The Gutenberg Webster's Unabridged Dictionary: Section D and E
Chapter 7
5. To contend (with); to treat (with), by way of opposition, check, or correction; as, he has turbulent passions to deal with.
To deal by, to treat, either well or ill; as, to deal well by servants. "Such an one deals not fairly by his own mind." Locke. -- To deal in. (a) To have to do with; to be engaged in; to practice; as, they deal in political matters. (b) To buy and sell; to furnish, as a retailer or wholesaler; as, they deal in fish. -- To deal with. (a) To treat in any manner; to use, whether well or ill; to have to do with; specifically, to trade with. "Dealing with witches." Shak. (b) To reprove solemnly; to expostulate with.
The deacons of his church, who, to use their own phrase, "dealt with him" on the sin of rejecting the aid which Providence so manifestly held out.
Hawthorne.
Return . . . and I will deal well with thee.
Gen. xxxii. 9.
De*al"bate (?), v. t. [L. dealbatus, p. p. of dealbare. See Daub.] To whiten. [Obs.] Cockeram.
De`al*ba"tion (?), n. [L. dealbatio: cf. F. déalbation.] Act of bleaching; a whitening. [Obs.]
Deal"er (?), n. 1. One who deals; one who has to do, or has concern, with others; esp., a trader, a trafficker, a shopkeeper, a broker, or a merchant; as, a dealer in dry goods; a dealer in stocks; a retail dealer.
2. One who distributes cards to the players.
Deal"fish` (?), n. [From deal a long, narrow plank.] (Zoöl.) A long, thin fish of the arctic seas (Trachypterus arcticus).
Deal"ing, n. The act of one who deals; distribution of anything, as of cards to the players; method of business; traffic; intercourse; transaction; as, to have dealings with a person.
Double dealing, insincere, treacherous dealing; duplicity. -- Plain dealing, fair, sincere, honorable dealing; honest, outspoken expression of opinion.
Dealth (?), n. Share dealt. [Obs.]
De*am"bu*late (?), v. i. [L. deambulare, deambulatum; de- + ambulare to walk.] To walk abroad. [Obs.] Cockeram.
De*am`bu*la"tion (?), n. [L. deambulatio.] A walking abroad; a promenading. [Obs.] Sir T. Elyot.
De*am"bu*la*to*ry (?), a. [Cf. LL. deambulator a traveler.] Going about from place to place; wandering; of or pertaining to a deambulatory. [Obs.] "Deambulatory actors." Bp. Morton.
De*am"bu*la*to*ry, n. [L. deambulatorium.] A covered place in which to walk; an ambulatory.
Dean (?), n. [OE. dene, deene, OF. deien, dien, F. doyen, eldest of a corporation, a dean, L. decanus the chief of ten, one set over ten persons, e. g., over soldiers or over monks, from decem ten. See Ten, and cf. Decemvir.] 1. A dignitary or presiding officer in certain ecclesiastical and lay bodies; esp., an ecclesiastical dignitary, subordinate to a bishop.
Dean of cathedral church, the chief officer of a chapter; he is an ecclesiastical magistrate next in degree to bishop, and has immediate charge of the cathedral and its estates. -- Dean of peculiars, a dean holding a preferment which has some peculiarity relative to spiritual superiors and the jurisdiction exercised in it. [Eng.] -- Rural dean, one having, under the bishop, the especial care and inspection of the clergy within certain parishes or districts of the diocese.
2. The collegiate officer in the universities of Oxford and Cambridge, England, who, besides other duties, has regard to the moral condition of the college. Shipley.
3. The head or presiding officer in the faculty of some colleges or universities.
4. A registrar or secretary of the faculty in a department of a college, as in a medical, or theological, or scientific department. [U.S.]
5. The chief or senior of a company on occasion of ceremony; as, the dean of the diplomatic corps; -- so called by courtesy.
Cardinal dean, the senior cardinal bishop of the college of cardinals at Rome. Shipley. -- Dean and chapter, the legal corporation and governing body of a cathedral. It consists of the dean, who is chief, and his canons or prebendaries. -- Dean of arches, the lay judge of the court of arches. -- Dean of faculty, the president of an incorporation or barristers; specifically, the president of the incorporation of advocates in Edinburgh. -- Dean of guild, a magistrate of Scotch burghs, formerly, and still, in some burghs, chosen by the Guildry, whose duty is to superintend the erection of new buildings and see that they conform to the law. -- Dean of a monastery, Monastic dean, a monastic superior over ten monks. -- Dean's stall. See Decanal stall, under Decanal.
Dean"er*y (?), n.; pl. Deaneries (&?;). 1. The office or the revenue of a dean. See the Note under Benefice, n., 3.
2. The residence of a dean. Shak.
3. The territorial jurisdiction of a dean.
Each archdeaconry is divided into rural deaneries, and each deanery is divided into parishes.
Blackstone.
Dean"ship, n. The office of a dean.
I dont't value your deanship a straw.
Swift.
Dear (dr), a. [Compar. Dearer (-r); superl. Dearest (-st).] [OE. dere, deore, AS. deóre; akin to OS. diuri, D. duur, OHG. tiuri, G. theuer, teuer, Icel. drr, Dan. & Sw. dyr. Cf. Darling, Dearth.] 1. Bearing a high price; high-priced; costly; expensive.
The cheapest of us is ten groats too dear.
Shak.
2. Marked by scarcity or dearth, and exorbitance of price; as, a dear year.
3. Highly valued; greatly beloved; cherished; precious. "Hear me, dear lady." Shak.
Neither count I my life dear unto myself.
Acts xx. 24.
And the last joy was dearer than the rest.
Pope.
Dear as remember'd kisses after death.
Tennyson.
4. Hence, close to the heart; heartfelt; present in mind; engaging the attention. (a) Of agreeable things and interests.
[I'll] leave you to attend him: some dear cause Will in concealment wrap me up awhile.
Shak.
His dearest wish was to escape from the bustle and glitter of Whitehall.
Macaulay.
(b) Of disagreeable things and antipathies.
In our dear peril.
Shak.
Would I had met my dearest foe in heaven Or ever I had seen that day.
Shak.
Dear, n. A dear one; lover; sweetheart.
That kiss I carried from thee, dear.
Shak.
Dear, adv. Dearly; at a high price.
If thou attempt it, it will cost thee dear.
Shak.
Dear, v. t. To endear. [Obs.] Shelton.
Dear"born (?), n. A four-wheeled carriage, with curtained sides.
Dear"-bought` (?), a. Bought at a high price; as, dear-bought experience.
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Deare (?), variant of Dere, v. t. & n. [Obs.]
Dear"ie (?), n. Same as Deary. Dickens.
Dear"ling (?), n. A darling. [Obs.] Spenser.
Dear"-loved` (?), a. Greatly beloved. Shak.
Dear"ly, adv. 1. In a dear manner; with affection; heartily; earnestly; as, to love one dearly.
2. At a high rate or price; grievously.
He buys his mistress dearly with his throne.
Dryden.
3. Exquisitely. [Obs.] Shak.
Dearn (?), a. [AS. derne, dyrne, dierne, hidden, secret. Cf. Derne.] Secret; lonely; solitary; dreadful. [Obs.] Shak. -- Dearn"ly, adv. [Obs.] Chaucer.
Dearn, v. t. Same as Darn. [Obs.]
Dear"ness (?), n. 1. The quality or state of being dear; costliness; excess of price.
The dearness of corn.
Swift.
2. Fondness; preciousness; love; tenderness.
The dearness of friendship.
Bacon.
Dearth (?), n. [OE. derthe, fr. dere. See Dear.] Scarcity which renders dear; want; lack; specifically, lack of food on account of failure of crops; famine.
There came a dearth over all the land of Egypt.
Acts vii. 11.
He with her press'd, she faint with dearth.
Shak.
Dearth of plot, and narrowness of imagination.
Dryden.
De`ar*tic"u*late (?), v. t. To disjoint.
Dear"worth` (?), a. [See Derworth.] Precious. [Obs.] Piers Plowman.
Dear"y (?), n. A dear; a darling. [Familiar]
De"as (?), n. See Dais. [Scot.]
Death (dth), n. [OE. deth, deað, AS. deáð; akin to OS. dð, D. dood, G. tod, Icel. dauði, Sw. & Dan. död, Goth. dauþus; from a verb meaning to die. See Die, v. i., and cf. Dead.] 1. The cessation of all vital phenomena without capability of resuscitation, either in animals or plants.
Local death is going on at all times and in all parts of the living body, in which individual cells and elements are being cast off and replaced by new; a process essential to life. General death is of two kinds; death of the body as a whole (somatic or systemic death), and death of the tissues. By the former is implied the absolute cessation of the functions of the brain, the circulatory and the respiratory organs; by the latter the entire disappearance of the vital actions of the ultimate structural constituents of the body. When death takes place, the body as a whole dies first, the death of the tissues sometimes not occurring until after a considerable interval. Huxley.
2. Total privation or loss; extinction; cessation; as, the death of memory.
The death of a language can not be exactly compared with the death of a plant.
J. Peile.
3. Manner of dying; act or state of passing from life.
A death that I abhor.
Shak.
Let me die the death of the righteous.
Num. xxiii. 10.
4. Cause of loss of life.
Swiftly flies the feathered death.
Dryden.
He caught his death the last county sessions.
Addison.
5. Personified: The destroyer of life, -- conventionally represented as a skeleton with a scythe.
Death! great proprietor of all.
Young.
And I looked, and behold a pale horse; and his name that sat on him was Death.
Rev. vi. 8.
6. Danger of death. "In deaths oft." 2 Cor. xi. 23.
7. Murder; murderous character.
Not to suffer a man of death to live.
Bacon.
8. (Theol.) Loss of spiritual life.
To be carnally minded is death.
Rom. viii. 6.
9. Anything so dreadful as to be like death.
It was death to them to think of entertaining such doctrines.
Atterbury.
And urged him, so that his soul was vexed unto death.
Judg. xvi. 16.
Death is much used adjectively and as the first part of a compound, meaning, in general, of or pertaining to death, causing or presaging death; as, deathbed or death bed; deathblow or death blow, etc.
Black death. See Black death, in the Vocabulary. -- Civil death, the separation of a man from civil society, or the debarring him from the enjoyment of civil rights, as by banishment, attainder, abjuration of the realm, entering a monastery, etc. Blackstone. -- Death adder. (Zoöl.) (a) A kind of viper found in South Africa (Acanthophis tortor); -- so called from the virulence of its venom. (b) A venomous Australian snake of the family Elapidæ, of several species, as the Hoplocephalus superbus and Acanthopis antarctica. -- Death bell, a bell that announces a death.
The death bell thrice was heard to ring.
Mickle.
-- Death candle, a light like that of a candle, viewed by the superstitious as presaging death. -- Death damp, a cold sweat at the coming on of death. -- Death fire, a kind of ignis fatuus supposed to forebode death.
And round about in reel and rout, The death fires danced at night.
Coleridge.
-- Death grapple, a grapple or struggle for life. -- Death in life, a condition but little removed from death; a living death. [Poetic] "Lay lingering out a five years' death in life." Tennyson. - - Death knell, a stroke or tolling of a bell, announcing a death. -- Death rate, the relation or ratio of the number of deaths to the population.
At all ages the death rate is higher in towns than in rural districts.
Darwin.
-- Death rattle, a rattling or gurgling in the throat of a dying person. -- Death's door, the boundary of life; the partition dividing life from death. -- Death stroke, a stroke causing death. -- Death throe, the spasm of death. -- Death token, the signal of approaching death. -- Death warrant. (a) (Law) An order from the proper authority for the execution of a criminal. (b) That which puts an end to expectation, hope, or joy. -- Death wound. (a) A fatal wound or injury. (b) (Naut.) The springing of a fatal leak. -- Spiritual death (Scripture), the corruption and perversion of the soul by sin, with the loss of the favor of God. -- The gates of death, the grave.
Have the gates of death been opened unto thee?
Job xxxviii. 17.
-- The second death, condemnation to eternal separation from God. Rev. ii. 11. -- To be the death of, to be the cause of death to; to make die. "It was one who should be the death of both his parents." Milton.
Syn. -- Death, Decease, Demise, Departure, Release. Death applies to the termination of every form of existence, both animal and vegetable; the other words only to the human race. Decease is the term used in law for the removal of a human being out of life in the ordinary course of nature. Demise was formerly confined to decease of princes, but is now sometimes used of distinguished men in general; as, the demise of Mr. Pitt. Departure and release are peculiarly terms of Christian affection and hope. A violent death is not usually called a decease. Departure implies a friendly taking leave of life. Release implies a deliverance from a life of suffering or sorrow.
Death"bed (?), n. The bed in which a person dies; hence, the closing hours of life of one who dies by sickness or the like; the last sickness.
That often-quoted passage from Lord Hervey in which the Queen's deathbed is described.
Thackeray.
Death"bird` (?), n. (Zoöl.) Tengmalm's or Richardson's owl (Nyctale Tengmalmi); -- so called from a superstition of the North American Indians that its note presages death.
Death"blow` (?), n. A mortal or crushing blow; a stroke or event which kills or destroys.
The deathblow of my hope.
Byron.
Death"ful (?), a. 1. Full of death or slaughter; murderous; destructive; bloody.
These eyes behold The deathful scene.
Pope.
2. Liable to undergo death; mortal.
The deathless gods and deathful earth.
Chapman.
Death"ful*ness, n. Appearance of death. Jer. Taylor.
Death"less, a. Not subject to death, destruction, or extinction; immortal; undying; imperishable; as, deathless beings; deathless fame.
Death"like` (?), a. 1. Resembling death.
A deathlike slumber, and a dead repose.
Pope.
2. Deadly. [Obs.] "Deathlike dragons." Shak.
Death"li*ness (?), n. The quality of being deathly; deadliness. Southey.
Death"ly, a. Deadly; fatal; mortal; destructive.
Death"ly, adv. Deadly; as, deathly pale or sick.
Death's"-head` (?), n. A naked human skull as the emblem of death; the head of the conventional personification of death.
I had rather be married to a death's-head with a bone in his mouth.
Shak.
Death's-head moth (Zoöl.), a very large European moth (Acherontia atropos), so called from a figure resembling a human skull on the back of the thorax; -- called also death's-head sphinx.
Death's"-herb` (?), n. The deadly nightshade (Atropa belladonna). Dr. Prior.
Deaths"man (?), n. An executioner; a headsman or hangman. [Obs.] Shak.
Death"ward (?), adv. Toward death.
Death"watch` (?; 224), n. 1. (Zoöl.) (a) A small beetle (Anobium tessellatum and other allied species). By forcibly striking its head against woodwork it makes a ticking sound, which is a call of the sexes to each other, but has been imagined by superstitious people to presage death. (b) A small wingless insect, of the family Psocidæ, which makes a similar but fainter sound; -- called also deathtick.
She is always seeing apparitions and hearing deathwatches.
Addison.
I did not hear the dog howl, mother, or the deathwatch beat.
Tennyson.
2. The guard set over a criminal before his execution.
De*au"rate (?), a. [L. deauratus, p. p. of deaurare to gild; de- + aurum gold.] Gilded. [Obs.]
De*au"rate (?), v. t. To gild. [Obs.] Bailey.
De`au*ra"tion (?), n. Act of gilding. [Obs.]
Deave (?), v. t. [See Deafen.] To stun or stupefy with noise; to deafen. [Scot.]
De*bac"chate (?), v. i. [L. debacchatus, p. p. of debacchari to rage; de- + bacchari to rage like a bacchant.] To rave as a bacchanal. [R.] Cockeram.
De`bac*cha"tion (?), n. [L. debacchatio.] Wild raving or debauchery. [R.] Prynne.
De*ba"cle (?), n. [F. débâcle, fr. débâcler to unbar, break loose; pref. dé- (prob. = L. dis) + bâcler to bolt, fr. L. baculum a stick.] (Geol.) A breaking or bursting forth; a violent rush or flood of waters which breaks down opposing barriers, and hurls forward and disperses blocks of stone and other débris.
De*bar" (?), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Debarred (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Debarring.] [Pref. de- + bar.] To cut off from entrance, as if by a bar or barrier; to preclude; to hinder from approach, entry, or enjoyment; to shut out or exclude; to deny or refuse; -- with from, and sometimes with of.
Yet not so strictly hath our Lord imposed Labor, as to debar us when we need Refreshment.
Milton.
Their wages were so low as to debar them, not only from the comforts but from the common decencies of civilized life.
Buckle.
De*barb" (?), v. t. [Pref. de- + L. barba beard.] To deprive of the beard. [Obs.] Bailey.
De"bark" (?), v. t. & i. [imp. & p. p. Debarked (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Debarking.] [F. débarquer; pref. dé- (L. dis-) + barque. See Bark the vessel, and cf. Disbark.] To go ashore from a ship or boat; to disembark; to put ashore.
De`bar*ka"tion (?), n. Disembarkation.
The debarkation, therefore, had to take place by small steamers.
U. S. Grant.
De*bar"ment (?), n. Hindrance from approach; exclusion.
De*bar"rass (?), v. t. [Cf. F. débarrasser. See Embarrass.] To disembarrass; to relieve. [R.]
De*base" (?), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Debased (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Debasing.] [Pref. de- + base. See Base, a., and cf. Abase.] To reduce from a higher to a lower state or grade of worth, dignity, purity, station, etc.; to degrade; to lower; to deteriorate; to abase; as, to debase the character by crime; to debase the mind by frivolity; to debase style by vulgar words.
The coin which was adulterated and debased.
Hale.
It is a kind of taking God's name in vain to debase religion with such frivolous disputes.
Hooker.
And to debase the sons, exalts the sires.
Pope.
Syn. -- To abase; degrade. See Abase.
De*based" (?), a. (Her.) Turned upside down from its proper position; inverted; reversed.
De*base"ment (?), n. The act of debasing or the state of being debased. Milton.
De*bas"er (?), n. One who, or that which, debases.
De*bas"ing*ly, adv. In a manner to debase.
De*bat"a*ble (?), a. [Cf. OF. debatable. See Debate.] Liable to be debated; disputable; subject to controversy or contention; open to question or dispute; as, a debatable question.
The Debatable Land or Ground, a tract of land between the Esk and the Sark, claimed by both England and Scotland; the Batable Ground.
De*bate" (?), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Debated; p. pr. & vb. n. Debating.] [OF. debatre, F. débattre; L. de + batuere to beat. See Batter, v. t., and cf. Abate.] 1. To engage in combat for; to strive for.
Volunteers . . . thronged to serve under his banner, and the cause of religion was debated with the same ardor in Spain as on the plains of Palestine.
Prescott.
2. To contend for in words or arguments; to strive to maintain by reasoning; to dispute; to contest; to discuss; to argue for and against.
A wise council . . . that did debate this business.
Shak.
Debate thy cause with thy neighbor himself.
Prov. xxv. 9.
Syn. -- To argue; discuss; dispute; controvert. See Argue, and Discuss.
De*bate", v. i. 1. To engage in strife or combat; to fight. [Obs.] Chaucer.
Well could he tourney and in lists debate.
Spenser.
2. To contend in words; to dispute; hence, to deliberate; to consider; to discuss or examine different arguments in the mind; -- often followed by on or upon.
He presents that great soul debating upon the subject of life and death with his intimate friends.
Tatler.
De*bate", n. [F. débat, fr. débattre. See Debate, v. t.] 1. A fight or fighting; contest; strife. [Archaic]
On the day of the Trinity next ensuing was a great debate . . . and in that murder there were slain . . . fourscore.
R. of Gloucester.
But question fierce and proud reply Gave signal soon of dire debate.
Sir W. Scott.
2. Contention in words or arguments; discussion for the purpose of elucidating truth or influencing action; strife in argument; controversy; as, the debates in Parliament or in Congress.
Heard, noted, answer'd, as in full debate.
Pope.
3. Subject of discussion. [R.]
Statutes and edicts concerning this debate.
Milton.
De*bate"ful (?), a. Full of contention; contentious; quarrelsome. [Obs.] Spenser.
De*bate"ful*ly, adv. With contention. [Obs.]
De*bate"ment (?), n. [Cf. OF. debatement a beating.] Controversy; deliberation; debate. [R.]
A serious question and debatement with myself.
Milton.
De*bat"er (?), n. One who debates; one given to argument; a disputant; a controvertist.
Debate where leisure serves with dull debaters.
Shak.
De*bat"ing, n. The act of discussing or arguing; discussion.
Debating society or club, a society or club for the purpose of debate and improvement in extemporaneous speaking.
De*bat"ing*ly, adv. In the manner of a debate.
De*bauch" (?), v. t. & i. [imp. & p. p. Debauched (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Debauching.] [F. débaucher, prob. originally, to entice away from the workshop; pref. dé- (L. dis- or de) + OF. bauche, bauge, hut, cf. F. bauge lair of a wild boar; prob. from G. or Icel., cf. Icel. blkr. See Balk, n.] To lead away from purity or excellence; to corrupt in character or principles; to mar; to vitiate; to pollute; to seduce; as, to debauch one's self by intemperance; to debauch a woman; to debauch an army.
Learning not debauched by ambition.
Burke.
A man must have got his conscience thoroughly debauched and hardened before he can arrive to the height of sin.
South.
Her pride debauched her judgment and her eyes.
Cowley.
De*bauch", n. [Cf. F. débauche.] 1. Excess in eating or drinking; intemperance; drunkenness; lewdness; debauchery.
The first physicians by debauch were made.
Dryden.
2. An act or occasion of debauchery.
Silenus, from his night's debauch, Fatigued and sick.
Cowley.
De*bauched" (?), a. Dissolute; dissipated. "A coarse and debauched look." Ld. Lytton.
De*bauch"ed*ly (?), adv. In a profligate manner.
De*bauch"ed*ness, n. The state of being debauched; intemperance. Bp. Hall.
Deb`au*chee" (?), n. [F. débauché, n., properly p. p. of débaucher. See Debauch, v. t.] One who is given to intemperance or bacchanalian excesses; a man habitually lewd; a libertine.
De*bauch"er (?), n. One who debauches or corrupts others; especially, a seducer to lewdness.
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De*bauch"er*y (?), n.; pl. Debaucheries (&?;). 1. Corruption of fidelity; seduction from virtue, duty, or allegiance.
The republic of Paris will endeavor to complete the debauchery of the army.
Burke.
2. Excessive indulgence of the appetites; especially, excessive indulgence of lust; intemperance; sensuality; habitual lewdness.
Oppose . . . debauchery by temperance.
Sprat.
De*bauch"ment (?), n. The act of corrupting; the act of seducing from virtue or duty.
De*bauch"ness, n. Debauchedness. [Obs.]
De*beige" (?), n. [F. de of + beige the natural color of wool.] A kind of woolen or mixed dress goods. [Written also debage.]
De*bel" (?), v. t. [Cf. F. débeller. See Debellate.] To conquer. [Obs.] Milton.
De*bel"late (?), v. t. [L. debellatus, p. p. of debellare to subdue; de- + bellum war.] To subdue; to conquer in war. [Obs.] Speed.
Deb`el*la"tion (?), n. [LL. debellatio.] The act of conquering or subduing. [Obs.]
||De be"ne es"se (?). [L.] (Law) Of well being; of formal sufficiency for the time; conditionally; provisionally. Abbott.
De*ben"ture (?; 135), n. [L. debentur they are due, fr. debere to owe; cf. F. debentur. So called because these receipts began with the words Debentur mihi.] 1. A writing acknowledging a debt; a writing or certificate signed by a public officer, as evidence of a debt due to some person; the sum thus due.
2. A customhouse certificate entitling an exporter of imported goods to a drawback of duties paid on their importation. Burrill.
It is applied in England to deeds of mortgage given by railway companies for borrowed money; also to municipal and other bonds and securities for money loaned.