties by instruction and exercise; training, whether physical, mental, or moral. Wife and children are a kind of discipline of humanity. Bacon. Discipline aims at the removal of bad habits and the substitution of good ones, especially those of order, regularity, and obedience. C. J.…

Want of comfort; uneasiness, mental or physical; disturbance of peace; inquietude; pain; distress; sorrow. "An age of spiritual discomfort." M. Arnold. Strive against all the discomforts of thy sufferings. Bp. Hall.

staste; -- said primarily of the sickening opposition felt for anything which offends the physical organs of taste; now rather of the analogous repugnance excited by anything extremely unpleasant to the moral taste or higher sensibilities of our nature; as, an act of cruelty may excite disgust. The manner of doing is m…

To twist of natural or regular shape; to twist aside physically; as, to distort the limbs, or the body. Whose face was distorted with pain. Thackeray.