Webster's Unabridged Dictionary - Letter D - Page 21
Degrade (v. t.) (Geol.) To reduce in altitude or magnitude, as hills and mountains; to wear down.
Syn: To abase; demean; lower; reduce. See Abase.
Degrade (v. i.) (Biol.) 降低；降級 To degenerate; to pass from a higher to a lower type of structure; as, a family of plants or animals degrades through this or that genus or group of genera.
Degrade (v.) Reduce the level of land, as by erosion [ant: aggrade].
Degrade (v.) Reduce in worth or character, usually verbally; "She tends to put down younger women colleagues"; "His critics took him down after the lecture" [syn: take down, degrade, disgrace, demean, put down].
Degrade (v.) Lower the grade of something; reduce its worth [syn: degrade, cheapen].
Degraded (a.) 被降級職的；墮落的；已失名譽的；degrade的動詞過去式、過去分詞 Reduced in rank, character, or reputation; debased; sunken; low; base.
The Netherlands . . . were reduced practically to a very degraded condition. -- Motley.
Degraded (a.) (Biol.) Having the typical characters or organs in a partially developed condition, or lacking certain parts.
Some families of plants are degraded dicotyledons. --Dana.
Degraded (a.) [Cf. F. degr['e] step.] (Her.)
Having steps; -- said of a cross each of whose extremities finishes in steps growing larger as they leave the center; -- termed also on degrees.
Degraded (a.) Unrestrained by convention or morality; "Congreve draws a debauched aristocratic society"; "deplorably dissipated and degraded"; "riotous living"; "fast women" [syn: debauched, degenerate, degraded, dissipated, dissolute, libertine, profligate, riotous, fast].
Degraded (a.) Lowered in value; "the dollar is low"; "a debased currency" [syn: debased, devalued, degraded].
Degradement (n.) Deprivation of rank or office; degradation. [R.] -- Milton.
Degradingly (adv.) In a degrading manner.
Degravation (a.) The act of making heavy. [Obs.] -- Bailey.
Degree (n.) A step, stair, or staircase. [Obs.]
By ladders, or else by degree. -- Rom. of R.
Degree (n.) One of a series of progressive steps upward or downward, in quality, rank, acquirement, and the like; a stage in progression; grade; gradation; as, degrees of vice and virtue; to advance by slow degrees; degree of comparison.
Degree (n.) The point or step of progression to which a person has arrived; rank or station in life; position. "A dame of high degree." -- Dryden.
"A knight is your degree." -- Shak.
"Lord or lady of high degree." -- Lowell.
Degree (n.) Measure of advancement; quality; extent; as, tastes differ in kind as well as in degree.
The degree of excellence which proclaims genius, is different in different times and different places. -- Sir. J. Reynolds.
Degree (n.) Grade or rank to which scholars are admitted by a college or university, in recognition of their attainments; also, (informal) the diploma provided by an educational institution attesting to the achievement of that rank; as, the degree of bachelor of arts, master, doctor, etc.; to hang one's degrees on the office wall.
Note: In the United States diplomas are usually given as the evidence of a degree conferred. In the humanities the first degree is that of bachelor of arts (B. A. or A. B.); the second that of master of arts (M. A. or A. M.). The degree of bachelor (of arts, science, divinity, law, etc.) is conferred upon those who complete a prescribed course of undergraduate study.
The first degree in medicine is that of doctor of medicine (M. D.). The degrees of master and doctor are also conferred, in course, upon those who have completed certain prescribed postgraduate studies, as doctor of philosophy (Ph. D.); the degree of doctor is also conferred as a complimentary recognition of eminent services in science or letters, or for public services or distinction (as doctor of laws (LL. D.) or doctor of divinity (D. D.), when they are called honorary degrees.
The youth attained his bachelor's degree, and left the university. -- Macaulay.
Degree (n.) (Genealogy) A certain distance or remove in the line of descent, determining the proximity of blood; one remove in the chain of relationship; as, a relation in the third or fourth degree.
In the 11th century an opinion began to gain ground in Italy, that third cousins might marry, being in the seventh degree according to the civil law. -- Hallam.
Degree (n.) (Arith.) Three figures taken together in numeration; thus, 140 is one degree, 222,140 two degrees.
Degree (n.) (Algebra) State as indicated by sum of exponents; more particularly, the degree of a term is indicated by the sum of the exponents of its literal factors; thus, a^{2b^{3}c is a term of the sixth degree. The degree of a power, or radical, is denoted by its index, that of an equation by the greatest sum of the exponents of the unknown quantities in any term; thus, ax^{4 + bx^{2} = c, and mx^{2y^{2} + nyx = p, are both equations of the fourth degree.
Degree (n.) (Trig.) A 360th part of the circumference of a circle, which part is taken as the principal unit of measure for arcs and angles. The degree is divided into 60 minutes and the minute into 60 seconds.
Degree (n.) A division, space, or interval, marked on a mathematical or other instrument, as on a thermometer.
Degree (n.) (Mus.) A line or space of the staff.
Note: The short lines and their spaces are added degrees.
Accumulation of degrees. (Eng. Univ.) See under Accumulation.
By degrees, step by step; by little and little; by moderate advances. "I'll leave it by degrees." -- Shak.
Degree of a curve or Degree of a surface (Geom.), The number which expresses the degree of the equation of the curve or surface in rectilinear coordinates. A straight line will, in general, meet the curve or surface in a number of points equal to the degree of the curve or surface and no more.
Degree of latitude (Geog.), On the earth, the distance on a meridian between two parallels of latitude whose latitudes differ from each other by one degree. This distance is not the same on different parts of a meridian, on account of the flattened figure of the earth, being 68.702 statute miles at the equator, and 69.396 at the poles.
Degree of longitude, The distance on a parallel of latitude between two meridians that make an angle of one degree with each other at the poles -- a distance which varies as the cosine of the latitude, being at the equator 69.16 statute miles.
To a degree, To an extreme; exceedingly; as, mendacious to a degree.
It has been said that Scotsmen . . . are . . . grave to a degree on occasions when races more favored by nature are gladsome to excess. -- Prof. Wilson.
Degree (n.) A position on a scale of intensity or amount or quality; "a moderate grade of intelligence"; "a high level of care is required"; "it is all a matter of degree" [syn: degree, grade, level].
Degree (n.) A specific identifiable position in a continuum or series or especially in a process; "a remarkable degree of frankness"; "at what stage are the social sciences?" [syn: degree, level, stage, point].
Degree (n.) An award conferred by a college or university signifying that the recipient has satisfactorily completed a course of study; "he earned his degree at Princeton summa cum laude" [syn: academic degree, degree].
Degree (n.) A measure for arcs and angles; "there are 360 degrees in a circle" [syn: degree, arcdegree].
Degree (n.) The highest power of a term or variable
Degree (n.) A unit of temperature on a specified scale; "the game was played in spite of the 40-degree temperature".
Degree (n.) The seriousness of something (e.g., a burn or crime); "murder in the second degree"; "a second degree burn".
Degree
Valency, ()
The degree (or valency) of a node in a graph is the number of edges joined to it.
Degree, () measures. In angular measures, a degree is equal to sixty minutes, or the thirtieth part of a sine. Vide Measure.
Degree, () persons. By. degree, is understood the state or condition of a person. The ancient English statute of additions, for example, requires that in process, for the better description of a defendant, his state, degree, or mystery, shall be mentioned.
Degree, () descents. This word is derived from the French degre, which is itself taken from the Latin gradus, and signifies literally, a step in a stairway, or the round of a ladder.
Degree, () Figuratively applied, and as it is understood in law, it is the distance between those who are allied by blood; it means the relations descending from a common ancestor, from generation to generation, as by so many steps. Hence, according to some Lexicographers, we obtain the word, pedigree (q.v.) Par degrez, by degree, the descent being reckoned par degrez. Minshew. Each generation lengthens the line of descent one degree, for the degrees are only the generations marked in a line by small circles or squares, in which the names of the persons forming it are written. Vide Consanguinity;, Line; and also Ayliffe's Parergon, 209; Toull. Dr. Civ.
Frau. liv. 3, t. 1, c. 3, n. 158; Aso & Man. Inst. B. 2, t. 4, c. 3, Sec. 1.
Degu (n.) (Zool.) A small South American rodent ({Octodon Cumingii), of the family Octodontidae.
Degust (v. t.) To taste. [Obs.] --Cockeram.
Degust (v.) Taste with relish; "degust this wonderful soup".
Degustation (n.) (Physiol.) Tasting; the appreciation of sapid qualities by the taste organs. -- Bp. Hall.
Degustation (n.) Taking a small amount into the mouth to test its quality; "cooking was fine but it was the savoring that he enjoyed most" [syn: tasting, savoring, savouring, relishing, degustation].
Dehisce (v. i.) To gape; to open by dehiscence.
Dehisce (v.) Burst or split open; "flowers dehisce when they release pollen".
Dehiscence (n.) The act of gaping.
Dehiscence (n.) (Biol.) A gaping or bursting open along a definite line of attachment or suture, without tearing, as in the opening of pods, or the bursting of capsules at maturity so as to emit seeds, etc.; also, the bursting open of follicles, as in the ovaries of animals, for the expulsion of their contents.
Dehiscence (n.) (Biology) Release of material by splitting open of an organ or tissue; the natural bursting open at maturity of a fruit or other reproductive body to release seeds or spores or the bursting open of a surgically closed wound.
Dehiscent (a.) Characterized by dehiscence; opening in some definite way, as the capsule of a plant.
Dehiscent (a.) (Of e.g. fruits and anthers) opening spontaneously at maturity to release seeds [ant: indehiscent].
Dehonestate (v. t.) To disparage. [Obs.]
Dehonestation (n.) A dishonoring; disgracing. [Obs.] -- Gauden.
Dehorned (imp. & p. p.) of Dehorn
Dehorning (p. pr. & vb. n.) of Dehorn
Dehorn (v. t.) To deprive of horns; to prevent the growth of the horns of (cattle) by burning their ends soon after they start. See Dishorn. "Dehorning cattle." -- Farm Journal (1886).
Dehorn (v.) Prevent the growth of horns of certain animals.
Dehorn (v.) Take the horns off (an animal).
Dehors (prep.) (Law) Out of; without; foreign to; out of the agreement, record, will, or other instrument.
Dehors (n.) (Mil.) All sorts of outworks in general, at a distance from the main works; any advanced works for protection or cover. -- Farrow.
Dehors. () Out of; without. By this word is understood something out of the record, agreement, will, or other thing spoken of; something foreign to the matter in question.
Dehorted (imp. & p. p.) of Dehort
Dehorting (p. pr. & vb. n.) of Dehort
Dehort (v. t.) To urge to abstain or refrain; to dissuade. [Obs.]
The apostles vehemently dehort us from unbelief. -- Bp. Ward.
"Exhort" remains, but dehort, a word whose place neither "dissuade" nor any other exactly supplies, has escaped us. -- Trench.
Dehortation (n.) Dissuasion; advice against something. [R.]
Dehortative (a.) Dissuasive. [R.]
Dehortatory (a.) Fitted or designed to dehort or dissuade. -- Bp. Hall.
Dehorter (n.) A dissuader; an adviser to the contrary. [Obs.]
Dehumanize (v. t.) To divest of human qualities, such as pity, tenderness, etc.; as, dehumanizing influences.
Dehumanize (v.) Deprive of human qualities; "Life in poverty has dehumanized them" [syn: dehumanize, dehumanise] [ant: humanise, humanize].
Dehumanize (v.) Make mechanical or routine [syn: dehumanize, dehumanise].
Dehusk (v. t.) To remove the husk from. [Obs.] "Wheat dehusked upon the floor." -- Drant.
Dehydrate (v. t.) To deprive of water; to render free from water; as, to dehydrate alcohol ; to dehydrate food for preservation.
Dehydrate (v. i.) To lose water or moisture.
Dehydrate (v. i.) To lose sufficent water to cause physiological distress; -- of living organisms; as, victims trapped in the earthquake rubble may dehydrate if not found quickly.
Dehydrate (v.) Preserve by removing all water and liquids from; "carry dehydrated food on your camping trip" [syn: dehydrate, desiccate].
Dehydrate (v.) 2: Remove water from; "All this exercise and sweating has dehydrated me" [syn: dehydrate, desiccate].
Dehydrate (v.) Lose water or moisture; "In the desert, you get dehydrated very quickly" [syn: exsiccate, dehydrate, dry up, desiccate] [ant: hydrate].
Dehydration (n.) (Chem.) The act or process of freeing from water; also, the condition of a body from which the water has been removed.
Dehydration (n.) Dryness resulting from the removal of water [syn: dehydration, desiccation].
Dehydration (n.) Depletion of bodily fluids.
Dehydration (n.) The process of extracting moisture [syn: dehydration, desiccation, drying up, evaporation].
Dehydrogenate (v. t.) (Chem.) To deprive of, or free from, hydrogen.
Dehydrogenate (v.) Remove hydrogen from [ant: hydrogenate].
Dehydrogenation (n.) (Chem.) The act or process of freeing from hydrogen; also, the condition resulting from the removal of hydrogen.
Deicide (n.) The act of killing a being of a divine nature; particularly, the putting to death of Jesus Christ. [R.]
Earth profaned, yet blessed, with deicide. -- Prior.
Deicide (n.) One concerned in putting Christ to death.
Deictic (a.) (Logic) Direct; proving directly; -- applied to reasoning, and opposed to elenchtic or refutative.
Deictic (a.) (Grammar) showing or pointing to directly; pertaining to deixis; -- used to designate words that specify identity, location, or time from the perspective of one of the participants in a discourse, using the surrounding context as reference; as, the words this, that, these, those, here, there, now, then, we, you, they, the former, and the latter serve a deictic function.
Deictic (a.) Relating to or characteristic of a word whose reference depends on the circumstances of its use; "deictic pronouns".
Deictic (n.) A word specifying identity or spatial or temporal location from the perspective of a speaker or hearer in the context in which the communication occurs; "words that introduce particulars of the speaker's and hearer's shared cognitive field into the message"- R.Rommetveit [syn: deictic, deictic word].
Deictically (adv.) In a manner to show or point out; directly; absolutely; definitely.
When Christ spake it deictically. -- Hammond. Deific
Deific (a.) Alt. of Deifical
Deifical (a.) Making divine; producing a likeness to God; god-making. "A deifical communion." --Homilies.
Deific (a.) Characterized by divine or godlike nature.
Deification (n.) The act of deifying; exaltation to divine honors; apotheosis; excessive praise.
Deification (n.) The condition of being treated like a god.
Deification (n.) An embodiment of the qualities of a god; "the capitalists' deification of capital".
Deification (n.) The elevation of a person (as to the status of a god) [syn: deification, exaltation, apotheosis].
Deify (v. t.) [imp. & p. p. Deified; p. pr. & vb. n. Deifying.] To make a god of; to exalt to the rank of a deity; to enroll among the deities; to apotheosize; as, Julius C[ae]sar was deified.
Deify (v. t.) To praise or revere as a deity; to treat as an object of supreme regard; as, to deify money.
He did again so extol and deify the pope. -- Bacon.
Deify (v. t.) To render godlike.
By our own spirits are we deified. -- Wordsworth.
Deified (a.) Honored or worshiped as a deity; treated with supreme regard; godlike.
Deifier (n.) One who deifies.
Deiform (a.) Godlike, or of a godlike form. -- Dr. H. More.
Deiform (a.) Conformable to the will of God. [R.] -- Bp. Burnet.
Deiformity (n.) Likeness to deity. [Obs.]
Deified (imp. & p. p.) of Deify
Deifying (p. pr. & vb. n.) of Deify
Deify (v. t.) To make a god of; to exalt to the rank of a deity; to enroll among the deities; to apotheosize; as, Julius Caesar was deified.
Deify (v. t.) To praise or revere as a deity; to treat as an object of supreme regard; as, to deify money.
He did again so extol and deify the pope. -- Bacon.
Deify (v. t.) To render godlike.
By our own spirits are we deified. -- Wordsworth. Deify
Deify (v.) Consider as a god or godlike; "These young men deify financial success".
Deify (v.) Exalt to the position of a God; "the people deified their King".
Deigned (imp. & p. p.) of Deign
Deigning (p. pr. & vb. n.) of Deign
Deign (v. t.) To esteem worthy;
to consider worth notice; -- opposed to disdain. [Obs.]
I fear my Julia would not deign my lines. -- Shak.
Deign (v. t.) To condescend to give or bestow; to stoop to furnish; to vouchsafe; to allow; to grant.
Nor would we deign him burial of his men. -- Shak.
Deign (v. i.) To think worthy; to vouchsafe; to condescend; -- followed by an infinitive.
O deign to visit our forsaken seats. -- Pope.
Yet not Lord Cranstone deigned she greet. -- Sir W. Scott.
Round turned he, as not deigning Those craven ranks to see. -- Macaulay.
Note: In early English deign was often used impersonally.
Him deyneth not to set his foot to ground. -- Chaucer.
Deign (v.) Do something that one considers to be below one's dignity [syn: condescend, deign, descend].
Deignous (a.) Haughty; disdainful. [Obs.] -- Chaucer.
Deil (n.) Devil; -- spelt also deel. [Scot.]
Deil's buckie. See under Buckie.
Deinoceras (n.) [NL.] (Paleon.) See Dinoceras.
Deinornis (n.) [NL.] (Paleon.) See Dinornis.
Dinornis (n.) (Paleon.) A genus of extinct, ostrichlike birds of gigantic size, which formerly inhabited New Zealand. See Moa. [Written also Deinornis.] Dinosaur
Deinosaur (n.) [NL.] (Paleon.) See Dinosaur.
Dinosaur, Dinosaurian (n.) (Paleon.) One of the Dinosauria. [Written also deinosaur, and deinosaurian.]
Deinotherium (n.) [NL.] (Paleon.) See Dinotherium.
Deinotherium (n.) An extinct pachyderm that flourished when the Pterodactyl was in fashion. The latter was a native of Ireland, its name being pronounced Terry Dactyl or Peter O'Dactyl, as the man pronouncing it may chance to have heard it spoken or seen it printed.
Deintegrate (v. t.) To disintegrate. [Obs.] Deinteous
Deinteous (a.) Alt. of Deintevous
Deintevous (a.) Rare; excellent; costly. [Obs.] -- Chaucer.
Deiparous (a.) Bearing or bringing forth a god; -- said of the Virgin Mary. [Obs.] -- Bailey.
Deipnosophist (n.) 餐桌上的健談者 One of an ancient sect of philosophers, who cultivated learned conversation at meals.
Deipnosophist (n.) Someone skilled at informal chitchat.
Deipnosophist (n.) A person who is an adept conversationalist at a meal.
Deipnosophist (n.) Someone who is skilled in table talk.
Deipnosophist comes from the title of a work written by the Greek Athenaeus in about 228 AD, Deipnosophistai, in which a number of wise men sit at a dinner table and discuss a wide range of topics. It is derived from deipnon, "dinner" + sophistas, "a clever or wise man."
Deis (n.) See Dais.
Deism (n.) The doctrine or creed of a deist; the belief or system of those who acknowledge the existence of one God, but deny revelation.
Note: Deism is the belief in natural religion only, or those truths, in doctrine and practice, which man is to discover by the light of reason, independent of any revelation from God. Hence, deism implies infidelity, or a disbelief in the divine origin of the Scriptures.
Deism (n.) The form of theological rationalism that believes in God on the basis of reason without reference to revelation [syn: deism, free thought].
Deist (n.) One who believes in the existence of a God, but denies revealed religion; a freethinker.
Note: A deist, as denying a revelation, is opposed to a Christian; as, opposed to the denier of a God, whether atheist or pantheist, a deist is generally denominated theist. -- Latham.
Syn: See Infidel. Deistic
Deist (a.) Of or relating to deism [syn: deist, deistic].
Deist (n.) A person who believes that God created the universe and then abandoned it [syn: deist, freethinker].
Deistic (a.) Alt. of Deistical
Deistical (a.) Pertaining to, savoring of, or consisting in, deism; as, a deistic writer; a deistical book.
The deistical or antichristian scheme. -- I. Watts.
Deistic (a.) Of or relating to deism [syn: deist, deistic].
Deistically (adv.) After the manner of deists.
Deisticalness (n.) State of being deistical.
Deitate (a.) Deified. [Obs.] -- Cranmer.
Deities (n. pl. ) of Deity
Deity (n.) The collection of attributes which make up the nature of a god; divinity; godhead; as, the deity of the Supreme Being is seen in his works.
They declared with emphasis the perfect deity and the perfect manhood of Christ. -- Mil
Deity (n.) A god or goddess; a heathen god.
To worship calves, the deities Of Egypt. -- Milton.
The Deity, God, the Supreme Being.
This great poet and philosopher [Simonides], the more he contemplated the nature of the Deity, found that he waded but the more out of his depth. -- Addison.
Deity (n.) Any supernatural being worshipped as controlling some part of the world or some aspect of life or who is the personification of a force [syn: deity, divinity, god, immortal].
Dejected (imp. & p. p.) of Deject
Dejecting (p. pr. & vb. n.) of Deject
Deject (v. t.) To cast down. [Obs. or Archaic]
Christ dejected himself even unto the hells. -- Udall.
Sometimes she dejects her eyes in a seeming civility; and many mistake in her a cunning for a modest look. -- Fuller.
Deject (v. t.) To cast down the spirits of; to dispirit; to discourage; to dishearten.
Nor think, to die dejects my lofty mind. -- Pope.
Deject (a.) Dejected. [Obs.]
Deject (v.) Lower someone's spirits; make
downhearted; "These news depressed her"; "The bad state of her
child's health demoralizes her" [syn: depress, deject, cast down,
get down, dismay, dispirit, demoralize, demoralise] [ant: elate,
intoxicate, lift up, pick up, uplift].
Dejecta (n. pl.) Excrements; as,
the dejecta of the sick.
Deject (v. t.) [imp. & p. p. Dejected; p. pr. & vb. n. Dejecting.] To cast down. [Obs. or Archaic]
Christ dejected himself even unto the hells. -- Udall.
Sometimes she dejects her eyes in a seeming civility; and many mistake in her a cunning for a modest look. -- Fuller.
Deject (v. t.) To cast down the spirits of; to dispirit; to discourage; to dishearten.
Nor think, to die dejects my lofty mind. -- Pope.
Dejected (a.) Cast down; afflicted; low-spirited; sad; as, a dejected look or countenance. -- De*ject"ed*ly, adv. -- De*ject"ed*ness, n.
Dejected (a.) Affected or marked by low spirits; "is dejected but trying to look cheerful" [ant: elated].
Dejecter (n.) One who casts down, or dejects.
Dejection (n.) 沮喪，灰心，洩氣[U]；【醫】排糞；排泄物 A casting down; depression. [Obs. or Archaic] -- Hallywell.
Dejection (n.) The act of humbling or abasing one's self.
Adoration implies submission and dejection. -- Bp. Pearson.