dire (dir)

[L. dir us, fearful, awful, dreadful, akin to Gr. δεινός, fearful, terrible, δειλός, fearful, frightened, δείδειν, fear, v., δέος, fear.] Causing or attended by great fear or terrible Add not a doubtful comment to a text That in itself is direct and easy. Beau , and Fl ., Thierry and Theodoret, iii. 1. Being busy above, a great cry I hear, and go down; and what should it be but Jane in a fit of direct raving, which lasted half an hour. Pepys , Diary, Aug. 19, 1668. 6. Straightforward; characterized by the absence of equivocation or ambiguousne ; open; ingenuous; sincere. There be that are in nature faithful and sincere, and Bacon plain and direct; not crafty and involved. I want a simple answer, and direct, But you evade; yes! 'tis as I suspect. Crabbe, The Borough. 7. In logic, proceeding from antecedent to consequent, from cause to effect, etc.- Direct action. See action, and direct -action, a.- Direct battery, congruity, contempt, conversion, demonstration, dial, evidence, examination, fire, etc. See the nouns. Direct illumination, rays, etc., illumination, rays, etc., without reflection or refraction. Direct induced current. See induction. - Direct interval. See interval. - Direct motion, in music, the motion of two voices in the same direction, up or down. It is also called similar motion, and includes parallel motion. See motion, - Direct operation, in math., an operation performed by the direct application of a rule, and not by trial or approx i mation: opposed to inverse operation.-Direct predication, in logic, one the subject of which denotes an object while the predicate signifies a character: opposed to indirect predication, in which the subject conveys the quality while the predicate indicates the object. - Direct product, the scalar quantity obtained by multiplying the magnitudes of two vectors together with the cosine of the angular difference of their directions. - Direct proof, proof which proceeds from a rule and the statement of a case as coming under that rule to the application of the rule to that case: as, few men wounded in the liver recover; this man is wounded in the liver; this man will suffering; dreadful; awful: as, dire disaster; Hobably not recover Direct ratio, or direct prop or the dire results of intemperance. Medusa was so dire a monster as to turn into stone all those who but looked upon her. Bacon , Fable of Perseus. IMG:content-2719.png:[blocks in formation] Could make me cast all hope of life aside? William Morris , Earthly Paradise, II. 163. =Syn. Fearful, woeful, disastrous, calamitous, destructive, terrific, awful, portentous. direct (di-rekt'), a. [ directo , Pg. also direito = It. diretto = D. G. direct = Dan. direkte = Sw. direkt , direct us , straight, level, upright, steep, pp. of dirigere (also derigere , with prefix de-), set in a straight line, straighten, direct, guide, steer, arrange, di- for dis- , apart (or de- , down), + regere , keep straight, direct, rule: see regent , right . From L. direct us come also ult. dre , addre , droit, adroit , maladroit .] 1. Straight; undeviating; not oblique, crooked, circuitous, refracted, or collateral: as, to pa in a direct line from one body or place to another; a direct course or aim; a direct ray of light; direct descent (that is, descent in an unbroken line through male ancestors). It was no time by direct means to seek her. Sir P. Sidney. There were six Dukes of Normandy in France, in a di rect Line succeeding from Father to Son. Baker , Chronicles, p. 20. 2. In astron., appearing to move forward in the zodiac according to the natural order and succe ion of the signs, or from west to east: opposed to retrograde: as, the motion of a planet is direct. - 3. Having a character, relation, or action analogous to that of straightne of direction or motion: as, a direct interest (that is, part ownership) in a property or bus i ne . It is scarcely too much to say, that Lord Byron never wrote without some reference, direct or indirect, to himself. Macaulay , Moore's Byron. In a great modern state it is comparatively few who have any direct personal knowledge of foreign affairs or any direct personal interest in them. E. A. Freeman , Amer. Lects., p. 245. Differences on subjects of the first importance are always painful, but the direct shock of contrary enthusiasms has something appalling about it. J. R. Seeley, Nat. Religion, p. 3. 4. In the natural, unreflecting way; proceeding by a simple method to attain an object; without modifying one's procedure owing to recon tion. See ratio.- Direct rhythm. See rhythm. Direct sphere, a sphere whose pole coincides with the zenith or lies on the horizon. - Direct tax, See tax.Direct turn, in music, a melodic embellishment. See turn.-Direct vision, vision by unrefracted and unreflected rays. Direct-vision spectroscope. See spec troscope. Direct way around an inclosure or a circuit, in math., that way around in which the inside of the inclosure is kept at the left-hand side.