dir1ment

[Fr. dirimant rendering null, from Lat. dirimens, pr. par. of dirimo to take asunder, to part.] Law : Rendering null and void. Diriment impediments of marriage : Law : Impediments of marriage which from the very outset render it null and void. ( Wharton .) dirk (1), dürk, s. [Ir. & Gael. duirc .] A dagger or poniard, worn as part of the equipment of a Highlander. "In haste the stripling to his side His father's dirk and broadsword tied." Scott: Lady of the Lake , iii. 18. dirk-knife, s. A knife with a hinged dirk-blade. *dirk (2), s. [DIRK (1), a.] Darkne . "Light with dirk hath accordance." Lydgate: Minor Poems , p. 59. *dirk (1), *dirke, *dyrk, a . [A. S. deorc .] 1. Lit .: Dark. IMG:content-2584.png:[blocks in formation] "Worldli liif is dirk ." - Wycliffe : Sel. Works , i. 394. dirk (2), durk, a . [DURK, a.] Thick-set, strongly made, muscular. dirk (1), dūrk, v . t . [DIRK (1), s.] To stab with a dirk; to poniard. "I thought of the Ruthvens that were dirked in their ain house, for it may be as small a forfeit."-Scott: Fortunes of Nigel , ch. iii. *dirk (2), *dirk'-en, v. t. & i. [A. S. dearcian.] A. Transitive: 1. Lit .: To darken, to make dark. "The whiche clothes a derkenes and dirked." Chaucer: Boethius, p. 5. 2. Fig .: To obscure, to hide. "Our feith was dirkid." IMG:content-2585.png:[blocks in formation] verb.) C. As substantive: 1. The sound caused by frequent knockings. 2. A slight tingling or smarting pain. "Of his body, as thocht it had not bene Bot ane dirling , or ane litill stound." Douglas: Virgil, 424, 49. IMG:content-2586.png:[blocks in formation] 4. Abuse; abusive or scurrilous language. To eat dirt , is to bear or put up with all sorts of insults and mortifications. B. Min.: A miner's term for the earth, gravel, stones, ., put into the cradle to be washed. dirt-beds, s . pl . Geol.: A name given to certain dark-colored Joam-like beds, which occur interstratified with Oolitic limestones and sandstones of Portland, evidently the sorts in which grew the cycads, zamias, and other plants of the period. They contain not only Cycadese, but also stumps of trees from 3 ft. to 7 ft. in height, in an erect position, with their roots extending beneath them. Stems of trees are also found prostrate, some of them from 20 ft. to 25 ft. in height, and from 1 ft. to 2 ft. in diameter. ( Page , & c .)