Father eternal; thine is to decree ; Milton. The motions of the moon, supposed to be measured by sevens, and the critical or decretory days depend en that number. Browne's Vulgar Errours. The folly of man, and not the decree of heaven; is the cause of human calamity. Broome. There are lenitives that friendship will apply, before it will be brought to the decretory rigours of a condemning sentence. South's Sermons. Had beaven decreed that I should life enjoy, Heaven had decreed to save unhappy Troy. Dryden. Are we condemn'd by fate's unjust decree, On just and weighty reasons, has decreed Id. Rowe. A decretal epistle is that which the pope decrees Mother earth, in this her barrenness and decrepitness of age, can procreate such swarms of curious engines. Bentley. The charge of witchcraft inspires people with a malevolence towards those poor decrepit parts of our species, in whom human nature is defaced by intrAddison. inity and dotage. Time in advance behind him hides his wings, And seems to creep decrepid with his age. Young. The emaciated and decrepid appearance, with the ridiculous and idiotic gestures, of the opium-eaters in Constantinople, is well described in the Memoirs of Baron de Tott. Darwin. DECREPITATION, in chemistry, the crackling noise which several salts make when suddenly heated, accompanied by a violent exfoliation of their particles. This phenomenon has been ascribed to the sudden conversion of the water which they contain into steam.' But absolutely either by himself, or else by the advice of his cardi- dry sulphate of barytes decrepitates furiously nals; and this must be on his being consulted by some particular person or persons thereon. Ayliffe's Parergon. The decretists had their rise and beginning under the reign of the emperor Frederick Barbarossa. Id. Whether it be decreed by the authority of reason, or the tyranny of ignorance, that, of all the candidates for literary praise, the unhappy lexicographer holds the lowest place, neither vanity nor interest incited me Johnson. Plan of Dictionary. Here are the ancient editions of the Papal decretals, and the commentators on the civil law, the edicts of Spain, and the statutes of Venice. to inquire. DECREPITNESS, Id. On the Harleian Library. DECREPID, or Fr. decrepite; Ital. DECREPIT, adj. and Span. decrepito; DECREPITATE, v. a. Lat. decrepitus, crackDECREPITATION, n. s. (ling; from the crackling of a candle or lamp when nearly out, says Minsheu, after Scaliger. Wasted; old; weak; in extreme decay. To decrepitate is used by Browne for the calcining of salt until it ceases to crackle. Decrepitness and decrepitude are man's last stage of all.' Of men's lives, in this decrepit age of the world, many exceed fourscore, and some an hundred years. Raleigh. This pope is decrepit, and the bell goeth for him: take order that there be chosen a pope of fresh years. Bacon. So will it come to pass in a pot of salt, although If true succession from our isle should fail, The gardens entered, and the fruits surveyed. Pope. without any possible formation of steam, or any loss of weight. The same holds with respect to common salt, calcareous spars,' and sulphate of potash, which contain no water. In fact, it is the salts which are anhydrous, or destitute of water, which decrepitate most powerfully; those that contain water generally enter into tranquil liquefaction on being heated. Salts decrepitate, for the same reason that glass, quartz, and cast-iron crack, with an explosive force, when very suddenly heated; namely, from the unequal expansion of the lamina which compose them, in consequence of their being imperfect conductors of heat. DECRESCENT, in heraldry, a term signifyfrom the full to the last quarter, her horns being ing a representation of the moon when declining turned to the sinister side of the shield. the canon law. The first, acknowledged by all The DECRETALS compose the second part of the learned as genuine, is a letter of Pope Siricius, written A. D. 335, to limerus, bishop of which had crept into the churches of Spain. Tarragona, in Spain, concerning some disorders Gratian published a collection of decretals, containing all the ordinances made by the popes till A. D. 1150. Gregory IX. in 1227, following the example of Theodosius and Justinian, formed a constitution of his own, collecting into one body all the decisions and all the causes which served to advance the papal power; which collection of decretals was called the pentateuch, because it contained five books. DECRY', v. a. Fr. decrier, de and cry. See CRY. To censure; to blame clamorously, or vehemently. Malice in criticks reigns so high, That for small errours they whole plays decry. Dryden. Quacks and imposters are still cautioning us to beware of counterfeits, and decry others' cheats only to make more way for their own. Swift. Those measures, which are extolled by one half of the kingdom, are naturally decried by the other Addison. Then prompt no more the follies you decry, DECUMANA, in ancient history and geography, the name of a nation of the Marse or Marcomanni. See DECUMATES AGRI, DECUMARIA, in botany: a genus of the monogynia order, and dodecandria class of plants: CAL. decaphyllous, superior; petals ten; CAPS. eight or nine cells and polyspermous. Species two, both natives of Carolina. DECUMATES AGRI, fields granted on a tithe, as appears from Tacitus, to the Gauls who succeeded the Marcomanni, that had till then proved a check to the Roman conquests, on the Rhine; and hence, probably, their name, people living on the marches or limits of the empire. DECU'MBENCE, n. s. DECUMBENCY, DECU'MBITURE, of lying down. Lat. decumbo. The act of lying Sdown; the posture This must come to pass, if we hold opinion they lie not down, and enjoy no decumbence at all; for station is properly no rest, but one kind of motion. Browne's Vulgar Errours. Not considering the ancient manner of decumbency, he imputed this gesture of the beloved disciple unto rusticity, or an act of incivility. Id. If but a mile she travel out of town, The planetary hour must first be known, And lucky moment: if her eye but akes, Or itches, its decumbiture she takes. Dryden. DE'CUPLE, adj. Lat. decuplus, tenfold. The same number ten times repeated. Man's length, that is, a perpendicular from the vertex unto the sole of the foot, is decuple unto his profundity; that is, a direct line between the breast and the spine. Browne's Vulgar Errours. Supposing there be a thousand sorts of insects in this island, if the same proportion holds between the insects of England and of the world, as between plants domestick and exotick, that is, near a decuple, the species of insects will amount to ten thousand. Ray. DECURIA, or DECURY, among the ancient Romans, ten men under one leader, called the decurio. The decuria was the third part of a turma, or the thirtieth of a legion of horse, which consisted of 300 men. The Roman cavalry was divided into decuriæ, which were subdivisions of a century, each century containing ten decuries. DECURIO, a subaltern officer in the Roman armies, who commanded a decuria. DECU'RION, n. s. Lat. decurio. A commander over ten; an officer subordinate to the centurion. He instituted decurions through both these colonies, that is, one over every ten families. Temple. DECURIONES MUNICIPALES, magistrates in the Roman provinces, who formed a body to represent the Roman senates in free and corporate towns. They consisted of ten, whence the name; and their duty was to watch over the interests of their fellow citizens, and to increase the revenues of the commonwealth. Their court was called curio decurionum and minor senatus; and their decrees, called decreta decurionum, were marked D.D. at the top. They generally styled themselves civitatum patres curiales, and honorati municipiorum senatores. They were elected with the same ceremonies as the Roman senators; they were to be at least twenty-five years of age, and to be possessed of ten talents. DECURSION, n. s. Lat. decurcus, from de and cursus. The act of running down. What is decayed by that decursion of waters, is supplied by the terrene fæces which water brings. Hale. DECU'SȘATE, v. a. Į Lat. decusso. To inDECUSSA'TION, n. s. Stersect at acute angles The act of crossing, or state of being crossed at unequal angles. The crucigerous ensign carried this figure not transversely or rectangularly intersected, but in a decussation, after the form of an Andrian or Burgundian cross, which answereth this description. Browne. This it performs by the action of a notable muscle on each side, having the form of the letter X, made up of many fibres, decussating one another longways. Ray. Though there be decussation of the rays in the pupil of the eye, and so the image of the object in the retina, or bottom of the eye, be inverted; yet doth not the object appear inverted, but in its right or natural posture. Id. DECUSSORIUM, an instrument used by surgeons, which, by pressing gently on the dura mater, causes an evacuation of the pus collected between it and the cranium, through the perforation made by the trepan. DEDDINGTON, a market-town of Oxfordshire, formerly a corporation and borough. The Birmingham and Oxford canal passes near this place, and is of considerable advantage to it. In the neighbourhood are two medicinal springs, one of which is highly impregnated with vitriolic salt. It has a weekly market on Saturday. It is seated on an eminence, seventeen miles north of Oxford, and sixty-nine N. N. W. of London. DEDE'CORATE, v. a. Lat. dedecoro. To DEDECORATION, n. s. disgrace; to bring a DEDECOROUS, adj. S reproach upon. The act of disgracing; disgrace. Disgraceful. DEDENTITION, n. s. Lat. de and dentitio. Shedding of teeth. The loss or shedding of the DEDHAM, a town and parish of England, in the county of Essex, situated on the river Stour, over which is a bridge. It is six miles N. N. E. of Colchester, and its church is noted for a fine Gothic steeple. Population about 2200. DEDHAM, a township of Massachusetts, incorporated in 1637. DEDHAM, a town in the above township, the capital of Norfolk county, called by the Indians Tiot. It lies on the south side of Charles River, eleven miles south-west of Boston, and 320 from Philadelphia. DEDICATE, v. a. & adj. DEDICATORY, adj. French, dedier; Port. and Ital. dedicare; Teut. dediciren; Lat. dedicare, from Deo, dicare, to consecrate to God. To devote to some deity, or to some pious or religious service; to resign, appropriate, or inscribe, to a particular person or service. Dedication Prior. And quiet dedicate her remnant life, To the just duties of an humble wife. He that would make a real progress in knowledge must dedicate his age as well as youth, the latter growth, as well as the first fruits, at the altar of truth. Berkeley. Thus I should begin my epistle if it were a dedicatory one; but it is a friendly letter. Proud as Apollo on his forked hill, Pope. Horace and he went hand in hand in song. Id. Leave dangerous truths to unsuccessful satires; And flattery to fulsome dedicators. Id. Among publick solemnities there is none so glorious as that under the reign of king Solomon, at the dedication of the temple. Addison. For growing names the weekly scribbler lies, To growing wealth the dedicator flies. Johnson. Vanity of Human Wishes. DEDICATION, the act of consecrating a temple, altar, statue, palace, &c. to the honor of some deity. The use of dedications is very ancient both among the worshippers of the true God and among the heathens: the Hebrews call it hhanuchah, 'initiation;' which the Greek translators render Eykaivia, and Eyraivioμos, renewing. In the Scripture we meet with dedications of the tabernacle, of altars, of the first and second temple, and even of the houses of private persons. One of the most solemn on record is that of the first temple by Solomon, 1 Kings viii., 2 Chron. vi. There were also dedications of vessels, and of the garments of the priests and Levites, as well as of persons themselves. The heathens had also dedications of temples, altars, and images of their gods, &c. Nebuchadnezzar held a solemn dedication of his statue, Dan. iii. 2. Tacitus, Hist. lib. iv. ch. 53, mentions the dedication of the capitol, upon rebuilding it by Vespasian, &c. In modern times dedication is only applied to a church; and is properly the consecration of it performed by a bishop, with a number of ceremonies prescribed by the church. See CONSECRATION. DEDITION, n. s. Lat. deditio. The act of yielding up any thing; surrendry. DEDUCE, v. a. It was not a complete conquest, but rather a detition upon terms and capitulations agreed between the conqueror and the conquered. Hale. Fr. deduire; Span. deduzer; Ital. didurre ; Lat. deduco, deducere, of de and duco. To lead or draw. To draw or derive a conclusion in argument; to trace a DEDUCTIVELY, adv.) series of events, or concatenatious circumstances; to subtract or take off; hence to separate, divide. Deducible, and deductive, mean consequential, evident to reason. Deducive, performing, or drawing a conclusion. Deductively, consequentially. Deduction, the result of a series of argumentation; a consequence, as well as a sum or thing subtracted. Having yet, in his deducted spright, Some sparks remaining of that heavenly fire. Spenser. Out of scripture such duties may be deduced, by some kind of consequence; as by long circuit of deduction it may be that even all truth, out of any truth Hooker. may be concluded. I will deduce him from his cradle, through the deep and lubric waves of state and court, till he was swallowed in the gulph of fatality. Wotton Buck. The condition, although deducible from many grounds, yet shall we evidence it but from few. Browne's Vulgar Errours. There is scarce a popular errour passant in our days, which is not either directly expressed, or deductively contained in this work. Id. You have laid the experiments together in such a way, and made such deductions from them, as I have not hitherto met with. Boyle. All cross and distasteful humours are either expressly, or by clear consequence and deduction, forbidden in the New Testament. Tillotson. So far, therefore, as conscience reports any thing agreeable to or deducible from these, it is to be hearkened to. South. Praise and prayer are his due worship, and the rest of those deducements which I am confident are the remote effects of revelation. Dryden. The general character of the new earth is paradisaical; and the particular character, that it hath no sea: and both are apparently deducible from its formation. Set before you the moral law of God, with such deductions from it as our Saviour hath drawn, or our own reason, well informed, can make. Duppa. DEE, a river of England and Wales, which rises at the foot of the lofty mountain Arun, in the north-west angle of Merionethshire, from which it runs through a fine valley in a northeast direction to Denbighshire; visits the northwest border of Cheshire, to which it serves as a boundary; then crossing over to Chester, it flows thence to the sea, forming a broad sandy estuary, which separates Cheshire from Flintshire. This river is navigable from Elsemere, in Shropshire, to Chester; but at this city the navigation is interrupted by a ledge of rocks running across the bed of it, and causing a cascade. The Dee falls into the Irish Sea, fifteen miles below Chester. DEE, a river of Scotland, in Aberdeenshire, which rises from the hill Breirach, and after running through the parishes of Braemar, Crathy, and many others, with vast rapidity, falls into the German Ocean at Aberdeen, 140 miles from its source. It produces, in great plenty, trout, pikes, eels, &c., and affords one of the greatest salmon-fisheries in Scotland. In passing through Braemar, the Dee has a fine cascade, with the additional singularity, that for sixty yards it is confined between two rocks, within so narrow a space, that some persons have ventured to step over it. DEE (John), a famous mathematician and astrologer, born in London, July 1527. In 1542 he was sent to St. John's College, Cambridge. After five years close application to the mathematics and astronomy, he went to Holland; and, on his return to Cambridge, was elected a fellow of Trinity College, then first erected by king Henry VIII. In 1548 he took the degree of M.A. and left England a second time on account of the suspicion attached to his character as an astrologer. Upon leaving England, he went to the University of Louvain, where he took the degree of LL. D. In 1551 he returned to England, and obtained the rectory of Uptonupon-Severn; but soon after the accession of queen Mary, he was accused of practising against her life by enchantment. He suffered a tedious confinement on, this account, and was several times examined; till, in 1555, he obtained his liberty by an order of council. In 1564 he made another voyage to the continent, to present a book he had dedicated to the emperor Maximilian. He returned to England; but, in 1571, we find him at Lorrain; where, being dangerously ill, the queen sent over two physicians to his relief. Having once more returned to his native country, he settled at Mortlake in Surry, where he continued his studies with unremitted ardor, and collected a considerable library of curious books and MSS. with a variety of instruments, most of which were afterwards destroyed by the mob. In 1579 queen Elizabeth, being desirous of information concerning the recent discoveries of her subjects in America, commanded Mr. Dee to furnish her with proper geographical descriptions. Accordingly he presented her, in three weeks after, with two large rolls, on which the new countries were geographically described and historically illustrated: these rolls are preserved in the Cottonian library. In 1581 Dee became acquainted with one Edward Kelly, by whose assistance he performed various incantations, and affected, it is said, to maintain a frequent intercourse with the spiritual world. In 1583 they were both introduced to a Polish nobleman, then in England, named Albert Laski, palatine of Siradia, who persuaded them to accompany him to his native country; and they visited, successively, Poland, the court of the emperor Rodolph II., and Bohemia. In 1595 they returned to England, and Dee was once more graciously received by the queen; who made him Warden of Manchester College. In 1604 he returned to his house at Mortlake, where he died in 1608. Queen Elizabeth seems to have made use of Dee, occasionally, as a political agent: he was evidently a mathematician of considerable genius; but his pretensions to astrological and alchemical knowledge disgrace his memory. Dr. M. Casaubon published, in 1659, A true and faithful Relation of what passed between Dr. John Dee and some Spirits." DEED, n, s. Sax. dæd; Belg. dued; · DEED'LESS. Goth. dad; Lat. from do, dedi, says Minsheu; and this from Gr. dɛdovai; to give (effect). An action: any thing done or fully performed; a completed legal instrument or act; fact; reality. Deedless is, inactive; wordy, without performance of pledges or professions. lechinge and tellynge her dedis. Wiclif. Dedis, xix. And manye men bileeuyden, and camen know The same had not consented to the counsel and deed. Luke. They desire, with strange absurdity, that to the same senate it should belong to give full judgment in matter of excommunication, and to absolve whom it pleased them, clean contrary to their own former deeds and oaths. Hooker. DEEG, a celebrated town and fortress of Hindostan, in the province of Agra. It was taken from the Jauts in the year 1776, by the nabob Nujuff Khan, after a siege of twelve months, but soon afterwards restored. Here in 1805 lord Lake defeated the Mahratta army, commanded by Holkar, and, took this supposed impregnable town by storm. At the peace it was restored to the raja Runjeet Sing. DEEM, v. a., v. n. & n. s. Sax. deman; Goth. and Swed. doma; Teut. doeman; Gr. of Beμs, justice. To judge; to determine; to conclude on consideration: also, as a neuter verb, to judge, determine, or imagine. Shakspeare uses the substantive for judgment or opinion. Nyle ye deem that ghe be not demed. For, in what doom ye demen, ye schulen be demed; and, in what mesure ye meten, it sehal be meten agen to you. Wiclif. Matt. 7. But they that skill not of so heavenly matter, All that they know not, envy, or admire, Rather than envy, let them wonder at her, But not to deem of her desert aspire. Spenser. DEEMSTERS, or DEMSTERS. All controversies in the Isle of Man are decided without process, writings, or any charges, by certain judges chosen yearly from among themselves, called deemsters, there being two for each division of the island: they sit judges in all courts, either for life or property; and, with the advice of twenty-four keys, declare what is law in uncommon emergencies. DEEP, adj. & n. s. DEEP'EN, v. a. & n. DEEP'ENING, n. s. DEEP'LY, adv. DEEP-MOUTHED, DEEP'-MUSING, DEEP'NESS, n. s. Sax. deep; Goth. and Swed. diup; Belg. diep; old Goth. dy, to which Serenius traces this word. Mr. Tooke says, 'it is merely the past participle of dippan, to dip, or dive.' Profound; having length downwards; depressed; sunk; and, because that which is deep in the earth is dark, remote, and undisturbed, gloomy; dark-colored; a dark or strong shade of any color; voluminous in sound; quiet; still. Also, in a metaphorical sense, gloomy; remote in meaning; sagacious; farpenetrating. Deep, as a substantive, expresses the still and quiet part of night; an abyss; and, more particularly, the sea. To deepen is, as an active verb, to make deep; to sink low or lower; to darken; becloud; make gloomy: as a neuter verb, to descend slowly, or by degrees. The adverb, and other substantives, follow these meanings. And I saigh an aungel comynge doun fro heuene, hauynge the keye of depnesse and a great chayne in Wiclif. Apoc. 20. his hond. |