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tual 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 his state. Blair.

thing; distribution; as, the delivery of a fort, of hostages, of a criminal, of goods, of letters.

A tract of land shaped like the letter delta (as, the delta of the Ganges, of the Nile, or of the Mississippi.

An expression, as of the feelings, by outward signs; a manifestation; a show. Did your letters pierce the queen to any demonstration of grief Shak. Loyal demonstrations toward the prince. Prescott.

Formed by the aid of the teeth; -- said of certain articulations and the letters representing them; as, d t are dental letters. Dental formula (Zoöl.), a brief notation used by zoölogists to denote the number and kind of teeth of a mammal. -- Dental surgeon, a dentist.

A dentilabial sound or letter.

A dentilingual sound or letter. The letters of this fourth, dentilingual or linguidental, class, viz., d, t, s, z, l, r. Am. Cyc.

deprecate; tending to remove or avert evil by prayer; apologetic. Humble and deprecatory letters. Bacon.

d or depressed; to take an unhopeful view. I should despair, or at least despond. Scott's Letters. Others depress their own minds, [and] despond at the first difficulty. Locke. We wish that . . . desponding patriotism may turn its eyes hitherward, and be assured that foundations of our national power still stand strong…

That separates or distinguishes; -- applied to points or marks used to distinguish letters of similar form, or different sounds of the same letter, as, a, â, ä, o, ô, etc. "Diacritical points." Sir W. Jones. A glance at this typography will reveal great difficulties, which diacritical marks necessarily throw in the way…

r the second of two adjacent vowels, to denote that they are to be pronounced as distinct letters; as, coöperate, aërial.

related species. -- Dial lock, a lock provided with one or more plates having numbers or letters upon them. These plates must be adjusted in a certain determined way before the lock can be operated. -- Dial plate, the plane or disk of a dial or timepiece on which lines and figures for indicating the time are placed.…

To tell or utter so that another may write down; to inspire; to compose; as, to dictate a letter to an amanuensis. The mind which dictated the Iliad. Wayland. Pages dictated by the Holy Spirit. Macaulay.

ied within, and he became as a stone. 1 Sam. xxv. 37. The young men acknowledged, in love letters, that they died for Rebecca. Tatler.

A letter (

Having the digamma or its representative letter or sound; as, the Latin word vis is a digammated form of the Greek . Andrews.

pire respect or reverence; loftiness and grace; impressiveness; stateliness; -- said of A letter written with singular energy and dignity of thought Macaulay.

Sending away; dismissing to another jurisdiction; granting leave to depart. Letters dimissory (Eccl.), letters given by a bishop dismissing a person who is removing into another diocese, and recommending him for reception there. Hook.

A letter or writing, usually under seal, conferring some privilege, honor, or power; a document bearing record of a degree conferred by a literary society or educational institution.

ame and residence of the person to whom anything is sent; to superscribe; as, to direct a letter.