Webster's Dictionary, 1913

Search Webster
Word starts with Word or meaning contains
Dastardness noun Dastardliness.

Dastardy noun Base timidity; cowardliness.

Daswe intransitive verb See Dasewe [ Obsolete] Chaucer.

Dasymeter noun [ Greek dasy`s rough, thick + -meter .] (Physics) An instrument for testing the density of gases, consisting of a thin glass globe, which is weighed in the gas or gases, and then in an atmosphere of known density.

Dasypædal adjective (Zoology) Dasypædic.

Dasypædes noun plural [ New Latin , from Greek dasy`s hairy, shaggy + ... , ... , a child.] (Zoology) Those birds whose young are covered with down when hatched.

Dasypædic adjective (Zoology) Pertaining to the Dasypædes; ptilopædic.

Dasyure (dăs"ĭ*ūr) noun [ Greek dasy`s thick, shaggy + o'yra` tail: confer French dasyure .] (Zoology) A carnivorous marsupial quadruped of Australia, belonging to the genus Dasyurus . There are several species.

Dasyurine adjective (Zoology) Pertaining to, or like, the dasyures.

Data noun plural [ Latin pl . of datum .] See Datum .

Datable adjective That may be dated; having a known or ascertainable date. " Datable almost to a year." The Century.

Dataria noun [ Late Latin , from Latin datum given.] (R. C. Ch.) Formerly, a part of the Roman chancery; now, a separate office from which are sent graces or favors, cognizable in foro externo , such as appointments to benefices. The name is derived from the word datum , given or dated (with the indications of the time and place of granting the gift or favor).

Datary noun [ Late Latin datarius . See Dataria .]
1. (R. C. Ch.) An officer in the pope's court, having charge of the Dataria.

2. The office or employment of a datary.

Date noun [ French datte , Latin dactylus , from Greek ... , probably not the same word as da`ktylos finger, but of Semitic origin.] (Botany) The fruit of the date palm; also, the date palm itself.

» This fruit is somewhat in the shape of an olive, containing a soft pulp, sweet, esculent, and wholesome, and inclosing a hard kernel.

Date palm , or Date tree (Botany) , the genus of palms which bear dates, of which common species is Phœnix dactylifera . See Illust. -- Date plum (Botany) , the fruit of several species of Diospyros , including the American and Japanese persimmons, and the European lotus ( D. Lotus ). -- Date shell , or Date fish (Zoology) , a bivalve shell, or its inhabitant, of the genus Pholas , and allied genera. See Pholas .

Date noun [ French date , Late Latin data , from Latin datus given, past participle of dare to give; akin to Greek ... , OSlaw. dati , Sanskrit . Confer Datum , Dose , Dato , Die .]
1. That addition to a writing, inscription, coin, etc., which specifies the time (as day, month, and year) when the writing or inscription was given, or executed, or made; as, the date of a letter, of a will, of a deed, of a coin. etc.

And bonds without a date , they say, are void.
Dryden.

2. The point of time at which a transaction or event takes place, or is appointed to take place; a given point of time; epoch; as, the date of a battle.

He at once,
Down the long series of eventful time,
So fixed the dates of being, so disposed
To every living soul of every kind
The field of motion, and the hour of rest.
Akenside.

3. Assigned end; conclusion. [ R.]

What Time would spare, from Steel receives its date .
Pope.

4. Given or assigned length of life; dyration. [ Obsolete]

Good luck prolonged hath thy date .
Spenser.

Through his life's whole date .
Chapman.

To bear date , to have the date named on the face of it; -- said of a writing.

Date transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Dated ; present participle & verbal noun Dating .] [ Confer French dater . See 2d Date .]
1. To note the time of writing or executing; to express in an instrument the time of its execution; as, to date a letter, a bond, a deed, or a charter.

2. To note or fix the time of, as of an event; to give the date of; as, to date the building of the pyramids.

» We may say dated at or from a place.

The letter is dated at Philadephia.
G. T. Curtis.

You will be suprised, I don't question, to find among your correspondencies in foreign parts, a letter dated from Blois.
Addison.

In the countries of his jornal seems to have been written; parts of it are dated from them.
M. Arnold.

Date intransitive verb To have beginning; to begin; to be dated or reckoned; -- with from .

The Batavian republic dates from the successes of the French arms.
E. Everett.

Date line The hypothetical line on the surface of the earth fixed by international or general agreement as a boundary on one side of which the same day shall have a different name and date in the calendar from its name and date on the other side.

» Speaking generally, the date line coincides with the meridian 180° from Greenwich. It deflects between north latitudes 80° and 45°, so that all Asia lies to the west, all North America, including the Aleutian Islands, to the east of the line; and between south latitudes 12° and 56°, so that Chatham Island and the Tonga group lie to the west of it. A vessel crossing this line to the westward sets the date forward by one day, as from Sunday to Monday. A vessel crossing the line to the eastward sets the date back by one day, as from Monday to Sunday. Hawaii has the same day name as San Francisco; Manila, the same day name as Australia, and this is one day later than the day of Hawaii. Thus when it is Monday May 1st at San Francisco it is Tuesday may 2d at Manila.

Dateless adjective Without date; having no fixed time.

Dater noun One who dates.

Datiscin noun (Chemistry) A white crystalline glucoside extracted from the bastard hemp ( Datisca cannabina ).

Dative adjective [ Latin dativus appropriate to giving, from dare to give. See 2d Date .]
1. (Gram.) Noting the case of a noun which expresses the remoter object, and is generally indicated in English by to or for with the objective.

2. (Law) (a) In one's gift; capable of being disposed of at will and pleasure, as an office. (b) Removable, as distinguished from perpetual; -- said of an officer. (c) Given by a magistrate, as distinguished from being cast upon a party by the law. Burril. Bouvier.

Dative executor , one appointed by the judge of probate, his office answering to that of an administrator.

Dative noun [ Latin dativus .] The dative case. See Dative , adjective , 1.

Datively adverb As a gift. [ R.]

Datolite noun [ From. Greek ... to divide + -lite ; in allusion to the granular structure of a massive variety.] (Min.) A borosilicate of lime commonly occuring in glassy,, greenish crystals. [ Written also datholite .]

Datum noun ; plural Data . [ Latin See 2d Date .]
1. Something given or admitted; a fact or principle granted; that upon which an inference or an argument is based; -- used chiefly in the plural.

Any writer, therefore, who . . . furnishes us with data sufficient to determine the time in which he wrote.
Priestley.

2. plural (Math.) The quantities or relations which are assumed to be given in any problem.

Datum line (Surv.) , the horizontal or base line, from which the heights of points are reckoned or measured, as in the plan of a railway, etc.

Datura noun [ New Latin ; confer Sanskrit dhattūra , Persian & Arabic tatūra , Tatūla .] (Botany) A genus of solanaceous plants, with large funnel-shaped flowers and a four-celled, capsular fruit.

» The commonest species are the thorn apple ( D. stramonium ), with a prickly capsule (see Illust. of capsule ), white flowers and green stem, and D. tatula , with a purplish tinge of the stem and flowers. Both are narcotic and dangerously poisonous.

Daturine noun [ From Datura .] (Chemistry) Atropine; -- called also daturia and daturina .

Daub (dab) transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Daubed ; present participle & verbal noun Daubing .] [ Middle English dauben to smear, Old French dauber to plaster, from Latin dealbare to whitewash, plaster; de- + albare to whiten, from albus white, perhaps also confused with W. dwb plaster, dwbio to plaster, Ir. & OGael. dob plaster. See Alb , and confer Dealbate .]
1. To smear with soft, adhesive matter, as pitch, slime, mud, etc.; to plaster; to bedaub; to besmear.

She took for him an ark of bulrushes, and daubed it with slime and with pitch.
Ex. ii. 3.

2. To paint in a coarse or unskillful manner.

If a picture is daubed with many bright and glaring colors, the vulgar admire it is an excellent piece.
I. Watts.

A lame, imperfect piece, rudely daubed over.
Dryden.

3. To cover with a specious or deceitful exterior; to disguise; to conceal.

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

4. To flatter excessively or glossy. [ R.]

I can safely say, however, that, without any daubing at all,
I am very sincerely your very affectionate, humble servant.
Smollett.

5. To put on without taste; to deck gaudily. [ R.]

Let him be daubed with lace.
Dryden.

Daub intransitive verb To smear; to play the flatterer.

His conscience . . . will not daub nor flatter.
South.

Daub noun
1. A viscous, sticky application; a spot smeared or daubed; a smear.

2. (Paint.) A picture coarsely executed.

Did you . . . take a look at the grand picture? . . . 'T is a melancholy daub , my lord.
Sterne.

Dauber noun
1. One who, or that which, daubs; especially, a coarse, unskillful painter.

2. (Copperplate Print.) A pad or ball of rags, covered over with canvas, for inking plates; a dabber.

3. A low and gross flatterer.

4. (Zoology) The mud wasp; the mud dauber.

Daubery, Daubry noun A daubing; specious coloring; false pretenses.

She works by charms, by spells, by the figure, and such daubery as this is.
Shak.

Daubing noun
1. The act of one who daubs; that which is daubed.

2. A rough coat of mortar put upon a wall to give it the appearance of stone; rough-cast.

3. In currying, a mixture of fish oil and tallow worked into leather; -- called also dubbing . Knight.

Daubreelite noun [ From Daubrée , a French mineralogist.] (Min.) A sulphide of chromium observed in some meteoric irons.

Dauby adjective Smeary; viscous; glutinous; adhesive. " Dauby wax."

Daughter noun ; plural Daughters ; obsolete plural Daughtren . [ Middle English doughter , doghter , dohter , Anglo-Saxon dohtor , dohter ; akin to Old Saxon dohtar , Dutch dochter , German tochter , Icelandic dōttir , Swedish dotter , Danish dotter , datter , Goth. daúhtar ,, OSlav. dŭshti , Russian doche , Lithuanian duktē , Greek qyga`thr , Zend. dughdhar , Sanskrit duhitr ; possibly originally, the milker, confer Sanskrit duh to milk. √68, 245.]
1. The female offspring of the human species; a female child of any age; -- applied also to the lower animals.

2. A female descendant; a woman.

This woman, being a daughter of Abraham.
Luke xiii. 16.

Dinah, the daughter of Leah, which she bare unto Jacob, went out to see the daughter of the land.
Gen. xxxiv. 1.

3. A son's wife; a daughter-in-law.

And Naomi said, Turn again, my daughters .
Ruth. i. 11.

4. A term of address indicating parental interest.

Daughter , be of good comfort.
Matt. ix. 22.

Daughter cell (Biol.) , one of the cells formed by cell division. See Cell division , under Division .

Daughter-in-law noun ; plural Daughters-in-law . The wife of one's son.

Daughterliness noun The state of a daughter, or the conduct becoming a daughter.

Daughterly adjective Becoming a daughter; filial.

Sir Thomas liked her natural and dear daughterly affection towards him.
Cavendish.

Dauk transitive verb See Dawk , transitive verb , to cut or gush.

Daun noun A variant of Dan , a title of honor. [ Obsolete] Chaucer.

Daunt transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Daunted ; present participle & verbal noun Daunting .] [ Old French danter , French dompter to tame, subdue, from Latin domitare , v. intens. of domare to tame. See Tame .]
1. To overcome; to conquer. [ Obsolete]

2. To repress or subdue the courage of; to check by fear of danger; to cow; to intimidate; to dishearten.

Some presences daunt and discourage us.
Glanvill.

Syn. -- To dismay; appall. See Dismay .

Daunter noun One who daunts.

Dauntless adjective Incapable of being daunted; undaunted; bold; fearless; intrepid.

Dauntless he rose, and to the fight returned.
Dryden.

-- Daunt"less*ly , adverb -- Daunt"less*ness , noun

Dauphin noun [ French dauphin , prop., a dolphin, from Latin delphinus . See Dolphin . The name was given, for some reason unexplained, to Guigo, count of Vienne, in the 12th century, and was borne by succeeding counts of Vienne. In 1349, Dauphiny was bequeathed to Philippe de Valois, king of France, on condition that the heir of the crown should always hold the title of Dauphin de Viennois.] The title of the eldest son of the king of France, and heir to the crown. Since the revolution of 1830, the title has been discontinued.

Dauphiness, Dauphine noun The title of the wife of the dauphin.

Dauw noun [ D.] (Zoology) The striped quagga, or Burchell's zebra, of South Africa ( Asinus Burchellii ); -- called also peechi , or peetsi .

Davenport noun [ From the name of the original maker. Encyc. Dict. ] A kind of small writing table, generally somewhat ornamental, and forming a piece of furniture for the parlor or boudoir.

A much battered davenport in one of the windows, at which sat a lady writing.
A. B. Edwards.

Davidic adjective Of or pertaining to David, the king and psalmist of Israel, or to his family.