any person or thing. Sometimes with Why I, in this weak piping time of peace, to, properly with from. Have no delight to pass away the time, Which, though never so necessary, they could Unless to spy my shadow in the sun, And descant on mine own deformity. Shaks. not easily now admit, without some fear of de Com'st thou for this, vain boaster, to survey me; rogation from their credit; and therefore that which once they had done, they became for ever To descant on my strength, and give thy verdict ? Milton. after resolute to maintain. Hooker. A virtuous man should be pleased to find So surely he is a very brave man, neither is peos that any thing which I speak to his derogation ; ple descanting upon his actions; because, when for in that I said he is a mingled people, it is no they are thoroughly canvasscd and examined, Addison. they turn to his honour. displaise Spenser on Ireland, wisest princes need not think it any di- To DESCEND. v. n. [descendo, Lat.] minution to their greatness, or derogation to their 1. To go downward ; to come from a sufficiency, to rely upon counsel. Bacon. higher place lower; to ll; to sink. I say not this in derogation to Virgil, neither do The rain descended, and the foods came, and I contradict any thing which I have formerly the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and said in his just praise. Dryden. it fell not, for it was founded upon a rock. None of these patriots will think it a deroga Mattbew. tion from their merit, to have it said, that they The brook that descended out of the mount. received many lights and advantages from their Deuteronomy. intimacy with my lord Somers. Addison. He cleft his head with one descending blow. DERO'GATIVE. adj. (derogativus, Lat.] Dryden. Detracting ; lessening the honour of. Foul with stains Not in use. Of gushing torrents and descending rains. Addis, 'That spirits are corporeal, seems to me a con O goddess ! who, descending from the skies, Vouchsaf'd thy presence to my wond'ring eyes, ceit derogative to himself, and such as he should rather labour to overthrow; yet thereby, he Poped establisheth the doctrine of lustrations, amulets, 2. To come down, in a popular sense, imand charms. Brorun's Vulgar Errours. plying only an arrival at one place from DEROGATORILY, adv. [from deroga another. tor;.] In a detracting manner. Dict. He shall descendinto battle, and perish. 1 Som. DEROGATORINESs. n. s. [from deroga 3. To come suddenly or violently; to fall tors.] The act of derogating. Dict. upon as from an eminence. For the pious sire preserve the son; DEROGATORY. adj. [derogatorius, Lat.] His wish'd return with happy pow'r befriend, Detractious; that lessens the honour And on the suitors let thy wrath descend. Popes of; dishonourable. 4. To go down, in a figurative sense. They live and die in their absurdities; passing He, with honest meditacions fed, their days in perverted apprehensions and con Into himself descended. Milton, ceptions of the world, derogatory unto God, and the wisdom of the creation. Brorun. 5. To make an invasion. The goddess gives th' alarm; and soon is known These deputed beings are derogatory from the The Grecian flect descending on the town, Dry. wisdom and power of the Author of Nature; A foreign son upon the shore descends, who doubtless can govern this machine he could Whose martial fame from pole to pole extends. create, by more direct and easy methods than employing these subservient divinities, Cheyne. 6. To proceed as from an original; to be Dryden, DE'RVIS. n. s. [dervis, French.] A derived from. Turkish priest, or monk. Even there, where Christ vouchsaf'd to teach, Despair descends from a mean original; the Their dervises dare an impostor preach. Sandys. offspring of fear, laziness, and impatience. Collier against Despair. Thc dervis at first made some scruple of vio Will is younger brother to a baronet, and delating his promise to the dying brachman; but told him, ar last, that he could conceal noihing scended of the ancient family of the Wimbles. Addison. from so excellent a prince. Spectator. DEʻSCANT, n. s. (discanto, Italiani.) 7. To fall in order of inheritance to a successour. 1. A song or tune composed in parts. Nay, now you are too fint, Should we allow that all the property, all the And mar the concord with too harsh a descant. estate, of the father oughi to descend to the eldest Sbakspeare. son; yet the father's natural dominion, the paThe wakeful nightingale ternal power, cannot descend unto him by inheritance. Locke. All night long her amorous descant sung. Milt. The inheritance of both rule over men, and 2. A discourse; a disputation; a disquisi property in things, sprung from the same origition branched out into several divisions nal, and were to descend by the same rules. Locke. or heads. It is commonly used as a Our author provides for the descending and word of censure or contempt. conveyance down of Adam's monarchical Power Look you get a prayer-book in your hand, to posterity, by the inheritance of his heir, suc Locke. And stand between two churchmen, good my ceeding to his father's authority. lord; 8. To extend a discourse from general to For on that ground I 'll build a holy descant. particular considerations. Sbakspeare. Congregations discerned the small accord that Kindness would supplant our unkind report was among themselves, when they descended to ings, and severe descants upon our brethren. particulars. Deiaj of Pirtys Government of the Tongue. TO DESCE'ND, 7, 1. To walk downward TO DE'SCANT. v. n. (from the noun.] upon any place. 1. To sing in parts. He onded, and they both defend the hilly's 2. To discourse at large; to makespeeches: Descended Adan to'the box:"y, whep Isei. in a sense of censure or contempt. Lay sleeping In all our journey through the Alps, as well when we climbed as when we descended them, we 3. Obliquity; inclination. The heads and sources of rivers flow upon a had still a river running along with the road. descent, or an inclining plane, without which they Addison. could not flow at all. Woodword. very steep, that there would be no mounting or 4. Lowest place. descending it, were not it made up of a loose From th' extremest upward of thy head, crumbled earth. Addison. To the descent and dust below thy feet. Slabs. DESCENDANT. n. s. [descendant, French; 5. Fåll from a higher state ; degradation. O foul descent! that I, who erst contended descendens, Latin.] The offspring of an With gods to sit the highest, am now constrain's ancestor; he that is in the line of gener Into a beast, and mix with bestial slime ation, at whatever distance. This essence to incarnate and in brute. Miten. Bacon. dom : in allusion to the height of ships. -0, true descendant of a patriot line, At the first descent on shore, he was not im. Vouchsafe this picture of thy soul to see. Dryd. mured with a wooden vessel, but he did counte. He revealed luis own will, and their duty, in nance the landing in his long-boat. Watter. a more ample manner than it had been declared The duke was general himself; and made that to any of my descendants before them. Atterbury. unfortunate descent upon the Isle of Rhee, which Desce'NDENT. adj. [descendens, Latin. was attended with a miserable retreat, in which It seems to be established, that the sub the flower of the army was lost. Clareader. staative should derive the termination Arise, true judges, in your own defence, from the French, and the adjective from Controul those foplings, and declare for sense; the Latin.) For, should the fools prevail, they stop not there, But make their next descent upon the fair. Dryd. I. Falling ; sinking ; coming down ; de 7. Transmission of any thing by succession scending: and inheritance. There is a regress of the sap in plants, from If the agreement and consent of men first gave atove downwards; and this descendent juice is a sceptre into any one's hand, that also must die that which principally nourishes both fruit and rect its descent and conveyance. Lecken . plant. Ray on the Creation., 8. The state of proceeding from an origi. All of them, even without such a particular claim, had great reason to glory in their common Speaks thee descendent of ethercal race. Pope. descent from Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to whom DESCE'NDIBLE. adj. [from descend.] the promise of the blessed seed was severally made. 1. Such as may be descended ; such as Atterbury. may admit of a passage downward. 9. Birth ; extraction; process of lineage. 2. Transmissible by inheritance. I give my voice on Richard's side, To bar my master's heirs in true descent! According to the customs of other countries, God knows, I will not do it. Sbakspeare. Turnus, for high descent and graceful mien, Was first, and favour'd by the Latian queen. Dryden . DESCE'NSION. n. s. [descensio, Latin.] 10. Offspring ; inheritors; those proceed. 1. The act of going downward, falling, or ing in the line of generation. sinking; descent. The care of our descent perplexes most, 2. A declension ; a degradation. Which must be born to certain woe. Froin him From a god to a bull! a heavy descension : it was Jove's case. From a prince to a 'prentice! His whole descent, who thus shall Canaan win. a low transformation : that shall be mine. Shekspeare. II. A single step in the scale of genealogy; 3. [In astronomy.) Right descension is the a generation. arch of the equator, which descends No man living is a thousand descents remored with the sign or star below the horizon from Adam himself. of a' direct sphere. Then all the sons of these five brethren reign'd, Oblique descension is the arch of the By due success; and all their nephews late, Even thrice eleven descents, the crown retain'd, equator, which descends with the sign Till aged Heli by due heritage it gain'd below the horizon of an oblique sphere. Ozanam,' 12. A rank in the scale of subordination. DESCE'NSIONAL, Odi. [from descension.] How have I then with whom to hold code Relating to desceni. verse, DESCE'NT. N.s.[descensus, Latin; descente, Save with the creatures which I made, and those To me inferior ? infinite descents are to thee. Millo 1. The act of passing from a higher to a TO DESCRIBE. v. a. (describo, Lat.) Why do fragments from a mountain rent, 1. To delineate ; to mark out; to trace: Tend to the earth with such a swift descent? Blackmore. 2. Progress downward. Observing such 'gradual and gentle descents of its properties. downwards, in those parts of the creation that I are bencath men, the rule of analogy may make it probable that it is so also in things above. Locke, Hesker. Fairy Quets 3 lower place. as, a torch waved about the head describes a circle. 4. pray thee, overname them: and as thoa nam'st them, I will describe them; and accordo ing to my description, level at my affectiou. Slaks peste Hé that writes well in verse will often send Thus dight, into the court he took his way;. his thoughts in search through all the treasure Bch thro' the guard, which never him deseried, of words that express any one idea in the same Ad chro' the watchmen, who him never spied. language ; that so he may comport with the Hubberd's Tale. measures or the rhyme, or with his own most The spirit of deep prophecy she hath ; beautiful and vivid sentiments of the thing he Wlat 's past, and what's to come, she can destry. describes. Watts. Sbakspeare. 3. To distribute into proper heads or divi Chat planet would, unto our eyes, descrying sions. ony that part whereon the light falls, appear to behorned, as the moon seems. Men passed through the land, and described it Raleigh. by cities into seven parts in a book. Yoshua. Ind now their way to earth they had descried, T. Paradise first tending. ilton. 4. To detine in a lax manner by the pro Although the motion of light be not arseried, miscuous mention of qualities general noirgument can be made from thence to prove and peculiar. See DESCRIPTION. tha light is not a body. Digby. DESCRIBER. n. s. [from describe.] He 2 tow'r so high, it seem'd to reach the sky, that describes. Stod on the roof, from whence we could descry Denbare From a plantation and colony, an island near Gnce more at least look back, said I; Spain was by the Greek describers named Ery Thyelf in that large glass descry. Brown. thra. Prier. Descri'er. n. s. [from the verb.] A dis. Desar y. n. s. [from the verb.] Discos ver' ; thing discovered. coverer ; a detecter. How near 's the other army? -Nar, and on speedy foot; the main desery Stans in the hourly thought. Sbakspeare, Descri'PTION. N. s. [descriptio, Lat.). To DESECRATE. v. a. [desacro, Lat.) 1. The act of delineating or expressing To livert from the purpose to which any person or thing by perceptible pro anything is consecrated. perties. The founders of monasteries imprecated evil 2. The sentence or passage in which any on those who should desecrate their donations. thing is described. Salmon's Survey; A poet must refuse all tedious and unnecessary DESERATION. n. s. [from desecrate.) descriptions: a robe which is too heavy, is less an Thiabolition of consecration. ornament than a burthen. Dryden. DE'SRT. n. s. [desèrtum, Lat.] A wilderSometimes, misguided by the tuneful throng, nes; solitude ; waste country; uninI look for streams immortaliz'd in song, halted place. That lost in silence and oblivion lie; Be alive again, Dumb are their fountains, and their channels Andare me to the descri with thy sword; dry, That run for ever by the muse's skill, If trmbling I inhibit, then protest me And in the smooth description murmur still. Thaaby of a girl. Shakspeare. Addison, H, looking round, on every side beheld A phless desert, dusk with horrid shades. 3. A lax definition. Milton. The sort of definition, which is made up of a DE'SRT. adj. [desertus, Latin.] Wild ; mere collection of the most remarkable parts or properties, is called an imperfect definition, or,a wace; solitary; uninhabited; uncultidescription; whereas the definition is called per vald ; untilled. fect, when it is composed of the essential ditter I have words ence, added to general nature or genus. Watts. Tha wiuld be howl'd out in the desert air, Where .earing should not catch them. Sbaksp. 4. The qualities expressed in a descrip He fand him in a desert land, and in the tion. wasie haling wilderness. Deuteronomy. I 'U pay six thousand, and deface the bond, The fomises and bargains between two men Before a friend of this description in a dese: island are binding to them; though Shall lose a hair. Sbakspeare. they areerfectly in a state of nature, in referTo DESCRY'. v. a. [descrier, Fr.] ence to se another. Locke. 1. To give notice of any thing suddenly To DESIRT. v. a. [deserter, French; discovered : as, the scout descried the desero, atin.] enemy, or gave notice of theirapproach. 1. To fonke; to fall away from ; to quit This sense is now obsolete, but gave oc meanlyir treacherously, casion to those which are now in use. I do 'n remember one man, who heartily, 2. To spy out; to examine at a distance. wished tl passing of that bill, that ever deserted And the house of Joseph sent to descry Bethel. them till ic kingdom was in a flame. Dryden. Judges. 2. To lea; to abandon. Edmund, I think, is gone to descry, What iit that holds and keeps the orbs in The strength o' th' enemy: Sbakspeare. fixed statás and intervals, against an incessant Our merchants, to their great charges, set and inhert tendency to desert them? Bentley forth fleets to descry the seas. Abbot. 3. To quitie army, or regiment, in which 3. To detect; to find out any thing con one is eisted. cealed. DESE'RT.7. s. (properly dessert : the Of the king they got a sight after dinner in a word is riginally French.] The last gallery, and of the queen mother at her own course; he fruit or sweetmeats with table in neither place descried; no, not by Cadinet, who had been lately ambassador in Eng which aast is concluded. See Desland. Wotton. SERT. 4. To discover ; to perceive by the eye; DESE'RT: s. [from deserve.] to see any thing distant or obscure. J. Qualiţie or conduct considered with His warlike mind, his soul devoid of fear, Aliens were devoted to their rapine and de His high-designing thoughts, were figur'd there; spight. Deceg of Pigs As when, by magick, ghosts are made appear, Ah! why, Penelope, this causeless fear, Dryden. To render sleep's soft blessings insincere? We Tyrians are not so devoid of sense, Alike devote to sorrow's dire extreme Nor so remote from Phæbus' influence. Dryd. The day reflection and the midnight dreams DEVO'IR. *. so I devoir, French.) 1. Service. A sense now not used. 4. To addict; to give up to ill. To restore again the kingdom of the Mama. The Romans having once debauched their lukes, he offered him their urmost devoir and senses with the pleasures of other nations, tbey service. Knolles. devoted themseles unto all wickedness. Gre. 2. Act of civility or obsequiousness. s. To curse; to execrate; to doon to Gentlemen who do not design to marry, yet destruction. pay their devoirs to one particular fair. Spectstor. I fly Aukward and supple, each devoir to pay, Those wicked tents devoted; lest the wrath She fletters her good lady twice a-day. Pope . Impendent, raging into sudden fiame, TO DEVOʻLVE. v. a. (devolvo, Latin.] Distinguish not. 1. To roll down. To destruction sacred and deveti, Thro' splendid kingdoms he devolves his He with his whole posterity must die. Mitra Goddess of maids, and conscious of our hearts, maze, Now waders wild through solitary tracts So keep me from the vengeance of thy darts, Which Niobe's devoted issue fek Of life-deserted sand. Tbomson. 2. To move from one hand to another. When, bissing through the skies, the feather'd deaths were dealt. Droda. Upon the duke of Ormond the king had wholly Let her, like me, of every joy forlortu, devolved the care and disposition of all affairs in Devote the hour when such a wre:ch was born; Ireland. Temple. Like me, to deserts and to darkness run. Rez. Because they found too much confusion in DevO'T E. adj. For devoted. such a multitude of statesmen, they devolved How on a sudden lost, their whole authority into the hands of the council of sixty. Defac'd, deflower'd, and now to death deeste! Addison. The whole power, at home and abroad, was devolved upon that family. Swift. DEVOʻTEDNESS, 2. s. (from devsic.] The matter which devolves from the bills The state of being devoted or dedidown upon the lower grounds, does not conside cated; consecration; addictedness. rably raise and augment them. Woodward. Whatever may fall from my pen to her disTO DEVO'LVE. v. 1. advantage, relates to her but as she was, or may 1. To roll down. again be, an obstacle to your devienas to sera 2. To fall in succession into new hands. phick love. Boole. The owning of our odhgation unto virtue, Supposing people, by wanting spiritual blessings, did lose all their right to temporal, yet may be styled natural religion; that is to say, a that forfeiture must devolve only to the supreme devotedness unto God, so as to act according 12 his will. Grres. Lord. Decay of Piety. Devotee'. n. s. [devot, French.) One DEVOLU'TION. 1. s. [devolutio, Latin.s 1. The act of rolling down. erroneously or superstitiously religious; The raising of new mountains, deterrations, a bigot. or the devolution of earth down upon the valleys DEVÕTION. n. s. [devotion, French; from the hills and high grounds, will fall under devotio, Latin.] our consideration. Woodward. 1. The state of being consecrated or dedi. .2. Removal successive from hand to hand. cated. The jurisdiction exercised in those courts is 2. Piety; acts of religion; devoutness. derived from the crown of England, and the last Mean time her warlike brother on the seas devolution is to the king by way of appeal. Hale. His waving streamers to the winds displays, DEVORA'Tion.n. s. [from devoro, Lat.] And vows for his return with vain kestion pays The act of devouring, Dict. Dryades 7. DEVO'TE. v. a. (devoveo, devotus, 3. An act of external worship. Latin.] Religious minds are infiamed with the love of 1. To dedicate ; to consecrate; to appro publick devotion. Hestere priate by vow. For as I passed by and beheld your destas, No devetid thing that a man shall devote unto I found an altar with this inscription, To the unknown God. the Lord, of all that he hath, both of man and In vain doth man the name of just expect, beast, and of the field of his possessions, shall If his devotions he to God neglect. be sold or redeemed. Lev. What black magician conjures up this fiend, 4. Prayer; expression of devotion. To stop devoted charitable deeds? Sbakspeare. An aged holy man, That day and night said his deoatien, No other worldly business did apply. Fairy Q. 2. To addict, as to a sect or study. Your devotion has its opportunity: we mus While we do admire pray always, but chiefly at certain times. Serato This virtue, and this moral discipline, 5. The state of the mind under a strong Let's be no stoicks, nor no stocks, I pray; sense of dependance upon God; deOr, so devote to Aristotle's checks, voutness ; piety. As Ovid be an outcast quite abjur'd. Sbal. Grateful to acknowledge whence his good If persons of this make should ever devote Descends; thither with heart, and voce, and themselves to science, they should be well as eyes sured of a solid and strong constitution of body. Directed in devotion, to adore Wetts, And worship God supreme, who made him deri a. To condemn; to resign to ill. Of all his works. Pope. . section of an angle, and the quadrature claim in the beginning; but mixed it with a tigua of a circle, are the desiderata of geo lary pretence, grounded upon the will arid den signation of Edward the Confessor. Bacon. metry. Desi'diose. adj. [desidiosus, Lat.] Idle; 3: Import; intention. Finite and infinite seem be looked upon by lazy ; heavy. Dict. the mind as the modes of quantity; and to be at TÖ DÉSIGN. v. a. [desig::o, Lat. dessiner, tributed primarily in their first designation only French.] to those things which have parts, and are capable 1. To purpose; to intend any thing. of increase or diminution. Locke, 2. To form or order with a particular Desi'GNEDLY. adv. [from design.] Púrpurpose : with for. posely; intentionally; by design or purThe acts of religious worship were purposely pose; not ignorantly; not inadvertently; designed for the acknowledgment of a Being, not fortuitously. whom the most excellent creatures are bound to Uses made things; that is to say, some things adore as well as we. Stilling fleet. You are not for obscurity design'd; were made designedly, and on purpose, for such But, like the sun, must cheer all human kind. an use as they serve to. Ray on the Creation The next thing is, sometimes designedly to put Dryden. children in pain; but care must be taken that 3. To deyote intentionally; with to. this be done when the child is in good humour. One of those places was designed by the old Loske man to his son. Clarendon. Desi'GNER. n. s. [from design.] : He was born to the inheritance of a splendid fortune: he was designed to the study of the law. 1. One that designs, intends or purposes; Dryden. a purposer. 4. To plan; to project; to farm in idça. 2. A plotter; a contriver; one that lays We are to observe whether the picture or schemes. outlines be well drawn, or, as more elegant arti It has therefore always been both the rule and zans term it, well designed; then, whether it be practice, for such designers to suborn the publick well coloured : 'which be the two general heads. interest, to countenance and cover their private. ton. Decay of Piety. Thus, while they speed their pace, the prince 3. One that forms the idea of any thing in designs The new elected seat, and draws the lines. Dryd. painting or sculpture. There is a great affinity between designing and 5. To mark out by particular tokens, poetry; for the Latin pocts, and the designers of Little used. the Roman medals, lived very near one another, "T is not enough to make a man a subject, to and were bred up to the same relish for wit and convince him that there is regal power in the fancy. Addison. world; but there must be ways of designing and Desi'GNING.participial adj. [from design.} knowing the person to whom this regal power Insidious'; treacherous; deceitful; frauof right belongs. Locke. DESIGN. n. s. [from the verb.] dulently artful. 1. An intention; a purpose. 'T would shewme poor, indebted, and com pellid, 2. A scheme; a plan of action. Designing, mercenary; and I know Is he a prudent man, as to his temporal estate, You would not wish to think I could be bought. that lays designs only for a day, without any pro Sanibern, spect to the remaining part of his life? Tillotson, DESIGNLESS. adj. [from design.] With3. A scheme formed to the detriment of out intention; without design; unknowanother ing; inadvertent. A sedate settled design upon another man's life, put him in a state of war with him against DESIGN LESSLY. adv. (from designless.] whom he has declared such an intention. Locke. Without intention ; ignorantly; inad4. The idea which an artist endeavours to vertently. execute or express In this great concert of his whole creation, the I doubt not but in the designs of several Greek designlessly conspiring voices are as ditiering as medals, one may often see the hand of an Apelles Desi'GNMENT. n. s. (from desig:2. ] the conditions of the respective singers. Boyle. or Protogenes. Addison. Thy hand strikes out some new design, 1. A purpose and intent. Where life awakes and dawns at every line. The sanctity of the christian religion excludes Pope. fraud and falsehood from the designments and DESIGNABLE. adj. [designo, Lat.] Dis aims of its tirst promulgators. Decay of Picty. ?T is a greater credit to know the ways of captinguishable; "apable to be particularly marked out. tivating nature, and making her subserve our purposes and designmenis, than to have learned The power of all natural agents is limited : all the intrigues of policy. Glanville. the mover must be confined to observe these 2. A scheme of hostility. portions, and cannot pass over all these intinite News, lords! our wars are done! designable degrees in an instant. Digby. The desperate tempest hath so bang'd the Turks, DESIGNATION. n. s. [designatio, Lat.) That their designment halts. Sbakspeare. i. The act of pointing or marking out by She received advice both of the king's despe; some particular token. rate estate, and of the duke's designments against This is a pain designation of the duke of her. Hayward. Marlborough; one kind of stuff used io fatten 3. The idea, or sketch, of a work. land is called marle, and every body knows that The scenes which represent cities and coun borough is a name for a town. Swift. tries are not really such, but only painted on 2. Appointment; direction. boards and canvass; but shall that cxcuse the ill Wiliam che Conqueror forpore to use that painture or designment of them? Dryden. pro |