deacon (dekn)

t. [ reading the hymn one or two lines at a time, the congregation singing the lines as read. This office was frequently performed by a deacon. The custom is nearly as old as the Reformation, and was made nece ary by the lack of hymn-books when congregational singing was introduced. See line, v. t. A prayer was made, and the chorister deaconed the first two lines. Good rich, Reminiscences, I. 77. 3. To arrange so as to present a specious and attractive appearance; present the best and largest specimens (of fruit or vegetables) to view and conceal the defective ones: as, to deacon strawberries or apples. [Slang, U. S.] [This sense contains a humorous allusion to the thrifty habits ascribed to the rural New England deacons.] Hence-4. To sophisticate; adulterate; "doctor": as, to deacon wine or other liquor. [Slang.]- Deaconed veal, veal unfit for use, as when killed too young. [Connecticut.] deacone (dē'kn-es), n. [Formerly also dea coni e; = D. diakones = G. diakoni - in = Dan. diakoni e = F. diacone e, diaconi e = Sp. Pg. diaconisa = It. diacone a, dead dead (ded), a. and n. [Early mod. E. also ded; The men are dead which sought thy life. Old Lord Dart mouth is dead of age. Ex. iv. 19. IMG:content-2097.png:[blocks in formation] 3. Not endowed with life; destitute of life; inanimate: as, dead matter.-4. Void of sensation or perception; insensible; numb: as, he was dead with sleep; dead to all sense of shame. The me enger of so unhappie newes Would faine have dyde: dead was his hart within. Spenser, F. Q., I. vii. 21. Everything, Yea, even pain, was dead a little space. William Morris , Earthly Paradise, II. 357. That white dome of St. Mark's had uttered in the dead ear of Venice "Know thou that for all these God will bring thee into judgment." Ruskin . 5t. Having the appearance of being lifele , as in a swoon. Sir J. Minnes fell sick at Church, and going down the gallery stairs, fell down dead, but came to himself again, and is pretty well. Pepys , Diary, II. 166. I presently fell dead on the floor, and it was with great difficulty I was brought back to life. Fielding , Amelia, i. 9. formed by men. They acted as doorkeepers and kept 6. Resembling death; still; motionle ; deep: order on the women's side of the congregation, a isted at the baptism of women and administered the unction as, a dead sleep; a dead calm. before baptism except the anointing of the forehead, instructed female catechumens, took charge of sick and poor women, and were present at interviews of the clergy with women. Such an order was especially needed in those Christian countries where Oriental seclusion of wo- men prevailed. Deacone es were required to remain un- married, and were generally selected from the consecrat- ed virgins or from the order of widows. In the Eastern Church the order continued into the middle ages, but it is not certain when it became extinct. In the Western Church it was abolished by succe ive decrees of councils during the fifth and succeeding centuries, and became fi- nally extinct about the tenth. Abbe es were sometimes called deacone es after the order became obsolete. And Rom. xvi., I commende vnto you Phebe, the deacon i e of the church of Cenchris. Tyndale , Works, p. 250. So Epiphanius: There is an order of deacone es in the church, but not to meddle, or to attempt any of the holy Jer. Taylor , Office Ministerial. offices. 2. A member of an order of women more or le fully established in recent times in several Protestant churches, with duties similar to the preceding; also, a member of the Institution of Deacone es first established by Pastor Fliedner, of the United Evangelical Church of Pru ia, at Kaiserswerth in 1836. The latter are wholly devoted, by engagements for fixed periods, to charitable work, as the nursing of the sick, etc. They reside in special houses, which have been established in many parts of the world. deaconhood (de'kn-hud), n. [ But in the dead time of the night, They set the field on fire. The Boyne Water (Child's Ballads, VII. 256) In the dead waste and middle of the night. Shak ., Hamlet, i. 2. Her hand shook, and we heard In the dead hush the papers that she held Rustle. Tennyson, Prince , iv. Slowly down the narrow canal, in that dead stillne which reigns in Venice, swept the sombre flotilla, bearing its unconscious burden to the Campo Santo. 7. Utter; stop. T. B. Aldrich , Ponkapog to Pesth, p. 30. entire; complete; full: as, a dead I was at a dead Stand in the Course of my Fortunes, when it pleased God to provide me lately an Employment to Spain, whence I hope there may arise both Repute and Howell , Letters, I. iii. 6. Profit. 8. Unvarying; unbroken by projections or irregularities. For every dead wall is covered with their names, their abilities, their amazing cures, and places of abode. Goldsmith, Citizen of the World, Ixviii. The long dead level of the marsh between A coloring of unreal beauty wore. Whittier, Bridal of Penna cook, v. 9. Unemployed; usele ; unprofitable: as, dead capital or stock (such as produces no profit). Our people, having plied their busine hard, had almost knit themselves out of work; and now caps were become a very dead commodity, which were the chief stay they had heretofore to trust to. R. Knox (Arber's Eng. Garner, I. 390). The deacons of all those churches should make up a those churches in an ordinary way, as the other elders. common deaconry , and be deacons in common unto all 10. Dull; inactive: as, a dead market. Good win, Works, IV. iv. 188. A long settee used deacon-seat (dē'kn-sēt), n. by lumbermen in camp. It is hewn from a single log, is usually a foot wide and five or six inches thick, and is raised about eighteen inches from the floor. [U. S. and Canada.]