Demeanor noun [ Written also demeanour .] [ For demeanure , from demean . See Demean , transitive verb ]
1. Management; treatment; conduct. [ Obsolete]

God commits the managing so great a trust . . . wholly to the demeanor of every grown man.

Milton.

2. Behavior; deportment; carriage; bearing; mien.

His demeanor was singularly pleasing.

Macaulay.

The men, as usual, liked her artless kindness and simple refined demeanor .

Thackeray.

Demeanure noun Behavior. [ Obsolete] Spenser.

Demency noun [ Latin dementia , from demens mad. See Dement .] Dementia; loss of mental powers. See Insanity .

Dement transitive verb [ Latin dementare , from demens , -mentis , out of one's mind, mad; de + mens mind. See Mental , and confer Dementate .] To deprive of reason; to make mad. [ R.] Bale.

Dement adjective [ Latin demens , - mentis .] Demented; dementate. [ R.] J. H. Newman.

Dementate adjective [ Latin dementatus , past participle See Dement , transitive verb ] Deprived of reason.

Arise, thou dementate sinner!

Hammond.

Dementate transitive verb To deprive of reason; to dement. [ R.] Burton.

Dementation noun The act of depriving of reason; madness. Whitlock.

Demented adjective [ From Dement .] Insane; mad; of unsound mind. -- De*ment"ed*ness , noun

Dementia noun [ Latin , from demens . See Dement .] Insanity; madness; esp. that form which consists in weakness or total loss of thought and reason; mental imbecility; idiocy.

Demephitize transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Demephitized ; present participle & verbal noun Demephitizing .] [ Confer French méphitiser to infect with mephitis .] To purify from mephitic or foul air. -- De*meph`i*ti*za"tion , noun

Demerge transitive verb [ Latin demergere .] To plunge down into; to sink; to immerse. [ Obsolete]

The water in which it was demerged .

Boyle.

Demerit noun [ French démérite demerit (in sense 2), Old French demerite demerit (in sense 1), from Latin demerere to deserve well, Late Latin , to deserve well or ill; de- + merere to deserve. See De -, and Merit .]
1. That which one merits or deserves, either of good or ill; desert. [ Obsolete]

By many benefits and demerits whereby they obliged their adherents, [ they] acquired this reputation.

Holland.

2. That which deserves blame; ill desert; a fault; a vice; misconduct; -- the opposite of merit .

They see no merit or demerit in any man or any action.

Burke.

Secure, unless forfeited by any demerit or offense.

Sir W. Temple.

3. The state of one who deserves ill.

Demerit transitive verb [ Confer French démériter to deserve ill. See Demerit , noun ]
1. To deserve; -- said in reference to both praise and blame. [ Obsolete]

If I have demerited any love or thanks.

Udall.

Executed as a traitor . . . as he well demerited .

State Trials (1645).

2. To depreciate or cry down. [ R.] Bp. Woolton.

Demerit intransitive verb To deserve praise or blame.

Demerse transitive verb [ Latin demersus , past participle of demergere . See Merge .] To immerse. [ Obsolete] Boyle.

Demersed adjective (Botany) Situated or growing under water, as leaves; submersed.

Demersion noun [ Latin demersio .]
1. The act of plunging into a fluid; a drowning.

2. The state of being overwhelmed in water, or as if in water. Ray.

Demesmerize transitive verb To relieve from mesmeric influence. See Mesmerize .

Demesne noun [ Middle English demeine , demain , rule, demesne, Old French demeine , demaine , demeigne , domaine , power, French domaine domain, from Latin dominium property, right of ownership, from dominus master, proprietor, owner. See Dame , and confer Demain , Domain , Danger , Dungeon .] (Law) A lord's chief manor place, with that part of the lands belonging thereto which has not been granted out in tenancy; a house, and the land adjoining, kept for the proprietor's own use. [ Written also demain .] Wharton's Law Dict. Burrill.

Ancient demesne . (Eng. Law) See under Ancient .

Demesnial adjective Of or pertaining to a demesne; of the nature of a demesne.

Demi noun See Demy , noun

Demi- [ French demi- , from Latin dimidius half; di- = dis- + medius middle. See Medium , and confer Demy , Dimidiate .] A prefix, signifying half .

Demi-island noun Peninsula. [ Obsolete] Knolles.

Demi-rilievo noun [ Prefix demi- + Italian rilievo .] (Fine Arts) (a) Half relief; sculpture in relief of which the figures project from the background by one half their full roundness. (b) A work of sculpture of the above character. See Alto-rilievo .

Demibastion noun [ Confer French demi- bastion .] (Fort.) A half bastion, or that part of a bastion consisting of one face and one flank.

Demibrigade noun [ Confer French demi- brigade .] A half brigade.

Demicadence noun (Mus.) An imperfect or half cadence, falling on the dominant instead of on the key note.

Demicannon noun (Mil. Antiq.) A kind of ordnance, carrying a ball weighing from thirty to thirty-six pounds. Shak.

Demicircle noun [ Confer French demi- cercle .] An instrument for measuring angles, in surveying, etc. It resembles a protractor, but has an alidade, sights, and a compass.

Demiculverin noun (Mil. Antiq.) A kind of ordnance, carrying a ball weighing from nine to thirteen pounds.

Demideify transitive verb To deify in part. Cowper.

Demidevil noun A half devil. Shak.

Demigod noun A half god, or an inferior deity; a fabulous hero, the offspring of a deity and a mortal.

Demigoddess noun A female demigod.

Demigorge noun [ Confer French demi- gorge .] (Fort.) Half the gorge, or entrance into a bastion, taken from the angle of the flank to the center of the bastion.

Demigrate intransitive verb [ Latin demigrare , demigratum , to emigrate. See De -, and Migrate .] To emigrate. [ Obsolete] Cockeram.

Demigration noun [ Latin demigratio .] Emigration. [ Obsolete] Bp. Hall.

Demigroat noun A half groat.

Demijohn noun [ French dame- jeanne , i.e., Lady Jane, a corruption of Arabic damajāna , damjāna , probably from Damaghan a town in the Persian province of Khorassan, once famous for its glass works.] A glass vessel or bottle with a large body and small neck, inclosed in wickerwork.

Demilance noun A light lance; a short spear; a half pike; also, a demilancer.

Demilancer noun A soldier of light cavalry of the 16th century, who carried a demilance.

Demilune noun [ French demi- lune .]
1. (Fort.) A work constructed beyond the main ditch of a fortress, and in front of the curtain between two bastions, intended to defend the curtain; a ravelin. See Ravelin .

2. (Physiol.) A crescentic mass of granular protoplasm present in the salivary glands.

» Each crescent is made of polyhedral cells which under some circumstances are supposed to give rise to new salivary cells.

Demiman noun A half man. [ R.] Knolles.

Demimonde noun [ F.; demi + monde world, Latin mundus .] Persons of doubtful reputation; esp., women who are kept as mistresses, though not public prostitutes; demireps.

Literary demimonde , writers of the lowest kind.

Deminatured adjective Having half the nature of another. [ R.] Shak.

Demiquaver noun (Mus.) A note of half the length of the quaver; a semiquaver. [ R.]

Demirelief, Demirelievo noun Half relief. See Demi- rilievo .

Demirep noun [ Contr. from demi- reputation .] A woman of doubtful reputation or suspected character; an adventuress. [ Colloq.] De Quincey.

Demisability noun (Law) The state of being demisable.