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To free from obstructions; to clear a passage through. [Obs.] Boyle.

easury department; the war department; also, in a university, one of the divisions of instructions; as, the medical department; the department of physics.

Loss; destruction. [Archaic] Sir T. Browne.

Depopulation; destruction of population. [R.] Chapman.

The act of depopulating, or condition of being depopulated; destruction or explusion of inhabitants. The desolation and depopulation [of St.Quentin] were now complete. Motley.

The act of desolating or laying waste; destruction of inhabitants; depopulation. Unto the end of the war desolations are determined. Dan. ix. 26.

o disdain; to have a low opinion or contemptuous dislike of. Fools despise wisdom and instruction. Prov. i. 7. Men naturally despise those who court them, but respect those who do not give way to them. Jowett (Thucyd. ).

The quality of being capable of destruction; destructibleness.

Liable to destruction; capable of being destroyed.

Causing destruction; tending to bring about ruin, death, or devastation; ruinous; fatal; productive of serious evil; mischievous; pernicious; -- often with of or to; as, intemperance is destructive of health; evil examples are destructive to the morals of youth. Time's destructive power. Wordsworth. Destructive distill…

The faculty supposed to impel to the commission of acts of destruction; propensity to destroy.

vastated; a laying waste. Even now the devastation is begun, And half the business of destruction done. Goldsmith.

solemn act; to consecrate; also, to consign over; to doom; to evil; to devote one to destruction; the city was devoted to the flames. No devoted thing that a man shall devote unto the Lord . . . shall be sold or redeemed. Lev. xxvii. 28.

Choice of words for the expression of ideas; the construction, disposition, and application of words in discourse, with regard to clearness, accuracy, variety, etc.; mode of expression; language; as, the diction of Chaucer's poems. His diction blazes up into a sudden explosion of prophetic grandeur. De Quincey.…

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.

That which is imposed by directing; a guiding or authoritative instruction; prescription; order; command; as, he grave directions to the servants. The princes digged the well . . . by the direction of the law giver. Numb. xxi. 18.

ance; prejudice to interest, fame, credit, profit, or other good. They would throw a construction on his conduct, to his disadvantage before the public. Bancroft.

One who receives instruction from another; a scholar; a learner; especially, a follower who has learned to believe in the truth of the doctrine of his teacher; an adherent in doctrine; as, the disciples of Plato; the disciples of our Savior. The disciples, or The twelve disciples, the twelve selected companions of Jesu…

Capable of being disciplined or improved by instruction and training.

treatment suited to a disciple or learner; 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…