DAB'BLE, verb transitive [Heb. tabal, or from the root of dip. See dip.] Literally, to dip a little or often; hence, to wet; to moisten; to spatter; to wet by little dips or strokes; to sprinkle.

DAB'BLE, verb intransitive

1. To play in water; to dip the hands, throw water and splash about; to play in mud and water.

2. To do any thing in a slight or superficial manner; to tamper; to touch here and there.

You have, I think, been dabbling with the text.

Atterbury.

3. To meddle; to dip into a concern.

DAB'BLER, noun

1. One who plays in water or mud.

2. One who dips slightly into any thing; one who meddles, without going to the bottom; a superficial meddler; as a dabbler in politics.

DAB'BLING, participle present tense Dipping superficially or often; playing in water, or in mud; meddling.

DAB'CHICK, noun [dab or dip and chick.] A small water-fowl.

DABSTER, noun One who is skilled; one who is expert; a master of his business.

DACE, noun A fish, the Cyprinus leuciscus; a small river fish, resembling the roach.

DACTYL, noun [Gr. A finger; Latin probably a shoot.] A poetical foot consisting of three syllables, the first long, and the others short, like the joints of a finger; as, tegmine, carmine.

DACTYLAR, adjective Pertaining to a dactyl; reducing from three to two syllables.

DACTYLET, noun A dactyl.

DAC'TYLIC, adjective Pertaining to or consisting of dactyls; as dactylic verses; a dactylic flute, a flute consisting of unequal intervals.

DAC'TYLIST, noun One who writes flowing verse.

DACTYLOL'OGY, noun The act or the art of communicating ideas or thoughts by the fingers. Deaf and dumb persons acquire a wonderful dexterity in this art.

DAD

DAD'DLE, verb intransitive To walk with tottering, like a child or an old man.

DAD'DLE, v.i. To walk with tottering, like a child or an old man.

DADDY, noun Father; a word used by infants, from whom it is taken. The first articulations of infants or young children are dental of labial; dental, in tad, dad, and labial, in mamma, papa.

DADE, verb transitive To hold up by leading strings.

D'ADO, noun The plain part of a column between the base and the cornice; the die; a cubical base of a column.

DAE'DAL, adjective [Gr., an ingenious artist.]

1. Various; variegated.

2. Skilful.

DAEDALIAN, [See Dedalian]

DAFF, or DAFFE, A stupid blockish fellow.

DAFF, verb transitive To daunt.

DAFF, verb transitive To toss aside; to put off.

DAF'FODIL, noun A plant of the genus Narcissus, of several species. These have a bulbous root, and beautiful flowers of various colors, white, yellow and purple.

DAG, noun A dagger; a hand-gun; a pistol.

DAG, noun Dew.

DAG, noun

1. a loose end, as of locks of wool; called also dag-locks.

2. A leather latchet.

DAG, verb transitive

1. To daggle.

2. To cut into slips.

DAG'GER, noun

1. A short sword; a poniard.

2. In fencing schools, a blunt blade of iron with a basket hilt, used for defense.

3. With printers, and obelisk, or obelus, a mark of reference in the form of a dagger

DAGGER, verb transitive To pierce with a dagger; to stab.

DAG'GLE, verb transitive To trail in mud or wet grass; to befoul; to dirty, as the lower end of a garment.

DAG'GLE, verb intransitive To run through mud and water.

DAG'GLED, participle passive Dipped or trailed in mud or foul water; befouled.

DAG'GLING, participle present tense Drawing along in mud or foul water.

DAG'-SWAIN, noun A kind of carpet.

DAG'-TAILED, adjective The same as daggle-tail; trailed in mud.

DA'ILY, adjective Happening or being every day; done day by day; bestowed or enjoyed every day; as daily labor; a daily allowance.

Give us this day our daily bread. [Lord's Prayer]

DA'ILY, adverb Every day; day by day; as, a thing happen daily

DA'INTILY, adverb

1. Nicely; elegantly; as a hat daintily made.

2. Nicely; fastidiously; with nice regard to what is well tasted; as, to eat daintily

3. Deliciously; as, to fare daintily

4. Ceremoniously; scrupulously.

DA'INTINESS, noun

1. Delicacy; softness; elegance; nicety; as the daintiness of the limbs.

2. Delicacy; deliciousness; applied to food; as the daintiness of provisions.

3. Nicety in taste; squeamishness; fastidiousness; as the daintiness of the taste.

4. Ceremoniousness; scrupulousness; nice attention to manners.

DA'INTREL, noun A delicacy.

DA'INTY, adjective

1. Nice; pleasing to the palate; of exquisite taste; delicious; as dainty food.

2. Delicate; of acute sensibility; nice in selecting what is tender and good; squeamish; soft; luxurious; as a dainty taste or palate; a dainty people.

3. Scrupulous in manners; ceremonious.

4. Elegant; tender; soft; pure; neat; effeminately beautiful; as dainty hands or limbs.

5. Nice; affectedly fine; as a dainty speaker.

DA'INTY, noun

1. Something nice and delicate to the taste; that which is exquisitely delicious; a delicacy.

Be not desirous of dainties, for they are deceitful meat. Proverbs 23:3

2. A term of fondness.

Why, that's my dainty Shak.

DA'IRY, noun

1. Milk, and all that concerns it, on a farm; or the business of managing milk, and of making butter and cheese. The whole establishment respecting milk, in a family, or on a farm.

2. The place, room or house, where milk is set for cream, managed, and converted into butter or cheese.

3. Milk-farm.

DA'IRYHOUSE, or DAIRYROOM, noun A house or room appropriated to the management of milk.

DA'IRYMAID, noun A female servant whose business is to manage milk.

DA'ISIED, adjective Full of daisies; adorned with daisies.

DA'ISY, noun A plant of the genus Bellis, of several varieties. The blue daisy belongs to the genus Globularia, as does the globe daisy; the greater or ox-eye daisy belongs to the genus Chrysanthemum; and the middle daisy to the Doronicum.

DA'KIR, noun In English statutes, ten hides, or the twentieth part of a last of hides.

DALE, noun A low place between hills; a vale or valley.

DAL'LIANCE, noun

1. Literally, delay; a lingering; appropriately, acts of fondness; interchange of caresses; toying, as males and females; as youthful dalliance

2. Conjugal embraces; commerce of the sexes.

3. Delay.

DAL'LIER, noun One who fondles; a trifler; as a dallier with pleasant words.

DAL'LING, participle present tense Delaying; procrastinating; trifling; wasting time in idle amusement; toying; fondling.

DAL'LY, verb intransitive

1. Literally, to delay; to linger; to wait. Hence.

2. To trifle; to lose time in idleness and trifles; to amuse one's self with idle play.

It is madness to dally any longer. Calamy.

3. To toy and wanton, as man and woman; to interchange caresses; to fondle.

4. To sport; to play.

She dallies with the wind. Shak.

DAL'LY, verb transitive To delay; to defer; to put off; to amuse till a proper opportunity; as, to dally off the time.

DAM, noun

1. A female parent; used of beasts, particularly of quadrupeds.

2. A human mother, in contempt.

3. A crowned man in the game of draughts.

DAM, noun A mole, bank or mound of earth, or any wall, or a frame of wood, raised to obstruct a current of water, and to raise it, for the purpose of driving millwheels, or for other purposes. Any work that stops and confines water in a pond or bason, or causes it to rise.

DAM, verb transitive

1. To make a dam or to stop a stream of water by a bank of earth, or by any other work; to confine or shut in water. It is common to use, after the verb, in, up, or out; as, to dam in, or to dam up, the water, and to dam out is to prevent water from entering.

2. To confine or restrain from escaping; to shut in.

DAM'AGE, noun [This word seems to be allied to the Greek, a fine or mulet.]

1. Any hurt, injury or harm to one's estate; any loss of property sustained; any hinderance to the increase of property; or any obstruction to the success of an enterprise. A man suffers damage by the destruction of his corn, by the burning of his house, by the detention of a ship which defeats a profitable voyage, or by the failure of a profitable undertaking. damage then is any actual loss, or the prevention of profit. It is usually and properly applied to property, but sometimes to reputation and other things which are valuable. But in the latter case, injury is more correctly used.

2. The value of what is lost; the estimated equivalent for detriment or injury sustained; that which is given or adjudged to repair a loss. This is the legal signification of the word. It is the province of a jury to assess damages in trespass. In this sense, the word is generally used in the plural.

DAM'AGE, verb transitive To hurt or harm; to injure; to impair; to lessen the soundness, goodness or value of. Rain may damage corn or hay; a storm may damage a ship; a house is often damaged by fire, when it is not destroyed; heavy rains damage roads.

DAM'AGE, verb intransitive To receive harm; to be injured or impaired in soundness, or value; as, green corn will damage in a mow or stack.

DAM'AGEABLE, adjective

1. That may be injured or impaired; susceptible of damage; as damageable goods.

2. Hurtful; pernicious.

DAM'AGED, participle passive Hurt; impaired; injured.

DAM'AGING, participle present tense Injuring; impairing.

DAM'ASCENE, noun

1. A particular kind of plum, now pronounced damson, which see.

2. It may be locally applied to other species of plums.

DAM'ASK, noun

1. A silk stuff, having some parts raised above the ground, representing flowers and other figures; originally from Damascus.

2. A kind of wrought linen, made in Flanders, in imitation of damask silks.

3. Red color, from the damask-rose.

Damask-steel, is a fine steel from the Levant, chiefly from Damascus, used for sword and cutlas blades.

DAM'ASK, verb transitive

1. To form flowers on stuffs; also, to variegate; to diversify; as, a bank damasked with flowers.

2. To adorn steel-work with figures. [See Damaskeen]

DAMASKEE'NED, participle passive Carved into figures and inlaid with gold or silver wire.

DAMASKEE'NING, participle present tense Engraving and adorning with gold or silver wire inlaid.

DAMASKEE'NING, noun The act or art of beautifying iron or steel, by engraving and inlaying it with gold or silver wire. This art partakes of the mosaic, of engraving, and of carving. Like the mosaic, it has inlaid work; like engraving, it cuts the metal into figures; and as in chasing, gold and silver is wrought in relievo.

DAM'ASKEN or DAM'ASKEEN, verb transitive To make incisions in iron, steel, etc., and fill them with gold or silver wire, for ornament; used chiefly for adorning swordblades, guards, locks of pistols, etc.

DAM'ASKIN, noun A saber, so called from the manufacture of Damascus.

DAME, noun [Gr., to subdue] Literally, a mistress; hence, a lady; a title of honor to a woman. It is now generally applied to the mistress of a family in the common ranks of life; as is its compound, madam. In poetry, it is applied to a woman of rank, In short, it is applied with propriety to any woman who is or has been the mistress of a family, and it sometimes comprehends women in general.

DA'MIANISTS, in church history, a sect who denied any distinction in the Godhead; believing in one single nature, yet calling God, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

DAMN, verb transitive

1. To sentence to eternal torments in a future state; to punish in hell.

2. To condemn; to decide to be wrong or worthy of punishment; to censure; to reprobate.

He that doubteth is damned if he eat. Romans 14:23

3. To condemn; to explode; to decide to be bad, mean, or displeasing, be hissing or any mark of disapprobation; as, to damn a play, or a mean author.

4. A word used in profaneness; a term of execration.

DAM'NABLE, adjective

1. That may be damned or condemned; deserving damnation; worthy of eternal punishment. More generally, that which subjects or renders liable to damnation.

As damnable heresies. 2 Peter 2:1.

2. In a low or ludicrous sense, odious, detestable, or pernicious.

DAM'NABLENESS, noun The state or quality of deserving damnation.

DAM'NABLY, adverb

1. In a manner to incur eternal punishment, or so as to exclude mercy.

2. In a low sense, odiously; detestably; sometimes, excessively.

DAMNA'TION, noun

1. Sentence or condemnation to everlasting punishment in the future state; or the state of eternal torments.

How can ye escape the damnation of hell. Matt.

xxiii

2. Condemnation.

DAM'NATORY, adjective Containing a sentence of condemnation.

DAM'NED, participle passive

1. Sentenced to everlasting punishment in a future state; condemned.

2. adjective Hateful; detestable; abominable;

A word chiefly used in profaneness by persons of vulgar manners.

DAMNIF'IC, adjective Procuring loss; mischievous.

DAM'NIFIED, participle passive Injured; endamaged.

DAM'NIFY, verb transitive

1. To cause loss or damage to; to hurt in estate or interest; to injure; to endamage; as, to damnify a man in his goods or estate.

2. To hurt; to injure; to impair; applied to a person.

DAM'NIFYING, participle present tense Hurting; injuring; impairing.

DAM'NING, participle present tense

1. Dooming to endless punishment; condemning.

2. adjective That condemns or exposes to damnation; as a damning sin.

DAM'NINGNESS, noun Tendency to bring damnation.

DAMP, adjective

1. Moist; humid; being in a state between dry and wet; as a damp cloth; damp air; sometimes, foggy; as, the atmosphere is damp; but it may be damp without visible vapor.

2. Dejected; sunk; depressed; chilled.

DAMP, noun

1. Moist air; humidity; moisture; fog.

2. Dejection; depression of spirits; chill. We say, to strike a damp or to cast a damp on the spirits.

3. Damps. plural Noxious exhalations issuing from the earth, and deleterious or fatal to animal life. These are often known to exist in wells, which continue long covered and not used, and in mines and coal-pits; and sometimes they issue from the old lavas of volcanoes. These damps are usually the carbonic acid gas, vulgarly called choke-damp, which instantly suffocates; or some inflammable gas, called fire-damp.

DAMP, verb transitive

1. To moisten; to make humid, or moderately wet.

2. To chill; to deaden; to depress or deject; to abate; as, to damp the spirits; to damp the ardor of passion.

3. To weaken; to make dull; as, to damp sound.

4. To check or restrain, as action or vigor; to make languid; to discourage; as, to damp industry.

DAMP'ED, participle passive Chilled; depressed; abated; weakened; checked; discouraged.

DAMP'ER, noun

1. That which damps or checks; a valve or sliding plate in a furnace to stop or lessen the quantity of air admitted, and thus to regulate the heat or extinguish the fire.

2. A part of a piano-forte, by which the sound is deadened.

DAMP'ING, participle present tense Chilling; deadening; dejecting; abating; checking; weakening.

DAMP'ISH, adjective Moderately damp, or moist.

DAMP'ISHNESS, noun A moderate degree of dampness, or moistness; slight humidity.

DAMP'NESS, noun Moisture; fogginess; moistness; moderate humidity; as the dampness of the air, of the ground, or of a cloth.

DAMPS, noun [See Damp]

DAMP'Y, adjective Dejected; gloomy.

DAM'SEL, noun A young woman. Formerly, a young man or woman of noble or genteel extraction; as damsel Pepin; damsel Richard, prince of Wales. It is now used only of young women, and is applied to any class of young unmarried women, unless to the most vulgar, and sometimes to country girls.

With her train of damsels she was gone. Dryden.

Then Boaz said, whose damsel is this? Ruth 2:5.

This word is rarely used in conversation, or even in prose writings of the present day; but it occurs frequently in the scriptures, and in poetry.

DAM'SON, noun The fruit of a variety of the Prunus domestica; a small black plum.

DAN, noun A title of honor equivalent to master; used by Shakspeare, Prior, etc., but now obsolete.

D'ANCE, verb intransitive

1. Primarily, to leap or spring; hence, to leap or move with measured steps, regulated by a tune, sung or played on a musical instrument; to leap or step with graceful motions of the body, corresponding with the sound of the voice or an instrument.

There is a time to mourn, and a time to dance

Ecclesiastes 3:4

2. To leap and frisk about; to move nimbly or up and down.

To dance attendance, to wait with obsequiousness; to strive to please and gain favor by assiduous attentions and officious civilities; as, to dance attendance at court.

D'ANCE, verb transitive To make to dance; to move up and down, or back and forth; to dandle; as, to dance a child on the knee.

D'ANCE, noun

1. In general sense, a leaping and frisking about. Appropriately, a leaping or stepping with motions of the body adjusted to the measure of a tune, particularly by two or more in concert. A lively brisk exercise or amusement, in which the movements of the persons are regulated by art, in figure, and by the sound of instruments, in measure.

2. A tune by which dancing is regulated, as the minuet, the waltz, the cotillon, etc.

D'ANCER, noun One who practices dancing, or is skilful in the performance.

D'ANCING, participle present tense Leaping and stepping to the sound of the voice or of an instrument; moving in measured steps; frisking about.

DAN'DELION, noun A well known plant of the genus Leontodon, having a naked stalk, with one large flower.

DAN'DIPRAT, noun A fellow; an urchin; a word of fondness or contempt.

DAN'DLE, verb transitive

1. To shake or jolt on the knee, as an infant; to move up and down in the hand; literally, to amuse by play.

Ye shall be dandled on her knees. Isaiah 66:12.

2. To fondle; to amuse; to treat as a child; to toy with.

I am ashamed to be dandled thus. Addison.

3. To delay; to protract by trifles.

DAN'DLED, participle passive Danced on the knee, or in the arms; fondled; amused by trifles or play.

DAN'DLER, noun One who dandles or fondles children.

DAN'DLING, participle present tense Shaking and jolting on the knee; moving about in play or for amusement, as an infant.

DANDRUFF, noun A scurf which forms on the head, and comes off in small scales or particles.

DAN'DY, noun In modern usage, a male of the human species, who dresses himself like a doll and who carries his character on his back.

DAN'DYISM, noun The manners and dress of a dandy.

DANE, noun A native of Denmark.

DA'NEGELT, noun In England, an annual tax formerly laid on the English nation, for maintaining forces to oppose the Danes, or to furnish tribute to procure peace. It was at first one shilling, and afterwards two, for every hide of land, except such as belonged to the church.

DA'NEWORT, noun A plant of the genus Sambucus; a species of elder, called dwarf-elder or wall-wort.

DANGER, noun Peril; risk; hazard; exposure to injury, loss, pain or other evil.

Our craft is in danger to be set at nought. Acts 19:27.

It is easy to boast of despising death, when there

is no danger

DANGER, verb transitive To put in hazard; to expose to loss or injury.

DANGERLESS, adjective Free from danger; without risk.

DANGEROUS, adjective

1. Perilous; hazardous; exposing to loss; unsafe; full of risk; as a dangerous voyage; a dangerous experiment.

2. Creating danger; causing risk of evil; as a dangerous man; a dangerous conspiracy.

DANGEROUSLY, adverb With danger; with risk of evil; with exposure to injury or ruin; hazardously; perilously; as, to be dangerously sick; dangerously situated.

DANGEROUSNESS, noun Danger; hazard; peril; a state of being exposed to evil; as the dangerousness of condition, of disease.

DAN'GLE, verb intransitive

1. To hang loose, flowing, shaking or waving; to hang and swing.

He'd rather on a gibbet dangle Hudibras.

2. To hang on any one; to be a humble, officious follower; with after or about; as, to dangle about a woman; to dangle after a minister for favors.

DAN'GLER, noun One who dangles or hangs about.

DAN'GLING, participle present tense Hanging loosely; busily or officiously adhering to.

DA'NISH, noun The language of the Danes.

DANK, adjective Damp; moist; humid; wet.

DANK, noun Moisture; humidity.

DANK'ISH, adjective Somewhat damp.

DANK'ISHNESS, noun Dampness; humidity.

DA'OURITE, noun A mineral, called rubellite, resembling shorl, but differing from it in chimical characters. Its color is red of various shades.

DAP, verb intransitive To drop or let fall into the water; a word used by anglers.

DAPH'NATE, noun A compound of the bitter principle of the Daphne Alpina with a base.

DAPH'NIN, noun The bitter principle of the Daphne Alpina, discovered by Vauquelin. It is obtained in small crystals, hard, transparent, of a grayish color and a bitter taste.

DAP'IFER, noun One who brings meat to the table. Formerly, the title or office of the grand-master of a king's household. It still subsists in Germany.

DAP'PER, adjective Active; nimble; brisk; or little and active; neat; tight; as a dapper fellow; a dapper spark.

DAP'PERLING, noun A dwarf; a dandiprat.

DAP'PLE, adjective Marked with spots; spotted; variegated with spots of different colors or shades of color, as a dapple-bay or dapple-gray; applied to a horse or other beast. It may sometimes express streaked, but this is not its true signification.

DAP'PLE, verb transitive To spot; to variegate with spots.

The gentle day dapples the drowsy east with spots

of gray. Shak.

The dapples pink, and blushing rose. Prior.

DAP'PLED, participle passive Spotted; variegated with spots of different colors or shades of color.

DAP'PLING, participle present tense Variegating with spot.

DAR or DART, noun A fish found in the Severn.

DARE, verb intransitive preterit tense durst. To have courage to any purpose; to have strength of mind or hardihood to undertake anything; to be bold enough; not to be afraid; to venture; to be adventurous.

I dare do all that may become a man. Shak.

DARE any of you go to law before the unjust? 1

Cor. vi

None of his disciples durst ask him, who art thou.

John 21:1

In this intransitive sense, dare is not generally followed by the sign to before another verb in the infinitive; though to may be used with propriety. In German, the verb is numbered among the auxiliaries. In the transitive form, it is regular; thus,

DARE, verb transitive preterit tense and participle passive dared. To challenge; to provoke; to defy; as, to dare a man to fight.

Time, I dare thee to discover such a youth and

such a lover. Dryden.

To dare larks, to catch them by means of a looking glass, or by keeping a bird of prey hovering aloft, which keeps them in amaze till caught; to terrify or amaze.

DARE, Defiance; challenge.

DARE, noun A small fish, the same as the dace.

DA'RED, participle passive Challenged; defied.

DA'REFUL, adjective Full of defiance.

DA'RER, noun One who dares or defies.

DAR'IC, noun A gold coin of Darius the Mede, value about 556 cents.

DA'RING, participle present tense

1. Having courage sufficient for a purpose; challenging; defying.

2. adjective Bold; courageous; intrepid; fearless; adventurous; brave; stout.

Grieve not, O daring prince, that noble heart.

Pope.

3. Audacious; impudently bold and defying; as in heaven-daring, defying Almighty power.

DA'RINGLY, adverb Boldly; courageously; fearlessly; impudently.

The principles of our holy religion are daringly

attacked from the press. Anon.

DA'RINGNESS, noun Boldness; courageousness; audaciousness.

D'ARK, adjective

1. Destitute of light; obscure. A dark atmosphere is one which prevents vision.

2. Wholly or partially black; having the quality opposite to white; as a dark color or substance.

3. Gloomy; disheartening; having unfavorable prospects; as a dark time in political affairs.

There is in every true woman's heart a spark of

heavenly fire, which beams and blazes in the dark

hour of adversity. Irving.

4. Obscure; not easily understood or explained; as a dark passage in an author; a dark saying.

5. Mysterious; as, the ways of Providence are often dark to human reason.

6. Not enlightened with knowledge; destitute of learning and science; rude; ignorant; as a dark age.

7. Not vivid; partially black. Leviticus 13:6

8. Blind.

9. Gloomy; not cheerful; as a dark temper.

10. Obscure; concealed; secret; not understood; as a dark design.

11. Unclean; foul.

12. Opake. But dark and opake are not synonymous. Chalk is opake, but not dark

13. Keeping designs concealed.

The dark unrelenting Tiberius. Gibbon.

D'ARK, noun

1. Darkness; obscurity; the absence of light. We say we can hear in the dark

Shall the wonders be known in the dark? Ps.

1xxxviii.

2. Obscurity; secrecy; a state unknown; as, things done in the dark

3. Obscurity; a state of ignorance; as, we are all in the dark

D'ARK, verb transitive

1. To make dark; to deprive of light; as, close the shutters and darken the room.

2. To obscure; to cloud.

His confidence seldom darkened his foresight.

Bacon.

3. To make black.

The locusts darkened the land. Exodus 10:1.

4. To make dim; to deprive of vision.

Let their eyes be darkened. Romans 11:10.

5. To render gloomy; as, all joy is darkened. Isaiah 24:1.

6. To deprive of intellectual vision; to render ignorant or stupid.

Their foolish heart was darkened. Romans 1:21.

Having the understanding darkened. Ephesians 4:1.

7. To obscure; to perplex; to render less clear or intelligible.

Who is this that darkeneth counsel by words

without knowledge? Job 38:1.

8. To render less white or clear; to tan; as, a burning sun darkens the complexion.

9. To sully; to make foul.

D'ARKEN, verb intransitive To grow dark or darker; also, to grow less white or clear.

D'ARKENED, participle passive Deprived of light; obscured; rendered dim; made black; made ignorant.

D'ARKENING, participle present tense Depriving of light; obscuring; making black or less white or clear; clouding.

D'ARKISH, adjective Dusky; somewhat dark.

D'ARKLING, adjective Being in the dark, or without light; a poetical word.

D'ARKLY, adverb Obscurely; dimly; blindly; uncertainly; with imperfect light, clearness or knowledge.

They learn only what tradition has darkly conveyed

to them. Anon.

D'ARKNESS, noun

1. Absence of light.

And darkness was on the face of the deep. Genesis 1:2.

2. Obscurity; want of clearness or perspicuity; that quality or state which renders any thing difficult to be understood; as the darkness of counsels.

3. A state of being intellectually clouded; ignorance.

Men loved darkness rather than light. John 3:19.

4. A private place; secrecy; privacy.

What I tell in darkness that speak ye in light.

Matthew 10:27.

5. Infernal gloom; hell; as utter darkness Matthew 22:13.

6. Great trouble and distress; calamities; perplexities.

A day of clouds and thick darkness Joel 2:2. Is.

viii.

7. Empire of Satan.

Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness

Colossians 1:13.

8. Opakeness.

Land of darkness the grave. Job 10:21.

D'ARKSOME, adjective Dark; gloomy; obscure; as a darksome house; a darksome cloud.

D'ARLING, adjective Dearly beloved; favorite; regarded with great kindness and tenderness; as a darling child; a darling science.

D'ARLING, noun One much beloved; a favorite; as, that son was the darling of his father.

D'ARN, verb transitive To mend a rent or hole, by imitating the texture of the cloth or stuff with yarn or thread and a needle; to sew together with yarn or thread. It is used particularly of stockings.

D'ARN, noun A place mended by darning.

D'ARNEL, noun A plant of the genus Lolium, a kind of grass; the most remarkable species are the red darnel or rye-grass, and the white darnel

D'ARNER, noun One who mends by darning.

D'ARNING, participle present tense Mending in imitation of the original texture; sewing together; as a torn stocking, or cloth.

D'ARNING, noun The act of mending, as a hole in a garment.

DAR'RAIN, verb transitive To prepare, or to order; or to try; to endeavor; to prove; to apply to the contest.

But for thou art a worthy gentil knight, and

wilnest to darraine hire by bataille.

D'ART, noun [Gr., a spear or lance.]

1. A pointed missile weapon to be thrown by the hand; a short lance.

2. Any missile weapon; that which pierces and wounds.

And from about her shot darts of desire.

D'ART, verb transitive

1. To throw a pointed instrument with a sudden thrust; as, to dart a javelin.

2. To throw suddenly or rapidly; to send; to emit; to shoot; applied to small objects, which pass with velocity; as, the sun darts his beams on the earth.

Or what ill eyes malignant glances dart Pope.

D'ART, verb intransitive

1. To fly or shoot, as a dart; to fly rapidly.

2. To spring and run with velocity; to start suddenly and run; as, the deer darted from the thicket.

D'ARTED, participle passive Thrown or hurled as a pointed instrument; sent with velocity.

D'ARTER, noun One who throws a dart.

D'ARTING, participle present tense Throwing, as a dart; hurling darts; flying rapidly.

DASH, verb transitive

1. To strike suddenly or violently, whether throwing or falling; as, to dash one stone against another.

Lest thou dash thy foot against a stone. Matthew 4:6

2. To strike and bruise or break; to break by collision; but usually with the words, in pieces.

Thou shalt dash them in pieces, as a potter's vessel. Psalms 2:9.

3. To throw water suddenly, in separate portions; as, to dash water on the head.

4. To bespatter; to sprinkle; as, to dash a garment.

5. To strike and break or disperse.

At once the brushing oars and brazen prow dash up the sandy waves, and open the depth below. Dryden.

6. To mix and reduce or adulterate by throwing in another substance; as, to dash wine with water; the story is dashed with fables.

7. To form or sketch out in haste, carelessly.

8. To erase at a stroke; to strike out to blot out or obliterate; as, to dash out a line or word.

9. To break; to destroy; to frustrate; as, to dash all their schemes and hopes.

10. To confound; to confuse; to put to shame; to abash; to depress by shame or fear; as, he was dashed at the appearance of the judge.

DASH the proud gamester in his gilded car. Pope.

DASH, verb intransitive

1. To strike, break, scatter and fly off; as, agitate water and it will dash over the sides of a vessel; the waves dashed over the side of the ship.

2. To rush, strike and break or scatter; as, the waters dash down the precipice.

3. To rush with violence, and break through; as, he dashed into the enemy's ranks; or he dashed through thick and thin.

DASH, noun

1. Collision; a violent striking of two bodies; as the dash of clouds.

2. Infusion; admixture; something thrown into another substance; as, the wine has a dash of water.

Innocence, with a dash of folly. Addison.

3. Admixture; as, red with a dash of purple.

4. a rushing, or onset with violence; as, to make a dash upon the enemy.

5. A sudden stroke; a blow; an act.

She takes upon her bravely at first dash Shak.

6. A flourish; blustering parade; as, the young fop made a dash

7. A mark or line in writing or printing, noting a break or stop in the sentence; as in Virgil, quos ego-:or a pause; or the division of the sentence.

DASH'ED, participle passive Struck violently; driven against; bruised, broken or scattered by collision; besprinkled; mixed or adulterated; erased, blotted out; broken; cast down; confounded; abashed.

DASH'ING, participle present tense

1. Driving and striking against; striking suddenly or violently; breaking or scattering by collision; infusing; mixing; confounding; blotting out; rushing.

2. adjective Rushing; driving; blustering; as a dashing fellow.

3. adjective Precipitate; rushing carelessly on.

DAS'TARD, noun A coward; a poltroon; one who meanly shrinks from danger.

DAS'TARD, adjective Cowardly; meanly shrinking from danger.

Curse on their dastard souls. Addison.

DAS'TARD, verb transitive To make cowardly; to intimidate; to dispirit.

DAS'TARDIZE, verb transitive To make cowardly.

DAS'TARDLINESS, noun Cowardliness.

DAS'TARDLY, Cowardly; meanly timid; base; sneaking.

DAS'TARDNESS, noun Cowardliness; mean timorousness.

DAS'TARDY, noun Cowardliness; base timidity.

DA'TA, noun plural Things given, or admitted; quantities, principles or facts given, known, or admitted, by which to find things or results unknown.

DA'TARY, noun

1. An officer of the chancery of Rome, who affixes the datum Roma to the pope's bulls.

2. The employment of a datary

DATE, noun

1. That addition to a writing which specifies the year, month and day when it was given or executed. In letters, it notes the time when they are written or sent; in deeds, contracts, wills and other papers, it specifies the time of execution, and usually the time from which they are to take effect and operate on the rights of persons. To the date is usually added the name of the place where a writing is executed, and this is sometimes included in the term date

2. The time when any event happened, when any thing was transacted, or when any thing is to be done; as the date of a battle; the date of Cesar's arrival in Britain.

3. End; conclusion.

What time would spare, from steel receives its

DATE. Pope.

4. Duration; continuance; as, ages of endless date

DATE, verb transitive

1. To write or note the time when a letter is written, or a writing executed; to express, in an instrument, the year, month and day of its execution, and usually the place; as, to date a letter, a bond, a deed, or a charter.

2. To note or fix the time of an event or transaction. Historians date the fulfillment of a prophecy at different periods.

3. To note the time when something begins; as, to date a disease or calamity from a certain cause.

DATE, verb intransitive

1. To reckon.

2. To begin; to have origin.

The Batavian republic dates from the successes of

the French arms. E. Everett.

DATE, noun The fruit of the great palm-tree, or date-tree, the Phoenix dactylifera. This fruit is somewhat in the shape of an acorn, composed of a thin light glossy membrane, somewhat pellucid and yellowish, containing a soft pulpy fruit, firm and sweet, esculent and wholesome, and in this is inclosed a hard kernel.

DA'TED, participle passive Having the time of writing or execution specified; having the time of happening noted.

DA'TELESS, adjective Having no date; having no fixed term.

DA'TER, noun One that dates.

DA'TING, participle present tense Expressing the time of writing or of executing a paper or instrument; noting the time of happening, or originating.

DA'TIVE, adjective In grammar, the epithet of the case of nouns, which usually follows verbs that express giving, or some act directed to am object. Thus, datur tibi, it is given to you; missum est illi, it was sent to him; fecit mihi, he made or did to or for me; loquebatur illis, he spoke to them. It also follows other words expressing something to be given to a person or for his benefit; as, utilis vobis, useful to you. In English, this relation is expressed by to or for.

Dative Executor, in law, one appointed by the judge of probate; an administrator.

DAT'OLITE or DATH'OLITE, noun The siliceous borate of lime, a mineral of two subspecies, the common and the botryoidal. The common is of a white color, of various shades, and greenish gray. It occurs in granular distinct concretions, and crystalized. The botryiodal occurs in mammillary concretions, or in botryiodal masses, white and earthy. It is named from its want of transparency.

DA'TUM, noun Something given or admitted.

DATU'RA, noun A vegeto-alkali obtained from datura stramonium.

DAUB, verb transitive

1. To smear with soft adhesive matter; to plaster; to cover with mud, slime, or other soft substance.

She took for him an ark of bulrushes, and daubed it with slime and with pitch. Exodus 2:3.

2. To paint coarsely.

If a picture is daubed with many bright colors, the vulgar admire it. Watts.

3. To cover with something gross or specious; to disguise with an artificial covering.

So smooth he daubed his vice with show of virtue. Shak.

4. To lay or put on without taste; to deck awkwardly or ostentatiously, or to load with affected finery.

Let him be daubed with lace- Dryden.

5. To flatter grossly.

Conscience will not daub nor flatter. South.

DAUB, verb intransitive To practice gross flattery; to play the hypocrite.

DAUB'ED, participle passive Smeared with soft adhesive matter; plastered; painted coarsely; disguised; loaded with ill chosen finery.

DAUB'ER, noun One who daubs; a coarse painter; a low and gross flatterer.

DAUB'ING, participle present tense Plastering; painting coarsely; disguising clumsily; decking ostentatiously; flattering grossly.

DAUB'ING, noun Plastering; coarse painting; gross flattery.

DAUB'RY or DAUB'ERY, n, A daubing; any thing artful.

DAUB'Y, adjective Viscous; glutinous; slimy; adhesive.

DAUGHTER, noun,

1. The female offspring of a man or woman; a female child of any age.

2. A daughter in law; a son's wife. Ruth 3:1.

3. A woman; plural female inhabitants.

Dinah went out to see the daughters of the land.

Genesis 34:1.

4. A female descendant; lineage of females. Luke I.

5. The female penitent of a confessor.

This word is used in scripture for the inhabitants of a city or country, male and female. Isaiah 16:1, Matthew 21:5. Also as a term of affection or kindness.

Daughter, be of good comfort. Matthew 9:22.

DAUGH'TERLINESS, noun

1. The state of a daughter.

2. The conduct becoming a daughter.

DAUGH'TERLY, adjective Becoming a daughter; dutiful.

D'AUNT, verb transitive To repress or subdue courage; to intimidate; to dishearten; to check by fear of danger. It expresses less than fright and terrify.

Some presences daunt and discourage us.

D'AUNTED, participle passive Checked by fear; intimidated.

D'AUNTING, participle present tense Repressing courage; intimidating; disheartening.

D'AUNTLESS, adjective Bold; fearless; intrepid; not timid; not discouraged; as a dauntless hero; a dauntless spirit.

D'AUNTLESSNESS, noun Fearlessness; intrepidity.

DAU'PHIN, noun The eldest son of the king of France, and presumptive heir of the crown.

DAU'PHINESS, noun The wife or lady of the dauphin.

DAVINA, noun A new Vesuvian mineral of a hexahedral form and laminar texture; so called in honor of Sir H. Davy.

DAV'IT, noun A beam used on board of ships, as a crane to hoist the flukes of the anchor to the top of the bow, without injuring the sides of the ship; an operation called fishing the anchor.

DAW, verb intransitive To dawn.

DAW'DLE, verb intransitive To waste time; to trifle.

DAW'DLER, noun A trifler.

DAWK, verb transitive To cut or mark with an incision.

DAWN, verb intransitive

1. To begin to grow light in the morning; to grow light; as, the day dawns; the morning dawns.

It began to dawn towards the first day of the

week. Matthew 28:1.

2. To begin to open or expand; to begin to show intellectual light, or knowledge; as, the genius of the youth begins to dawn

When life awakes and dawns at every line. Pope.

3. To glimmer obscurely.

4. To begin to open or appear.

DAWN, noun 1. The break of day; the first appearance of light, in the morning.

They arose about the dawn of the day. Joshua 6:1.

The word may express the whole time from the first appearance of light to sunrise.

2. First opening or expansion; first appearance of intellectual light; as the dawn of genius, intellect, or mental powers.

3. Beginning; rise; first appearance; as the dawn of time.

4. A feeble or incipient light; first beams.

These tender circumstances diffuse a dawn of serenity over the soul. Pope.

DAWN'ING, participle present tense 1. Growing light; first appearing luminous; opening; as the dawning day.

2. Opening; expanding; beginning to show intellectual light; beginning.

DAWN'ING, noun

1. The first appearance of light in the morning.

2. The first opening or appearance of the intellectual powers; beginning; as the first dawning of notions in the understanding.

DAY, noun

1. That part of the time of the earth's revolution on its axis, in which its surface is presented to the sun; the part of the twenty four hours when it is light; or the space of time between the rising and setting of the sun; called the artificial day

And God called the light day Gen. I.

In this sense, the day may commence at any period of the revolution. The Babylonians began the day at sun-rising; the Jews, at sun-setting; the Egyptians, at midnight, as do several nations in modern times, the British, French, Spanish, American, etc. This day in reference to civil transactions, is called the civil day Thus with us the day when a legal instrument is dated, begins and ends at midnight.

3. Light; sunshine.

Let us walk honestly as in the day Romans 13:12.

4. Time specified; any period of time distinguished from other time; age; time with reference to the existence of a person or thing.

He was a useful man in his day

In the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely

die. Genesis 2:2.

In this sense, the plural is often used; as, from the days of the judges; in the days of our fathers. In this sense also, the word is often equivalent to life, or earthly existence.

5. The contest of a day; battle; or day of combat.

The day is his own.

He won the day that is, he gained the victory.

6. An appointed or fixed time.

If my debtors do not keep their day Dryden.

7. Time of commemorating an event; anniversary; the same day of the month, in any future year. We celebrate the day of our Savior's birth.

DAY by day daily; every day; each day in succession; continually; without intermission of a day

DAY by day we magnify thee. Common Prayer.

But or only from day to day without certainty of continuance; temporarily.

To-day, adverb On the present day; this day; or at the present time.

DAYs of grace, in theology, the time when mercy is offered to sinners.

To-day, if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts. Psalms 95:7.

DAYs of grace, in law, are days granted by the court for delay, at the prayer of the plaintiff or defendant.

Three days, beyond the day named in the writ, in which the person summoned may appear and answer.

DAYs of grace, in commerce, a customary number of days, in Great Britain and America, three, allowed for the payment of a note or bill of exchange, after it becomes due. A note due on the seventh of the month is payable on the tenth.

The days of grace are different in different countries. In France, they are ten; at Naples, Eight; at Venice, Amsterdam and Antwerp, six; at Hamburg, Twelve; in Spain, fourteen; in Genoa, thirty.

DAYs in bank, in England, days of appearance in the court of common bench.

DA'YBED, noun A bed used for idleness, indulgence, or rest during the day.

DA'YBOOK, noun A journal of accounts; a book in which are recorded the debts and credits or accounts of the day.

DA'YBREAK, noun The dawn or first appearance of light in the morning.

DA'YCOAL, noun A name given by miners to the upper stratum of coal.

DA'YDREAM, noun A vision to the waking senses.

DA'YFLOWER, noun A genus of plants, the Commelina.

DA'YFLY, noun A genus of insects that live one day only, or a very short time called Ephemera. The species are numerous, some of which live scarcely an hour, others, several days.

DA'YLABOR, noun Labor hired or performed by the day.

DAYLABORER, noun One who works by the day.

DAY'LIGHT, noun The light of the day; the light of the sun, as opposed to that of the moon or of a lamp or candle.

DA'YLILY, noun The same with asphodel. A species of Hemerocallis.

DA'YLY, adjective The more regular orthography of daily.

DA'YSMAN, noun An umpire or arbiter; a mediator.

Neither is there any daysman betwixt us. Job 9:33.

DA'YSPRING, noun The dawn; the beginning of the day, or first appearance of light.

Whereby the dayspring from on high hath visited us. Luke I.

DA'YSTAR, noun The morning star, Lucifer, Venus; the star which precedes the morning light.

DA'Y'SWORK, noun The work of one day. Among seamen, the account or reckoning of a ship's course for 24 hours, from noon to noon.

DA'YTIME, noun The time of the sun's light on the earth; as opposed to night.

DA'YWEARIED, adjective Wearied with the labor of the day.

DA'YWORK, Work by the day; daylabor.

DAZE, verb transitive To overpower with light; to dim or blind by too strong a light, or to render the sight unsteady.

DAZE, noun Among miners, a glittering stone.

DAZ'ZLE, verb transitive

1. To overpower with light; to hinder distinct vision by intense light; or to cause to shake; to render unsteady, as the sight. We say, the brightness of the sun dazzles the eyes or the sight.

2. To strike or surprise with a bright or intense light; to dim or blind by a glare of light, or by splendor, in a literal or figurative sense; as, to be dazzled by resplendent glory, or by a brilliant expression.

DAZ'ZLE, verb intransitive To be overpowered by light; to shake or be unsteady; to waver, as the sight.

I dare not trust these eyes; They dance in mists, and dazzle with surprise.

DAZ'ZLED, participle passive Made wavering, as the sight; overpowered or dimmed by a too strong light.

DAZ'ZLEMENT, noun The act or power of dazzling.

DAZ'ZLING, participle present tense Rendering unsteady or wavering as the sight; overpowering by a strong light; striking with splendor.

DAZ'ZLINGLY, adverb In a dazzling manner.