Diffraction Dif·frac"tion noun [ Confer French
diffraction .]
(Opt.) The deflection and decomposition of light in passing by the edges of opaque bodies or through narrow slits, causing the appearance of parallel bands or fringes of prismatic colors, as by the action of a grating of fine lines or bars. Remarked by Grimaldi (1665), and referred by him to a property of light which he called diffraction .
Whewell. Diffraction grating .
(Optics) See under Grating . --
Diffraction spectrum .
(Optics) See under Spectrum .
Diffractive Dif·frac"tive adjective That produces diffraction.
Diffranchise, Diffranchisement Dif·fran"chise, Dif·fran"chise·ment See Disfranchise , Disfranchisement .
Diffusate Dif·fus"ate noun (Chemistry) Material which, in the process of catalysis, has diffused or passed through the separating membrane.
Diffuse Dif·fuse" transitive verb [
imperfect & past participle Diffused ;
present participle & verbal noun Diffusing .] [ Latin
diffusus , past participle of
diffundere to pour out, to diffuse;
dif- = dis- +
fundere to pour. See
Fuse to melt.]
To pour out and cause to spread, as a fluid; to cause to flow on all sides; to send out, or extend, in all directions; to spread; to circulate; to disseminate; to scatter; as to diffuse information. Thence diffuse
His good to worlds and ages infinite.
Milton. We find this knowledge diffused among all civilized nations.
Whewell. Syn. -- To expand; spread; circulate; extend; scatter; disperse; publish; proclaim.
Diffuse Dif·fuse" intransitive verb To pass by spreading every way, to diffuse itself.
Diffuse Dif·fuse" adjective [ Latin
diffusus , past participle ]
Poured out; widely spread; not restrained; copious; full; esp., of style, opposed to concise or terse ; verbose; prolix; as, a diffuse style; a diffuse writer. A diffuse and various knowledge of divine and human things.
Milton. Syn. -- Prolix; verbose; wide; copious; full. See
Prolix .
Diffused Dif·fused" adjective Spread abroad; dispersed; loose; flowing; diffuse. It grew to be a widely diffused opinion.
Hawthorne. --
Dif*fus"ed*ly adverb --
Dif*fus"ed*ness ,
noun
Diffusely Dif·fuse"ly adverb In a diffuse manner.
Diffuseness Dif·fuse"ness noun The quality of being diffuse; especially, in writing, the use of a great or excessive number of word to express the meaning; copiousness; verbosity; prolixity.
Diffuser Dif·fus"er noun One who, or that which, diffuses.
Diffusibility Dif·fu`si·bil"i·ty noun The quality of being diffusible; capability of being poured or spread out.
Diffusible Dif·fu"si·ble adjective 1. Capable of flowing or spreading in all directions; that may be diffused. 2. (Physiol.) Capable of passing through animal membranes by osmosis.
Diffusibleness Dif·fu"si·ble·ness noun Diffusibility.
Diffusion Dif·fu"sion noun [ Latin
diffusio : confer French
diffusion .]
1. The act of diffusing, or the state of being diffused; a spreading; extension; dissemination; circulation; dispersion. A diffusion of knowledge which has undermined superstition.
Burke. 2. (Physiol.) The act of passing by osmosis through animal membranes, as in the distribution of poisons, gases, etc., through the body. Unlike absorption , diffusion may go on after death, that is, after the blood ceases to circulate. Syn. -- Extension; spread; propagation; circulation; expansion; dispersion.
Diffusive Dif·fu"sive adjective [ Confer French
diffusif .]
Having the quality of diffusing; capable of spreading every way by flowing; spreading widely; widely reaching; copious; diffuse. "A plentiful and
diffusive perfume."
Hare.
Diffusively Dif·fu"sive·ly adverb In a diffusive manner.
Diffusiveness Dif·fu"sive·ness noun The quality or state of being diffusive or diffuse; extensiveness; expansion; dispersion. Especially of style: Diffuseness; want of conciseness; prolixity. The fault that I find with a modern legend, it its diffusiveness .
Addison.
Diffusivity Dif`fu·siv"i·ty noun Tendency to become diffused; tendency, as of heat, to become equalized by spreading through a conducting medium.
Dig Dig (dĭg)
transitive verb [
imperfect & past participle Dug (dŭg) or
Digged (dĭgd);
present participle & verbal noun Digging . --
Digged is archaic.] [ Middle English
diggen , perhaps the same word as
diken ,
dichen (see
Dike ,
Ditch ); confer Danish
dige to dig,
dige a ditch; or akin to E. 1st
dag . √67.]
1. To turn up, or delve in, (earth) with a spade or a hoe; to open, loosen, or break up (the soil) with a spade, or other sharp instrument; to pierce, open, or loosen, as if with a spade. Be first to dig the ground.
Dryden. 2. To get by digging; as, to dig potatoes, or gold. 3. To hollow out, as a well; to form, as a ditch, by removing earth; to excavate; as, to dig a ditch or a well. 4. To thrust; to poke. [ Colloq.]
You should have seen children . . . dig and push their mothers under the sides, saying thus to them: Look, mother, how great a lubber doth yet wear pearls.
Robynson (More's Utopia). To dig down ,
to undermine and cause to fall by digging; as, to dig down a wall. --
To dig from ,
out of ,
out , or
up ,
to get out or obtain by digging; as, to dig coal from or out of a mine; to dig out fossils; to dig up a tree. The preposition is often omitted; as, the men are digging coal, digging iron ore, digging potatoes. --
To dig in ,
to cover by digging; as, to dig in manure.
Dig Dig intransitive verb 1. To work with a spade or other like implement; to do servile work; to delve. Dig for it more than for hid treasures.
Job iii. 21. I can not dig ; to beg I am ashamed.
Luke xvi. 3. 2. (Mining) To take ore from its bed, in distinction from making excavations in search of ore. 3. To work like a digger; to study ploddingly and laboriously. [ Cant, U.S.]
Dig Dig noun 1. A thrust; a punch; a poke; as, a dig in the side or the ribs. See Dig , transitive verb , 4. [ Colloq.]
2. A plodding and laborious student. [ Cant, U.S.]
Dig Dig intransitive verb 1. To work hard or drudge; specif. (U. S.):
To study ploddingly and laboriously. [ Colloq.]
Peter dug at his books all the harder.
Paul Latin Ford. 2. (Machinery) Of a tool: To cut deeply into the work because ill set, held at a wrong angle, or the like, as when a lathe tool is set too low and so sprung into the work. To dig out ,
to depart; to leave, esp. hastily; decamp. [ Slang, U. S.]
Dig Dig noun 1. A tool for digging. [ Dial. Eng.]
2. An act of digging. 3. An amount to be dug. 4. (Mining) = Gouge .
Digamist Dig"a·mist noun [ Greek ... = ... twice + ... to marry. Confer
Bigamist .]
One who marries a second time; a deuterogamist. Hammond.
Digamma Di·gam"ma noun [ Greek ...; ... = ... twice +
ga`mma the letter Γ. So called because it resembled two
gammas placed one above the other.]
(Gr. Gram.) A letter (..., ...) of the Greek alphabet, which early fell into disuse. » This form identifies it with the Latin F, though in sound it is said to have been nearer V. It was pronounced, probably, much like the English W.
Digammate, Digammated Di·gam"mate, Di·gam"mated adjective Having the digamma or its representative letter or sound; as, the Latin word vis is a digammated form of the Greek 'i`s . Andrews.
Digamous Dig"a·mous adjective Pertaining to a second marriage, that is, one after the death of the first wife or the first husband.
Digamy Dig"a·my noun [ Greek ... a second marriage;
di- =
di`s- twice + ... marriage. Confer
Bigamy .]
Act, or state, of being twice married; deuterogamy. [ R.]
Digastric Di·gas"tric adjective [ Greek
di- =
di`s- twice + ... belly: confer French
digastrique .]
(Anat.) (a) Having two bellies; biventral; -- applied to muscles which are fleshy at each end and have a tendon in the middle, and esp. to the muscle which pulls down the lower jaw. (b) Pertaining to the digastric muscle of the lower jaw; as, the digastric nerves.
Digenea Di·ge"ne·a noun plural [ New Latin , from Greek
di- =
di`s- twice + ... race, offspring.]
(Zoology) A division of Trematoda in which alternate generations occur, the immediate young not resembling their parents.
Digenesis Di·gen"e·sis noun [ Prefix
di- +
genesis .]
(Biol.) The faculty of multiplying in two ways; -- by ova fecundated by spermatic fluid, and asexually, as by buds. See Parthenogenesis .
Digenous Dig"e·nous adjective [ Prefix
di- +
-genous .]
(Biol.) Sexually reproductive. Digenous reproduction .
(Biol.) Same as Digenesis .
Digerent Dig"er·ent . [ Latin digerens , present participle of digerere . See Digest .] Digesting. [ Obsolete] Bailey.
Digest Di·gest" transitive verb [
imperfect & past participle Digested ;
present participle & verbal noun Digesting .] [ Latin
digestus , past participle of
digerere to separate, arrange, dissolve, digest;
di- = dis- +
gerere to bear, carry, wear. See
Jest .]
1. To distribute or arrange methodically; to work over and classify; to reduce to portions for ready use or application; as, to digest the laws, etc. Joining them together and digesting them into order.
Blair. We have cause to be glad that matters are so well digested .
Shak. 2. (Physiol.) To separate (the food) in its passage through the alimentary canal into the nutritive and nonnutritive elements; to prepare, by the action of the digestive juices, for conversion into blood; to convert into chyme. 3. To think over and arrange methodically in the mind; to reduce to a plan or method; to receive in the mind and consider carefully; to get an understanding of; to comprehend. Feelingly digest the words you speak in prayer.
Sir H. Sidney. How shall this bosom multiplied digest
The senate's courtesy?
Shak. 4. To appropriate for strengthening and comfort. Grant that we may in such wise hear them [ the Scriptures], read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them.
Book of Common Prayer. 5. Hence: To bear comfortably or patiently; to be reconciled to; to brook. I never can digest the loss of most of Origin's works.
Coleridge. 6. (Chemistry) To soften by heat and moisture; to expose to a gentle heat in a boiler or matrass, as a preparation for chemical operations. 7. (Medicine) To dispose to suppurate, or generate healthy pus, as an ulcer or wound. 8. To ripen; to mature. [ Obsolete]
Well- digested fruits.
Jer. Taylor. 9. To quiet or abate, as anger or grief.
Digest Di·gest" intransitive verb 1. To undergo digestion; as, food digests well or ill. 2. (Medicine) To suppurate; to generate pus, as an ulcer.
Digest Di"gest noun [ Latin
digestum , plural
digesta , neut., from
digestus , past participle : confer French
digeste . See
Digest ,
transitive verb ]
That which is digested; especially, that which is worked over, classified, and arranged under proper heads or titles ; esp.
(Law) ,
A compilation of statutes or decisions analytically arranged. The term is applied in a general sense to the Pandects of Justinian (see Pandect ), but is also specially given by authors to compilations of laws on particular topics; a summary of laws; as, Comyn's Digest ; the United States Digest . A complete digest of Hindu and Mahommedan laws after the model of Justinian's celebrated Pandects.
Sir W. Jones. They made a sort of institute and digest of anarchy, called the Rights of Man.
Burke.
Digestedly Di·gest"ed·ly adverb In a digested or well-arranged manner; methodically.
Digester Di·gest"er noun 1. One who digests. 2. A medicine or an article of food that aids digestion, or strengthens digestive power. Rice is . . . a great restorer of health, and a great digester .
Sir W. Temple. 3. A strong closed vessel, in which bones or other substances may be subjected, usually in water or other liquid, to a temperature above that of boiling, in order to soften them.
Digestibility Di·gest`i·bil"i·ty noun The quality of being digestible.
Digestible Di·gest"i·ble adjective [ French
digestible , Latin
digestibilis .]
Capable of being digested.
Digestibleness Di·gest"i·ble·ness noun The quality of being digestible; digestibility.
Digestion Di·ges"tion noun [ French
digestion , Latin
digestio .]
1. The act or process of digesting; reduction to order; classification; thoughtful consideration. 2. (Physiol.) The conversion of food, in the stomach and intestines, into soluble and diffusible products, capable of being absorbed by the blood. 3. (Medicine) Generation of pus; suppuration.
Digestive Di·gest"ive adjective [ French
digestif , Latin
digestivus .]
Pertaining to digestion; having the power to cause or promote digestion; as, the digestive ferments. Digestive cheese and fruit there sure will be.
B. Jonson. Digestive apparatus ,
the organs of food digestion, esp. the alimentary canal and glands connected with it. --
Digestive salt ,
the chloride of potassium.
Digestive Di·gest"ive noun 1. That which aids digestion, as a food or medicine. Chaucer. That digestive [ a cigar] had become to me as necessary as the meal itself.
Blackw. Mag. 2. (Medicine) (a) A substance which, when applied to a wound or ulcer, promotes suppuration. Dunglison. (b) A tonic. [ R.]
Digestor Di·gest"or noun See Digester .
Digesture Di·ges"ture noun Digestion. [ Obsolete]
Harvey.
Diggable Dig"ga·ble adjective Capable of being dug.
Digger Dig"ger noun One who, or that which, digs. Digger wasp (Zoology) ,
any one of the fossorial Hymenoptera.
Diggers Dig"gers noun plural ; sing.
Digger .
(Ethnol.) A degraded tribe of California Indians; -- so called from their practice of digging roots for food.
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