descensive

[Lat. descens ( us ), pa. par. of descendo; Eng. adj. suff. -ive.] Descendent, descending, tending downward. *dě-sçen-sõr-le, dě-sçen-sõr-y, s . [Low Lat. descensorium, from des census , pa. par. of descendo .] Chem.: A ve el in which distillation by descent 1. Lit.: Coming, moving, or pa ing down; de was carried out. [DESCENT.] "With piercing frosts or thick descending rain." Pope: Homer's Iliad, iii. 6. 2. Fig.: Proceeding, springing. II. Technically: 4. Math .: [ Descending series .] 5. Anat.: Directed downward. (1) Descending latitude : Astron.: The decreasing latitude of the moon or IMG:content-2237.png:[blocks in formation] IMG:content-2238.png:[blocks in formation] A. As adjective : 1. Lit .: Descending, falling, moving, or pa ing downward. "This descendant juice is that which principally nour ishes both fruit and plant."-Ray On the Creation. 2. Fig .: Descended, sprung, proceeding. "More than mortal grace Speaks thee descendent of ethereal race."-Pope. B. As subst.: A descendant. "Abraham's descendents according to the flesh.". Clarke: On the Evidences, prop. xiv. downward; descent. 1. Lit .: The act of falling, moving, or sinking the meat that is taken after them." Venner: Via Recta, "They hinder both the descension and concoction of 2. Fig .: A declension, a fall, a degradation. "From a god to a bull? a heavy descension!" Shakesp.: Henry IV., Pt. II ., ii. 2. IMG:content-2239.png:[blocks in formation] "Observing such gradual and gentle descents down ward, the rule of analogy may make it probable that it is so also in things above."- Locke. *(2) Course. "The verie di ent of ethimologie." Chaucer: Kemed, of Love. (3) A degree, a step in the scale of rank. infinite descents Beneath what other creatures are to thee." Milton: P. L., viii. 410, 411. (4) An invasion, a hostile landing from the sea. "The outcry against those who were suspected of having invited the enemy to make a descent on our shores was vehement and general."- Macaulay : Hist. Eng., ch. xvi. (5) An attack, an attempt. "For, should the fools prevail, they stop not there But make their next descent upon the fair." Dryden. *(6) A fall or falling from a higher state; degradation, abasement. "O foul descent , that I, who erst contended With gods to sit the highest, am now constrain'd Into a beast." Milton: P. L., ix. 163-65. *(7) The lowest place or part. "To the descent and dust below thy foot, A most toad-spotted traitor." Shakesp.: Lear, v. 8. (8) The state of being descended from an original or ancestor. "All of them, even without such a particular claim, had great reason to glory in their common descent from Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob."-Atterbury. (9) Birth, extraction, lineage. "He had great and various titles to consideration; descent, fortune, knowledge, experience, eloquence."Macaulay: Hist. Eng ., ch. x. (10) Source, origin. "Know their spring, their head, their true descent." Shakesp.: Romeo and Juliet, v. 3. *(11) A single step in the line of genealogy; a generation. "Even thrice eleven descents the crown retain'd Till aged Heli by true heritage it gain'd." Spenser: F. Q., II. x. 45. IMG:content-2240.png:[blocks in formation] IMG:content-2241.png:[blocks in formation] IMG:content-2242.png:[blocks in formation] dě-scri-er, s. [Eng. descry; -er.] One who de- scries, discovers, or espies; a discoverer. "The glad descrier shall not mi To taste the nectar of a ki ." *dě-script', a . & s. [Lat. descriptum , neut. sing. of descriptus , pa. par. of describo to describe.] A. As adj .: Described. B. As subst.: A plant that has been described. ( Ash .) dě-scrip'-tion, *de-scrip-cioun, *di-scrip- cion, s. [Fr. description ; Sp. descripcion ; Port. de- scripção ; Ital. descrizione, from Lat. descriptio, from descriptus , pa. par. of describo .] †1. The act of writing down or registering; a census. "Syryne big an to make this disc rip cion ."- Wycliffe : Sel . Works , i. 316. 2. The act of drawing, delineating, or represent- ing a figure by a plan. IMG:content-2243.png:[blocks in formation] Stands on the hourly thought." Shakesp.: King Lear, iv. 6. which confines itself to the consideration of facts and appearances as presented in the rocky crust of the earth. dě-scriptive-ly, adv . [Eng. descriptive ; -ly.] In a descriptive manner; by description. ven, di-scryve, *di-skryve, *dy-scryfe, *dy- scryve, v . t . [O. Fr. descrivre ; Ital. descrivere; Port, descrever , from Lat. describo (q. v.). Descrive is thus a doublet of describe , and the older form.] 1. To describe, to explain. "We may judge and descryve the dyversyte of one synne from an other."- Bp . Fisher : Ps . xxxix. IMG:content-2244.png:[blocks in formation] IMG:content-2245.png:[blocks in formation] The American Dictionary and Cyclopedia 1. Lit .: A waste, uninhabited, uncultivated, or deserted place; a waste, a wilderne . Specifically, the Deserts of Africa, Arabia, and Central Asia, which are arid, sandy, and shingly; the desert steppes of northern Asia, which are partly barren, and partly covered with rough gra es; the desert plains of Australia, which are scrubby and water- le , and the Llano estacado of this country. "Bi the desert awei che nam."- Gen . & Exod ., 1,227. 2. Fig .: Solitude, drearine . Fair was she and young; but, alas! before her ex- tended, Dreary and vast and silent, the desert of life Long fellow: Evangeline , ii. 1. desert-bird, s. The pelican. IMG:content-2247.png:[ocr errors] "The desert-bird Whose beak unlocks her bosom's stream, To still her famished nestlings' scream." Byron: The Giaour. "Or if, in lonely glen or strath, The desert- dweller met his path. IMG:content-2248.png:[blocks in formation] IMG:content-2249.png:[blocks in formation] uage."- Udall : Luke v. "The desertne e of the countrey lying waste and sal- worth. The man of merit looks to the advantages děş-ert-ne , *děş -ērt-ne e, s . [Eng. desert; which shall accrue to himself; the man of worth is -ne . The state or condition of being desert or contented with the consciousne of what he waste. po e es in himself; merit respects the attainments or qualifications of a man; worth respects his moral qualities only. It is po ible therefore for a man to have great merit and little or no worth . He who has great powers and uses them for the advantage of himself or others is a man of merit ; he only who does good from a good motive is a man of worth . We look for merit among men in the discharge of their several offices or duties; we look for worth in their social capacities. From these words are de- rived the epithets deserved and merited , in relation to what we receive from others; and deserving , meritorious , worthy , and worth , in regard to what we po e in ourselves; a treatment is deserved or undeserved ; reproofs are merited or unmerited : the harsh treatment of a master is easier to be borne when it is undeserved than when it is deserved ; the reproaches of a friend are very severe when un- merited. A laborer is deserving on account of his industry; an artist is meritorious on account of his profe ional abilities; a citizen is worthy on ac- count of his benevolence and uprightne . The first person deserves to be well paid and encour- aged; the second merits the applause which is bestowed on him; the third is worthy of confidence and esteem from all men. Betwixt worthy and worth there is this difference, that the former is said of the intrinsic and moral qualities, the latter of extrinsic accidents: a worthy man po e es that which calls for the esteem of others; but a man is worth the property which he can call his own." (Crabb: Eng . Synon.) dě-şert-er, *dě-şert-õr, s . [Fr. déserteur , from déserter =to desert.] 1. Ord. Lang.: One who deserts, forsakes, or abandons a cause, a party, a friend, . cro ed the hated threshold of the deserter . " - Macaulay : Hist. Eng . , ch. xvii. 2. Mil. & Naval : One who deserts from the serv- ice; one who, without leave, absents himself from his regiment, station, or ship for a longer period than twenty-four hours, under which period he is cla ed as absent without leave. dě-şert-fül, a. [Eng. desert (3), s.; ful (1).] High in desert or merit; deserving, meritorious. "The due reward of your desertful glories Must to posterity remain." IMG:content-2250.png:[blocks in formation] "Ungrateful man! deserves not this thy care, Our troops to hearten, and our toils to share?" Pope: Homer's Iliad, vii. 414, 415. 2. To merit or be worthy of for labors, services, or qualities. (1) Of good or reward. IMG:content-2251.png:[blocks in formation] 1. Mil . & Naval : The act of deserting from the service in which one is engaged. Desertion in time of peace is punishable by imprisonment, and, if is death. nece ary, reduction; in time of war the penalty 2. Theol .: Spiritual despondency; a feeling of being forsaken by God. The quality or state of deserving or meriting. "Obnoxiousne and deservedne to be destroyed."- Good win: Works , vol. 1., pt. iii., p. 170. "Whose love is never linked to the deserver Till his deserts are past." IMG:content-2252.png:[blocks in formation] dě-sid-er-a-tive, a . & s. [Lat. aesiderativus .] A. As adjective : Ord. Lang. & Gram .: Having or expre ing desire. "The verbs called deponent, desiderative , frequent a tive, inceptive, ."-Beattie: Moral Science , pt. i., ch. i., § 3. B. As substantive: xpre ive of a desire to do the action implied in the primitive verb. dě-sid-er-ā-tum (pl. dě-sid-er-ā-ta), s . [Lat, neut. sing. of desi derat us , pa. par. of desidero to desire.] Anything desired, wished for, or wanted; a thing of which we feel the lo or absence; a state of things to be desired. "My name is True Love, of cardinal desidery, the very exemplary." gence." -Leland : To Sec. Cromwell in Wood's At hence Doon, dě-sight-ment ( gh silent), s. [Pref. de =away, from; Eng. sight (q. v.), and suff. -ment .] The act of making unsightly or disfiguring. "Substitute jury-masts at whatever desightment or dam- age in risk."- London Times (in Ogilvie ). =to mark, to denote: de =down, and sig no =to mark; signum=a mark, a sign.] before the mind; the intention is the thing to which the mind bends or inclines: purpose and intend differ therefore both in the nature of the action and the object; we purpose seriously; we intend vaguely: we set about that which we purpose ; we may delay that which we have only intended : the execution of one's purpose rests mostly with one's self; the fulfillment of an intention depends upon circumstances: a man of a resolute temper is not to be diverted from his purpose by trifling objects; we may be disappointed in ou our intentions by a variety of unforeseen but uncontrollable events. Mean , which is a term altogether of colloquial use, differs but little from intend , except that it is used for more familiar objects; to mean is simply to have in the mind; to intend is to lean with the mind toward anything. Purpose is always applied to some proximate or definite object; intend and mean to that which is general or remote: we pur- pose to set out at a certain time or go a certain route; we mean to set out as soon as we can, and go the way that shall be found most agreeable; the moralist designs by his writings to effect a reform a- tion in the manners of men; a writer purposes to treat on a given subject in some particular manner; it is ridiculous to lay down rules which are not intended to be kept: an honest man always means to satisfy his creditors. Design and purpose are taken sometimes in the abstract sense; intend and mean always in connection with the agent who intends or means Design, when not ex- pre ly qualified by a contrary epithet, is used in a bad sense in connection with a particular agent; purpose, intention , and meaning , in an indifferent sense." (Crabb: Eng. Synon.) "We are to observe whether the picture or outlines be well drawn, or, as more elegant artists term it, well de- signed."-Wotton. 3. To purpose, to intend, to have in contempla- tion. 4. To devote, or to set apart for a purpose. "But if a sweeter voice, and one designed A ble ing to my country and mankind, Reclaim the wandering you sands, IMG:content-2253.png:[blocks in formation] "He was born to the inheritance of a splendid fortune; he was designed to the study of the law."-Dryden. B. Intransitive : "Meet me to-morrow where the master And this fraternity shall design ." 2. To plan, to intend, to purpose, to have in view. *3. To direct one's course; to start for. "From this city she designed for Collin [Cologne]."- Evelyn . IMG:content-2254.png:[blocks in formation] intend, to mean , and to purpose : " Design and pur- istence of God, as well as of His power, wisdom, and pose are terms of higher import than intend and goodne , founded on the evidences of design in mean , which are in familiar use; the latter still nature. Design is held to imply a Designer. more so than the former. The design embraces Crabb thus discriminates between design . plan, many objects; the purpose consists of only one; the scheme , and project : "Arrangement is the idea com- former supposes something studied and methodical, mon to these toms: the design includes the thing it requires reflection; the latter supposes some that is to be brought about; the plan includes the thing fixed and determinate, it requires resolution. means by which it is to be brought about: a design A design is attainable; a purpose is steady. We was formed in the time of James I. for overturning speak of the design as it regards the thing con- on the government of the country; the plan by which ceived; we speak of the purpose as it regards the this was to have been realized consisted in placing temper of the person. Men of a sanguine or aspir gunpowder under the parliament-house and blow ing character are apt to form designs which cannot ing up the a embly. A design is to be estimated be carried into execution; whoever wishes to keep according to its intrinsic worth; a plan is to be true to his purpose must not listen to many counestimated according to its relative value, or fitne selors. The purpose is the thing proposed or set for the design : a design is noble or wicked, a plan designable out; distinguishable. IMG:content-2255.png:[blocks in formation] "Neither common law nor statute law designated any person as entitled to fill the throne between his demise and his decease." --Macaulay : Hist. Eng., ch. x. 3. To name, to denominate; to denote or distinguish by name or designation. " a select number of members who were desig. nated as the Lords of the Articles."-Macaulay: Hist. Eng., ch. xiii. 4. To appoint, to select, to a ign. "Are the instructors of a different description from those designated by the founders?"-Knox: On Grammar Schools. For the difference between to designate and to name , see NAME.