Deglutitious adjective Pertaining to deglutition. [ R.]

Deglutitory adjective Serving for, or aiding in, deglutition.

Degradation noun [ Late Latin degradatio , from degradare : confer French dégradation . See Degrade .]
1. The act of reducing in rank, character, or reputation, or of abasing; a lowering from one's standing or rank in office or society; diminution; as, the degradation of a peer, a knight, a general, or a bishop.

He saw many removes and degradations in all the other offices of which he had been possessed.

Clarendon.

2. The state of being reduced in rank, character, or reputation; baseness; moral, physical, or intellectual degeneracy; disgrace; abasement; debasement.

The . . . degradation of a needy man of letters.

Macaulay.

Deplorable is the degradation of our nature.

South.

Moments there frequently must be, when a sinner is sensible of the degradation of his state.

Blair.

3. Diminution or reduction of strength, efficacy, or value; degeneration; deterioration.

The development and degradation of the alphabetic forms can be traced.

I. Taylor (The Alphabet).

4. (Geol.) A gradual wearing down or wasting, as of rocks and banks, by the action of water, frost etc.

5. (Biol.) The state or condition of a species or group which exhibits degraded forms; degeneration.

The degradation of the species man is observed in some of its varieties.

Dana.

6. (Physiol.) Arrest of development, or degeneration of any organ, or of the body as a whole.

Degradation of energy , or Dissipation of energy (Physics) , the transformation of energy into some form in which it is less available for doing work.

Syn. -- Abasement; debasement; reduction; decline.

Degrade transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Degraded ; present participle & verbal noun Degrading .] [ French dégrader , Late Latin degradare , from Latin de- + gradus step, degree. See Grade , and confer Degree .]
1. To reduce from a higher to a lower rank or degree; to lower in rank; to deprive of office or dignity; to strip of honors; as, to degrade a nobleman, or a general officer.

Prynne was sentenced by the Star Chamber Court to be degraded from the bar.

Palfrey.

2. To reduce in estimation, character, or reputation; to lessen the value of; to lower the physical, moral, or intellectual character of; to debase; to bring shame or contempt upon; to disgrace; as, vice degrades a man.

O miserable mankind, to what fall
Degraded , to what wretched state reserved!

Milton.

Yet time ennobles or degrades each line.

Pope.

Her pride . . . struggled hard against this degrading passion.

Macaulay.

3. (Geol.) To reduce in altitude or magnitude, as hills and mountains; to wear down.

Syn. -- To abase; demean; lower; reduce. See Abase .

Degrade intransitive verb (Biol.) 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.

Degraded adjective
1. Reduced in rank, character, or reputation; debased; sunken; low; base.

The Netherlands . . . were reduced practically to a very degraded condition.

Motley.

2. (Biol.) Having the typical characters or organs in a partially developed condition, or lacking certain parts.

Some families of plants are degraded dicotyledons.

Dana.

3. [ Confer French degré 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 .

Degradement noun Deprivation of rank or office; degradation. [ R.] Milton.

Degradingly adverb In a degrading manner.

Dégras, Degras noun [ F.; confer French gras , adjective & noun , fat.] A semisolid emulsion produced by the treatment of certain skins with oxidized fish oil, which extracts their soluble albuminoids. It was formerly solely a by-product of chamois leather manufacture, but is now made for its own sake, being valuable as a dressing for hides.

Degravation noun [ Latin degravare , degravatum , to make heavy. See Grave , adjective ] The act of making heavy. [ Obsolete] Bailey.

Degrease transitive verb To remove grease or fatty matter from, as wool or silk.

Degree noun [ French degré , Old French degret , from Late Latin degradare . See Degrade .]
1. A step, stair, or staircase. [ Obsolete]

By ladders, or else by degree .

Rom. of R.

2. 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.

3. 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.

4. 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.

5. Grade or rank to which scholars are admitted by a college or university, in recognition of their attainments; as, the degree of bachelor of arts, master, doctor, etc.

» 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 sometimes conferred, in course, upon those who have completed certain prescribed postgraduate studies, as doctor of philosophy (Ph. D.); but more frequently the degree of doctor is 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.

6. (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.

7. (Arith.) Three figures taken together in numeration; thus, 140 is one degree , 222,140 two degrees .

8. (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 ² b 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 ² y ² + nyx = p , are both equations of the fourth degree .

9. (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.

10. A division, space, or interval, marked on a mathematical or other instrument, as on a thermometer. 11. (Mus.) A line or space of the staff.

» 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 surface (Geom.) , the number which expresses the degree of the equation of the curve or surface in rectilinear coördinates. 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 (Geology) , 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.

Degu noun [ Native name.] (Zoology) A small South American rodent ( Octodon Cumingii ), of the family Octodontidæ .

Degum transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Degummed ; present participle & verbal noun Degumming .] To deprive of, or free from, gum; as, to degum ramie.

Degust transitive verb [ Latin degustare : confer French déguster . See Gust to taste.] To taste. [ Obsolete] Cockeram.

Degustation noun [ Latin degustatio : confer French dégustation .] (Physiol.) Tasting; the appreciation of sapid qualities by the taste organs. Bp. Hall.

Dehisce intransitive verb [ Latin dehiscere ; de- + hiscere to gape.] To gape; to open by dehiscence.

Dehiscence noun [ Confer French déhiscence .]
1. The act of gaping.

2. (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.

Dehiscent adjective [ Latin dehiscens , -entis , present participle Confer French déhiscent .] Characterized by dehiscence; opening in some definite way, as the capsule of a plant.

Dehonestate transitive verb [ Latin dehonestatus , past participle of dehonestare to dishonor; de- + honestare to make honorable. Confer Dishonest , and see Honest .] To disparage. [ Obsolete]

Dehonestation noun [ Latin dehonestatio .] A dishonoring; disgracing. [ Obsolete] Gauden.

Dehorn transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Dehorned ; present participle & verbal noun Dehorning .] 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).

Dehors preposition [ French, outside.] (Law) Out of; without; foreign to; out of the agreement, record, will, or other instrument.

Dehors noun (Mil.) All sorts of outworks in general, at a distance from the main works; any advanced works for protection or cover. Farrow.

Dehort transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Dehorted ; present participle & verbal noun Dehorting .] [ Latin dehortari ; de- + hortari to urge, exhort.] To urge to abstain or refrain; to dissuade. [ Obsolete]

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 noun [ Latin dehortatio .] Dissuasion; advice against something. [ R.]

Dehortative adjective Dissuasive. [ R.]

Dehortatory adjective [ Latin dehortatorius .] Fitted or designed to dehort or dissuade. Bp. Hall.

Dehorter noun A dissuader; an adviser to the contrary. [ Obsolete]

Dehumanize transitive verb To divest of human qualities, such as pity, tenderness, etc.; as, dehumanizing influences.

Dehusk transitive verb To remove the husk from. [ Obsolete] "Wheat dehusked upon the floor." Drant.

Dehydrate transitive verb (Chemistry) To deprive of water; to render free from water; as, to dehydrate alcohol.

Dehydration noun (Chemistry) The act or process of freeing from water; also, the condition of a body from which the water has been removed.

Dehydrogenate transitive verb (Chemistry) To deprive of, or free from, hydrogen.

Dehydrogenation noun (Chemistry) The act or process of freeing from hydrogen; also, the condition resulting from the removal of hydrogen.

Deicide noun [ Latin deicida a deicide (in sense 2); deus god + cædere to cut, kill: confer French déicide .]
1. 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.

2. One concerned in putting Christ to death.

Deictic adjective [ Greek deiktiko`s serving to show or point out, from deikny`nai to show.] (Logic) Direct; proving directly; -- applied to reasoning, and opposed to elenchtic or refutative.

Deictically adverb In a manner to show or point out; directly; absolutely; definitely.

When Christ spake it deictically .

Hammond.

Deific, Deifical adjective [ Latin deificus ; deus god + facere to make: confer French déifique .] Making divine; producing a likeness to God; god-making. "A deifical communion." Homilies.

Deification noun [ Late Latin deificare to deify: confer French déification . See Deify .] The act of deifying; exaltation to divine honors; apotheosis; excessive praise.

Deified adjective Honored or worshiped as a deity; treated with supreme regard; godlike.

Deifier noun One who deifies.

Deiform adjective [ Latin deus a god + -form .]
1. Godlike, or of a godlike form. Dr. H. More.

2. Conformable to the will of God. [ R.] Bp. Burnet.

Deiformity noun Likeness to deity. [ Obsolete]

Deify transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Deified ; present participle & verbal noun Deifying .] [ French déifier , Late Latin deificare , from Latin deificus . See Deific , Deity , -fy .]
1. To make a god of; to exalt to the rank of a deity; to enroll among the deities; to apotheosize; as, Julius Cæsar was deified .

2. 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.

3. To render godlike.

By our own spirits are we deified .

Wordsworth.

Deign transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Deigned ; present participle & verbal noun Deigning .] [ Middle English deinen , deignen , Old French degner , deigner , daigner , French daigner , from Latin dignari to deem worthy, deign, from dignus worthy; akin to decere to be fitting. See Decent , and confer Dainty , Dignity , Condign , Disdain .]
1. To esteem worthy; to consider worth notice; - - opposed to disdain . [ Obsolete]

I fear my Julia would not deign my lines.

Shak.

2. 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 intransitive verb 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.

In early English deign was often used impersonally.

Him deyneth not to set his foot to ground.

Chaucer.

Deignous adjective [ For disdeignous , Old French desdeignos , desdaigneus , French dédaigneux . See Disdain .] Haughty; disdainful. [ Obsolete] Chaucer.

Deil (dēl) noun Devil; -- spelt also deel . [ Scot.]

Deil's buckie . See under Buckie .

Deinoceras noun [ New Latin ] (Paleon.) See Dinoceras .