Search the Dictionary

Spread abroad; dispersed; loose; flowing; diffuse. It grew to be a widely diffused opinion. Hawthorne. -- Dif*fus"ed*ly, adv. -- Dif*fus"ed*ness, n.

Hence: In a state to be diffused or propagated; afoot; astir. "Mischiefs that I set abroach." Shak.

itute of chlorophyll, and are the smallest of microscopic organisms. They are very widely diffused in nature, and multiply with marvelous rapidity, both by fission and by spores. Certain species are active agents in fermentation, while others appear to be the cause of certain infectious diseases. See Bacillus.…

Extended, in the sense of diffused; open; clear; full. "Broad and open day." Bp. Porteus.

Cast or dispersed in all directions, as seed from the hand in sowing; widely diffused.

To pass from place to place, from person to person, or from hand to hand; to be diffused; as, money circulates; a story circulates.

Material which, in the process of catalysis, has diffused or passed through the separating membrane.

tion. Thence diffuse His good to worlds and ages infinite. Milton. We find this knowledge diffused among all civilized nations. Whewell.

Capable of flowing or spreading in all directions; that may be diffused.

The act of diffusing, or the state of being diffused; a spreading; extension; dissemination; circulation; dispersion. A diffusion of knowledge which has undermined superstition. Burke.

Tendency to become diffused; tendency, as of heat, to become equalized by spreading through a conducting medium.

A swelling produced by gas or air diffused in the cellular tissue. Emphysema of the lungs, Pulmonary emphysema (Med.), a common disease of the lungs in which the air cells are distended and their partition walls ruptured by an abnormal pressure of the air contained in them.

St. Anthony's fire; a febrile disease accompanied with a diffused inflammation of the skin, which, starting usually from a single point, spreads gradually over its surface. It is usually regarded as contagious, and often occurs epidemically.

A disease of the skin, in which a diffused inflammation forms rose-colored patches of variable size.

Report or opinion generally diffused; renown; public estimation; celebrity, either favorable or unfavorable; as, the fame of Washington. I find thou art no less than fame hath bruited. Shak.

t To such a tender ball as the eye confined, . . . And not, as feeling, through all parts diffused Milton.

ny fluid substance; as, a flood of light; a flood of lava; hence, a great quantity widely diffused; an overflowing; a superabundance; as, a flood of bank notes; a flood of paper currency.

To become diffused, divulged, or spread abroad, as news, fame etc. (d) To expire; to die; to cease; to come to an end; as, the light has gone out. Life itself goes out at thy displeasure. Addison. -- To go over. (a) To traverse; to cross, as a river, boundary, etc.; to change sides. I must not go over Jordan. Deut. iv.…

-- called also hair eel, hairworm, and hair snake, from the absurd, but common and widely diffused, notion that they are metamorphosed horsehairs.

Capable of being easily diffused or spread; sympathetic; readily communicated; as, infectious mirth. The laughter was so genuine as to be infectious. W. Black.