dirt eating (derte"ting)

1. The practice of some savage or barbarous tribes, as the Ottomacs of South America, of using certain kinds of clay for food; geophagism.-2. Cachexia African a, a disorder of the nutritive functions among negroes, and in certain kinds of disturbances of health among women, in which there is a morbid craving to eat dirt. dirtily (der'ti-li), adv. [ Dirtily and desperately gull'd. Donne, Elegies, xii. dirtine (dêr'ti-nes), n. 1. The state of being dirty; fil you r ; foulne ; nastine . Paris, which before that time called Lutecia, because of the mudde and dirt in e e of the place wherein it stand. eth. Stow , The Romans, an. 386. If gentlemen would regard the virtues of their ances tours,... this degenerate wantonne and dirtine of speech would return to the dunghill. Barrow , Works, I. xiii. His [a collier's] high wages arise altogether from the hardship, disagreeablene , and dirtine of his work. Adam Smith , Wealth of Nations, i. 10. 2. Meanne ; basene ; sordidne .-3. Slop pine ; muddine ; uncomfortable ne : as, the dirtine of the weather. dirt-scraper (dert's kra per), n. A road-scraper grading shovel, used in leveling or grading or a ground. dirty (dêr'ti), a. [Formerly also spelled durty, durtie; And all his armour sprinckled was with blood, And soyld with durtie gore that no man can Discerne the hew thereof. Spenser, F. Q., II. vi. 41. And here the maiden, sleeping sound On the dank and dirty ground. Shak ., M. N. D., ii. 3. IMG:content-2725.png:[blocks in formation] in the House of Commons began at nine o'clock in the morning, and continued till after mid"withdrew from disability to the conclusion." 5. Repulsive to sensitive feeling; disagree night, without interruption e Many says Clarendon able; disgusting. dirty-allen (dėr'ti-al"en), n . [E. dial., dirty + allen , var. of aulin , q. v.] A local English name of the dung-bird. diruptiont (di-rup's hon), n. [L. diruptio (n-), dirumpere or disrumpere , pp. diruptus , disrup- tus , break apart: see disrupt .] A bursting or rending asunder. See disruption . Dis (dis), n. [L., related, but prob. not directly, with dis ( dit- ), contr. of dives ( div it- ), rich (cf. Pluto , Πλούτων , as related to πλοῦτος , rich), both akin to dius , div us , divine, deus , a god: see deity .] In Rom . myth., a name sometimes given to Pluto, and hence to the infernal world. dis-. ، Since they did plot The means that dusky Dis my daughter got, Her and her blind boy's scandal'd company I have forsworn. Shak ., Tempest, iv. 1. Everett , Orations, II. 121. Chas am refused to see him, pleading his disability. Bancroft. Specifically-2. Want of competent means or instruments.-3. Want of legal capacity or qualification; legal incapacity; incapacity to do an act with legal effect. This disadvantage which the Di enters at present lie Swift . under, of a disability to receive Church preferments, will be easily remedied by the repeal of the test. The pagan laws during the empire had been continually repealing the old disabilities of women, and the legislative movement in their favour continued with unabated force from Const an tine to Just in i an, and appeared also in some of the early laws of the barbarians. Lecky, Europ. Morals, II. 358. =Syn. Disability , Inability , incompetence, incapacity, disqualification, unfitne . Disability implies deprivation or lo of power; inability indicates rather inherent want of power. One declines an office from inability to discharge its duties, but is not elected to it because of some external disability disqualifying him for being chosen. disable (dis-a'bl), v . t .; pret. and pp. disabled , ppr. disabling. [ A Christian's life is a perpetual exercise, a wrestling and warfare, for which sensual pleasure disables him. Jer. Taylor, Holy Living. An attainder of the ancestor corrupts the blood, and disables his children to inherit. Black stone . A single State or a minority of States ought to be dis abled to resist the will of the majority. N. Webster , in Scudder, p. 123. [ME. dis- , des- , OF. des- , dis- , de- , F. des- , 2. To impair; diminish; impoverish. dis-, dé- = Sp. Pg. des-, dis- = It. dis-, des-, s(the Rom. forms varying according to position, age, or other circumstances, and often coexisting), few words in which the force of the prefix is le obvious, and the archaic form des- accordingly remains in use along with the regular modern form dis-, as in discant, descant, dispatch, des patch.] A prefix of Latin origin (in other forms di-, dif- ), in force-(1) separative or disjunctive, 'apart,' 'asunder, in different directions,' etc., as in distend, dispart, di ident, etc., this force being often only indistinctly felt in the English word, as in dispose, di ent, distract, etc., and pa ing even in Latin into a merely intensive use, not felt at all in English, as in dispute; (2) privative or negative, like the English un-, reversing or negativing the primitive, as in dis similar, etc., having come, in this use, from its frequency in Middle Latin and Old French, to be recognized as a regular English prefix, and as such usable with almost any verb and adjective, as in disable, disesteem, disfavor, disoblige, disfellowship, etc., and in colloquial or dialectal use in such forms as disremember, dis recollect, etc. In some words the prefix dis- was early reduced by apheresis to 8-, a form common in Italian, and seen in English in spend, splay, sport, etc., as compared with dispend, dis. An abbreviation of discount. disability (dis-a-bil'i-ti), n.; pl. disabilities (-tiz). [It. disabilità; as dis- priv. + ability.] 1. Want of competent power, strength, or physical or mental ability; weakne ; incapacity; impotence: as, disability arising from infirmity; a blind person labors under great disa bility. IMG:content-2726.png:[blocks in formation] 3t. To pronounce incapable; hence, to detract from; disparage; undervalue. He disabled my judgment. Shak ., As you Like it, v. 4. This Year the King being at his Manor of Oking, Wolsey, Archbishop of York, came and shewed him Letters that he was elected Cardinal; for which Dignity he dis abled himself, till the King willed him to take it upon him, and from thenceforth called him Lord Cardinal. Baker , Chronicles, p. 263. =Syn. 1. To cripple, paralyze, enfeeble, unfit, disqualify. disablet (dis-a'bl), a. [ Wanting ability; incompetent. Our disable and unactive force. IMG:content-2727.png:[blocks in formation] But still this is only an interruption of the acts, rather than any disablement of the faculty. South , Sermons, V. iv.