Dress"mak`er (?), n. A maker of gowns, or similar garments; a mantuamaker.
Dress"mak`ing, n. The art, process, or occupation, of making dresses.
Dress"y (?), a. Showy in dress; attentive to dress.
A dressy flaunting maidservant.
T. Hook.
A neat, dressy gentleman in black.
W. Irving.
Drest (?), p. p. of Dress.
Dretch (?), v. t. & i. See Drecche. [Obs.]
Dreul (?), v. i. To drool. [Obs.]
Drev"il (?), n. A fool; a drudge. See Drivel.
Drew (?), imp. of Draw.
Drey (?), n. A squirrel's nest. See Dray. [Obs.]
Dreye (?), a. Dry. [Obs.] Chaucer.
Dreyn"te (?), imp., Dreynt (&?;), p. p., of Drench to drown. [Obs.] Chaucer.
Drib (?), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Dribbed (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Dribbing.] [Cf. Drip.] To do by little and little; as: (a) To cut off by a little at a time; to crop. (b) To appropriate unlawfully; to filch; to defalcate.
He who drives their bargain dribs a part.
Dryden.
(c) To lead along step by step; to entice.
With daily lies she dribs thee into cost.
Dryden.
Drib (?), v. t. & i. (Archery) To shoot (a shaft) so as to pierce on the descent. [Obs.] Sir P. Sidney.
Drib, n. A drop. [Obs.] Swift.
Drib"ber (?), n. One who dribs; one who shoots weakly or badly. [Obs.] Ascham.
Drib"ble (?), v. i. [imp. & p. p. Dribbled (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Dribbing (?).] [Freq. of drib, which is a variant of drip.] 1. To fall in drops or small drops, or in a quick succession of drops; as, water dribbles from the eaves.
2. To slaver, as a child or an idiot; to drivel.
3. To fall weakly and slowly. [Obs.] "The dribbling dart of love." Shak. (Meas. for Meas. , i. 3, 2). [Perhaps an error for dribbing.]
Drib"ble, v. t. To let fall in drops.
Let the cook . . . dribble it all the way upstairs.
Swift.
Drib"ble, n. A drizzling shower; a falling or leaking in drops. [Colloq.]
Drib"bler (?), n. One who dribbles.
{ Drib"blet (?), Drib"let (?), } n. [From Dribble.] A small piece or part; a small sum; a small quantity of money in making up a sum; as, the money was paid in dribblets.
When made up in dribblets, as they could, their best securities were at an interest of twelve per cent.
Burke.
Drie (?), v. t. [See Dree.] To endure. [Obs.]
So causeless such drede for to drie.
Chaucer.
Dried (drd), imp. & p. p. of Dry. Also adj.; as, dried apples.
Dri"er (?), n. 1. One who, or that which, dries; that which may expel or absorb moisture; a desiccative; as, the sun and a northwesterly wind are great driers of the earth.
2. (Paint.) Drying oil; a substance mingled with the oil used in oil painting to make it dry quickly.
Dri"er, compar., Dri"est, superl., of Dry, a.
Drift (?), n. [From drive; akin to LG. & D. drift a driving, Icel. drift snowdrift, Dan. drift, impulse, drove, herd, pasture, common, G. trift pasturage, drove. See Drive.] 1. A driving; a violent movement.
The dragon drew him [self] away with drift of his wings.
King Alisaunder (1332).
2. The act or motion of drifting; the force which impels or drives; an overpowering influence or impulse.
A bad man, being under the drift of any passion, will follow the impulse of it till something interpose.
South.
3. Course or direction along which anything is driven; setting. "Our drift was south." Hakluyt.
4. The tendency of an act, argument, course of conduct, or the like; object aimed at or intended; intention; hence, also, import or meaning of a sentence or discourse; aim.
He has made the drift of the whole poem a compliment on his country in general.
Addison.
Now thou knowest my drift.
Sir W. Scott.
5. That which is driven, forced, or urged along; as: (a) Anything driven at random. "Some log . . . a useless drift." Dryden. (b) A mass of matter which has been driven or forced onward together in a body, or thrown together in a heap, etc., esp. by wind or water; as, a drift of snow, of ice, of sand, and the like.
Drifts of rising dust involve the sky.
Pope.
We got the brig a good bed in the rushing drift [of ice].
Kane.
(c) A drove or flock, as of cattle, sheep, birds. [Obs.]
Cattle coming over the bridge (with their great drift doing much damage to the high ways).
Fuller.
6. (Arch.) The horizontal thrust or pressure of an arch or vault upon the abutments. [R.] Knight.
7. (Geol.) A collection of loose earth and rocks, or boulders, which have been distributed over large portions of the earth's surface, especially in latitudes north of forty degrees, by the agency of ice.
8. In South Africa, a ford in a river.
9. (Mech.) A slightly tapered tool of steel for enlarging or shaping a hole in metal, by being forced or driven into or through it; a broach.
10. (Mil.) (a) A tool used in driving down compactly the composition contained in a rocket, or like firework. (b) A deviation from the line of fire, peculiar to oblong projectiles.
11. (Mining) A passage driven or cut between shaft and shaft; a driftway; a small subterranean gallery; an adit or tunnel.
12. (Naut.) (a) The distance through which a current flows in a given time. (b) The angle which the line of a ship's motion makes with the meridian, in drifting. (c) The distance to which a vessel is carried off from her desired course by the wind, currents, or other causes. (d) The place in a deep-waisted vessel where the sheer is raised and the rail is cut off, and usually terminated with a scroll, or driftpiece. (e) The distance between the two blocks of a tackle.
13. The difference between the size of a bolt and the hole into which it is driven, or between the circumference of a hoop and that of the mast on which it is to be driven.
Drift is used also either adjectively or as the first part of a compound. See Drift, a.
Drift of the forest (O. Eng. Law), an examination or view of the cattle in a forest, in order to see whose they are, whether they are commonable, and to determine whether or not the forest is surcharged. Burrill.
Drift, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Drifted; p. pr. & vb. n. Drifting.] 1. To float or be driven along by, or as by, a current of water or air; as, the ship drifted astern; a raft drifted ashore; the balloon drifts slowly east.
We drifted o'er the harbor bar.
Coleridge.
2. To accumulate in heaps by the force of wind; to be driven into heaps; as, snow or sand drifts.
3. (mining) to make a drift; to examine a vein or ledge for the purpose of ascertaining the presence of metals or ores; to follow a vein; to prospect. [U.S.]
Drift (?), v. t. 1. To drive or carry, as currents do a floating body. J. H. Newman.
2. To drive into heaps; as, a current of wind drifts snow or sand.
3. (Mach.) To enlarge or shape, as a hole, with a drift.
Drift, a. That causes drifting or that is drifted; movable by wind or currents; as, drift currents; drift ice; drift mud. Kane.
Drift anchor. See Sea anchor, and also Drag sail, under Drag, n. - - Drift epoch (Geol.), the glacial epoch. -- Drift net, a kind of fishing net. -- Drift sail. Same as Drag sail. See under Drag, n.
Drift"age (?), n. 1. Deviation from a ship's course due to leeway.
2. Anything that drifts.
Drift"bolt` (?), n. A bolt for driving out other bolts.
Drift"less, a. Having no drift or direction; without aim; purposeless.
Drift"piece" (?), n. (Shipbuilding) An upright or curved piece of timber connecting the plank sheer with the gunwale; also, a scroll terminating a rail.
Drift"pin` (?), n. (Mech.) A smooth drift. See Drift, n., 9.
Drift"way` (?), n. 1. A common way, road, or path, for driving cattle. Cowell. Burrill.
2. (Mining) Same as Drift, 11.
Drift"weed` (?), n. Seaweed drifted to the shore by the wind. Darwin.
Drift"wind` (?), n. A driving wind; a wind that drives snow, sand, etc., into heaps. Beau. & Fl.
Drift"wood` (?), n. 1. Wood drifted or floated by water.
2. Fig.: Whatever is drifting or floating as on water.
The current of humanity, with its heavy proportion of very useless driftwood.
New Your Times.
Drift"y (?), a. Full of drifts; tending to form drifts, as snow, and the like.
Drill (?), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Drilled (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Drilling.] [D. drillen to bore, drill (soldiers); probably akin to AS. pyrlian, pyrelian, to pierce. See Thrill.] 1. To pierce or bore with a drill, or a with a drill; to perforate; as, to drill a hole into a rock; to drill a piece of metal.
2. To train in the military art; to exercise diligently, as soldiers, in military evolutions and exercises; hence, to instruct thoroughly in the rudiments of any art or branch of knowledge; to discipline.
He [Frederic the Great] drilled his people, as he drilled his grenadiers.
Macaulay.
Drill, v. i. To practice an exercise or exercises; to train one's self.
Drill, n. 1. An instrument with an edged or pointed end used for making holes in hard substances; strictly, a tool that cuts with its end, by revolving, as in drilling metals, or by a succession of blows, as in drilling stone; also, a drill press.
2. (Mil.) The act or exercise of training soldiers in the military art, as in the manual of arms, in the execution of evolutions, and the like; hence, diligent and strict instruction and exercise in the rudiments and methods of any business; a kind or method of military exercises; as, infantry drill; battalion drill; artillery drill.
3. Any exercise, physical or mental, enforced with regularity and by constant repetition; as, a severe drill in Latin grammar.
4. (Zoöl.) A marine gastropod, of several species, which kills oysters and other bivalves by drilling holes through the shell. The most destructive kind is Urosalpinx cinerea.
Bow drill, Breast drill. See under Bow, Breast. -- Cotter drill, or Traverse drill, a machine tool for drilling slots. -- Diamond drill. See under Diamond. -- Drill jig. See under Jig. -- Drill pin, the pin in a lock which enters the hollow stem of the key. - - Drill sergeant (Mil.), a noncommissioned officer whose office it is to instruct soldiers as to their duties, and to train them to military exercises and evolutions. -- Vertical drill, a drill press.
Drill, v. t. [Cf. Trill to trickle, Trickle, Dribble, and W. rhillio to put in a row, drill.] 1. To cause to flow in drills or rills or by trickling; to drain by trickling; as, waters drilled through a sandy stratum. [R.] Thomson.
2. To sow, as seeds, by dribbling them along a furrow or in a row, like a trickling rill of water.
3. To entice; to allure from step; to decoy; -- with on. [Obs.]
See drilled him on to five-fifty.
Addison.
4. To cause to slip or waste away by degrees. [Obs.]
This accident hath drilled away the whole summer.
Swift.
Drill, v. i. 1. To trickle. [Obs. or R.] Sandys.
2. To sow in drills.
Drill, n. 1. A small trickling stream; a rill. [Obs.]
Springs through the pleasant meadows pour their drills.
Sandys.
2. (Agr.) (a) An implement for making holes for sowing seed, and sometimes so formed as to contain seeds and drop them into the hole made. (b) A light furrow or channel made to put seed into sowing. (c) A row of seed sown in a furrow.
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Drill is used adjectively, or as the first part of a compound; as, drill barrow or drill-barrow; drill husbandry; drill plow or drill-plow.
Drill barrow, a wheeled implement for planting seed in drills. -- Drill bow, a small bow used for the purpose of rapidly turning a drill around which the bowstring takes a turn. -- Drill harrow, a harrow used for stirring the ground between rows, or drills. -- Drill plow, or Drill plough, a sort plow for sowing grain in drills.
Drill (?), n. [Cf. Mandrill.] (Zoöl.) A large African baboon (Cynocephalus leucophæus).
Drill, n. [Usually in pl.] (Manuf.) Same as Drilling.
Imperial drill, a linen fabric having two threads in the warp and three in the filling.
Drill"er (?), n. One who, or that which, drills.
Drill"ing, n. 1. The act of piercing with a drill.
2. A training by repeated exercises.
Drill"ing, n. The act of using a drill in sowing seeds.
Drill"ing, n. [G. drillich, fr. L. trilix having three threads, fr. the of tres three + licium a thread of the warm. See Three, and cf. Twill.] (Manuf.) A heavy, twilled fabric of linen or cotton.
Drill"mas`ter (?), n. One who teaches drill, especially in the way of gymnastics. Macaulay.
Drill" press` . A machine for drilling holes in metal, the drill being pressed to the metal by the action of a screw.
Drill"stock` (?), n. (Mech.) A contrivance for holding and turning a drill. Knight.
Dri"ly (?), adv. See Dryly. Thackeray.
||Dri"mys (dr"ms), n. [NL., fr. Gr. drimy`s sharp, acrid.] (Bot.) A genus of magnoliaceous trees. Drimys aromatica furnishes Winter's bark.
Drink (drk), v. i. [imp. Drank (drk), formerly Drunk (drk); & p. p. Drunk, Drunken (-'n); p. pr. & vb. n. Drinking. Drunken is now rarely used, except as a verbal adj. in sense of habitually intoxicated; the form drank, not infrequently used as a p. p., is not so analogical.] [AS. drincan; akin to OS. drinkan, D. drinken, G. trinken, Icel. drekka, Sw. dricka, Dan. drikke, Goth. drigkan. Cf. Drench, Drunken, Drown.] 1. To swallow anything liquid, for quenching thirst or other purpose; to imbibe; to receive or partake of, as if in satisfaction of thirst; as, to drink from a spring.
Gird thyself, and serve me, till have eaten and drunken; and afterward thou shalt eat and drink.
Luke xvii. 8.
He shall drink of the wrath the Almighty.
Job xxi. 20.
Drink of the cup that can not cloy.
Keble.
2. To quaff exhilarating or intoxicating liquors, in merriment or feasting; to carouse; to revel; hence, to lake alcoholic liquors to excess; to be intemperate in the &?;se of intoxicating or spirituous liquors; to tipple. Pope.
And they drank, and were merry with him.
Gem. xliii. 34.
Bolingbroke always spoke freely when he had drunk freely.
Thackeray.
To drink to, to salute in drinking; to wish well to, in the act of taking the cup; to pledge in drinking.
I drink to the general joy of the whole table,
And to our dear friend Banquo.
Shak.
Drink, v. t. 1. To swallow (a liquid); to receive, as a fluid, into the stomach; to imbibe; as, to drink milk or water.
There lies she with the blessed gods in bliss,
There drinks the nectar with ambrosia mixed.
Spenser.
The bowl of punch which was brewed and drunk in Mrs. Betty's room.
Thackeray.
2. To take in (a liquid), in any manner; to suck up; to absorb; to imbibe.
And let the purple violets drink the stream.
Dryden.
3. To take in; to receive within one, through the senses; to inhale; to hear; to see.
To drink the cooler air,
Tennyson.
My ears have not yet drunk a hundred words
Of that tongue's utterance.
Shak.
Let me . . . drink delicious poison from thy eye.
Pope.
4. To smoke, as tobacco. [Obs.]
And some men now live ninety years and past,
Who never drank to tobacco first nor last.
Taylor (1630.)
To drink down, to act on by drinking; to reduce or subdue; as, to drink down unkindness. Shak. -- To drink in, to take into one's self by drinking, or as by drinking; to receive and appropriate as in satisfaction of thirst. "Song was the form of literature which he [Burns] had drunk in from his cradle." J. C. Shairp. -- To drink off or up, to drink the whole at a draught; as, to drink off a cup of cordial. -- To drink the health of, or To drink to the health of, to drink while expressing good wishes for the health or welfare of.
Drink, n. 1. Liquid to be swallowed; any fluid to be taken into the stomach for quenching thirst or for other purposes, as water, coffee, or decoctions.
Give me some drink, Titinius.
Shak.
2. Specifically, intoxicating liquor; as, when drink is on, wit is out.
Drink money, or Drink penny, an allowance, or perquisite, given to buy drink; a gratuity. -- Drink offering (Script.), an offering of wine, etc., in the Jewish religious service. -- In drink, drunk. "The poor monster's in drink." Shak. -- Strong drink, intoxicating liquor; esp., liquor containing a large proportion of alcohol. " Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging." Prov. xx. 1.
Drink"a*ble (?), a. Capable of being drunk; suitable for drink; potable. Macaulay. Also used substantively, esp. in the plural. Steele.
Drink"a*ble*ness, n. State of being drinkable.
Drink"er (?), n. One who drinks; as, the effects of tea on the drinker; also, one who drinks spirituous liquors to excess; a drunkard.
Drinker moth (Zoöl.), a large British moth (Odonestis potatoria).
Drink"ing, n. 1. The act of one who drinks; the act of imbibing.
2. The practice of partaking to excess of intoxicating liquors.
3. An entertainment with liquors; a carousal.
Drinking is used adjectively, or as the first part of a compound; as, a drinking song, drinking cup, drinking glass, drinking house, etc.
Drinking horn, a drinking vessel made of a horn.
Drink"less, a. Destitute of drink. Chaucer.
Drip (?), v. i. [imp. & p. p. Dripped (?) or Dript; p. pr. & vb. n. Dripping.] [Akin to LG. drippen, Dan. dryppe, from a noun. See Drop.] 1. To fall in drops; as, water drips from the eaves.
2. To let fall drops of moisture or liquid; as, a wet garment drips.
The dark round of the dripping wheel.
Tennyson.
Drip, v. t. To let fall in drops.
Which from the thatch drips fast a shower of rain.
Swift.
Drip, n. 1. A falling or letting fall in drops; a dripping; that which drips, or falls in drops.
The light drip of the suspended oar.
Byron.
2. (Arch.) That part of a cornice, sill course, or other horizontal member, which projects beyond the rest, and is of such section as to throw off the rain water.
Right of drip (Law), an easement or servitude by which a man has the right to have the water flowing from his house fall on the land of his neighbor.
Drip"ping, n. 1. A falling in drops, or the sound so made.
2. That which falls in drops, as fat from meat in roasting.
Dripping pan, a pan for receiving the fat which drips from meat in roasting.
Drip"ple (?), a. [From Drip, cf. Dribble.] Weak or rare. [Obs.]
Drip"stone` (?), n. (Arch.) A drip, when made of stone. See Drip, 2.
Drive (drv), v. t. [imp. Drove (drv), formerly Drave (drv); p. p. Driven (drv'n); p. pr. & vb. n. Driving.] [AS. drfan; akin to OS. drban, D. drijven, OHG. trban, G. treiben, Icel. drfa, Goth. dreiban. Cf. Drift, Drove.] 1. To impel or urge onward by force in a direction away from one, or along before one; to push forward; to compel to move on; to communicate motion to; as, to drive cattle; to drive a nail; smoke drives persons from a room.
A storm came on and drove them into Pylos.
Jowett (Thucyd. ).
Shield pressed on shield, and man drove man along.
Pope.
Go drive the deer and drag the finny prey.
Pope.
2. To urge on and direct the motions of, as the beasts which draw a vehicle, or the vehicle borne by them; hence, also, to take in a carriage; to convey in a vehicle drawn by beasts; as, to drive a pair of horses or a stage; to drive a person to his own door.
How . . . proud he was to drive such a brother!
Thackeray.
3. To urge, impel, or hurry forward; to force; to constrain; to urge, press, or bring to a point or state; as, to drive a person by necessity, by persuasion, by force of circumstances, by argument, and the like. " Enough to drive one mad." Tennyson.
He, driven to dismount, threatened, if I did not do the like, to do as much for my horse as fortune had done for his.
Sir P. Sidney.
4. To carry or; to keep in motion; to conduct; to prosecute. [Now used only colloquially.] Bacon.
The trade of life can not be driven without partners.
Collier.
5. To clear, by forcing away what is contained.
To drive the country, force the swains away.
Dryden.
6. (Mining) To dig Horizontally; to cut a horizontal gallery or tunnel. Tomlinson.
7. To pass away; -- said of time. [Obs.] Chaucer.
Drive, in all its senses, implies forcible or violent action. It is the reverse of to lead. To drive a body is to move it by applying a force behind; to lead is to cause to move by applying the force before, or in front. It takes a variety of meanings, according to the objects by which it is followed; as, to drive an engine, to direct and regulate its motions; to drive logs, to keep them in the current of a river and direct them in their course; to drive feathers or down, to place them in a machine, which, by a current of air, drives off the lightest to one end, and collects them by themselves. "My thrice-driven bed of down." Shak.
Drive, v. i. 1. To rush and press with violence; to move furiously.
Fierce Boreas drove against his flying sails.
Dryden.
Under cover of the night and a driving tempest.
Prescott.
Time driveth onward fast,
And in a little while our lips are dumb.
Tennyson.
2. To be forced along; to be impelled; to be moved by any physical force or agent; to be driven.
The hull drives on, though mast and sail be torn.
Byron.
The chaise drives to Mr. Draper's chambers.
Thackeray.
3. To go by carriage; to pass in a carriage; to proceed by directing or urging on a vehicle or the animals that draw it; as, the coachman drove to my door.
4. To press forward; to aim, or tend, to a point; to make an effort; to strive; -- usually with at.
Let them therefore declare what carnal or secular interest he drove at.
South.
5. To distrain for rent. [Obs.]
To let drive, to aim a blow; to strike with force; to attack. "Four rogues in buckram let drive at me." Shak.
Drive (drv), p. p. Driven. [Obs.] Chaucer.
Drive (drv), n. 1. The act of driving; a trip or an excursion in a carriage, as for exercise or pleasure; -- distinguished from a ride taken on horseback.
2. A place suitable or agreeable for driving; a road prepared for driving.
3. Violent or rapid motion; a rushing onward or away; esp., a forced or hurried dispatch of business.
The Murdstonian drive in business.
M. Arnold.
4. In type founding and forging, an impression or matrix, formed by a punch drift.
5. A collection of objects that are driven; a mass of logs to be floated down a river. [Colloq.]
Syn. -- See Ride.
Drive"bolt` (?), n. A drift; a tool for setting bolts home.
Driv"el (?), v. i. [imp. & p. p. Driveled (?) or Drivelled; p. pr. & vb. n. Driveling or Drivelling.] [Cf. OE. dravelen, drabelen, drevelen, drivelen, to slaver, and E. drabble. Cf. Drool.] 1. To slaver; to let spittle drop or flow from the mouth, like a child, idiot, or dotard.
2. [Perh. a different word: cf. Icel. drafa to talk thick.] To be weak or foolish; to dote; as, a driveling hero; driveling love. Shak. Dryden.
Driv"el, n. 1. Slaver; saliva flowing from the mouth.
2. Inarticulate or unmeaning utterance; foolish talk; babble.
3. A driveler; a fool; an idiot. [Obs.] Sir P. Sidney.
4. A servant; a drudge. [Obs.] Huloet.
Driv"el*er (?), n. A slaverer; a slabberer; an idiot; a fool. [Written also driveller.]
Driv"en (?), p. p. of Drive. Also adj.
Driven well, a well made by driving a tube into the earth to an aqueous stratum; -- called also drive well.
Drive"pipe` (?), n. A pipe for forcing into the earth.
Driv"er (?), n. [From Drive.] 1. One who, or that which, drives; the person or thing that urges or compels anything else to move onward.
2. The person who drives beasts or a carriage; a coachman; a charioteer, etc.; hence, also, one who controls the movements of a locomotive.
3. An overseer of a gang of slaves or gang of convicts at their work.
4. (Mach.) A part that transmits motion to another part by contact with it, or through an intermediate relatively movable part, as a gear which drives another, or a lever which moves another through a link, etc. Specifically:
(a) The driving wheel of a locomotive. (b) An attachment to a lathe, spindle, or face plate to turn a carrier. (c) A crossbar on a grinding mill spindle to drive the upper stone.
5. (Naut.) The after sail in a ship or bark, being a fore-and-aft sail attached to a gaff; a spanker. Totten.
Driver ant (Zoöl.), a species of African stinging ant; one of the visiting ants (Anomma arcens); -- so called because they move about in vast armies, and drive away or devour all insects and other small animals.
Drive"way` (&?;), n. A passage or way along or through which a carriage may be driven.
Driv"ing, a. 1. Having great force of impulse; as, a driving wind or storm.
2. Communicating force; impelling; as, a driving shaft.
Driving axle, the axle of a driving wheel, as in a locomotive. -- Driving box (Locomotive), the journal box of a driving axle. See Illust. of Locomotive. -- Driving note (Mus.), a syncopated note; a tone begun on a weak part of a measure and held through the next accented part, thus anticipating the accent and driving it through. -- Driving spring, a spring fixed upon the box of the driving axle of a locomotive engine to support the weight and deaden shocks. [Eng.] Weale. -- Driving wheel (Mach.), a wheel that communicates motion; one of the large wheels of a locomotive to which the connecting rods of the engine are attached; -- called also, simply, driver. See Illust. of Locomotive.
Driv"ing, n. 1. The act of forcing or urging something along; the act of pressing or moving on furiously.
2. Tendency; drift. [R.]
Driz"zle (?), v. i. [imp. & p. p. Drizzled (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Drizzling (?).] [Prop. freq. of AS. dreósan to fall. See Dreary.] To rain slightly in very small drops; to fall, as water from the clouds, slowly and in fine particles; as, it drizzles; drizzling drops or rain. "Drizzling tears." Spenser.
Driz"zle, v. t. To shed slowly in minute drops or particles. "The air doth drizzle dew." Shak.
Driz"zle, n. Fine rain or mist. Halliwell.
Driz"zly (?), a. Characterized by small rain, or snow; moist and disagreeable. "Winter's drizzly reign." Dryden.
Drock (?), n. A water course. [Prov. Eng.]
{ Drof"land (?), Dryf"land (?) }, n. [See Drove.] (Law) An ancient yearly payment made by some tenants to the king, or to their landlords, for the privilege of driving their cattle through a manor to fairs or markets. Cowell.
Dro"gher (?), n. [Cf. Drag.] A small craft used in the West India Islands to take off sugars, rum, etc., to the merchantmen; also, a vessel for transporting lumber, cotton, etc., coastwise; as, a lumber drogher. [Written also droger.] Ham. Nar. Encyc.
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{ Drog"man (?), Drog"o*man (?) }, n. See Dragoman.
Drogue (?), n. (Naut.) See Drag, n., 6, and Drag sail, under Drag, n.
Droh (?), imp. of Draw. [Obs.] Chaucer.
Droil (?), v. i. [D. druilen to mope.] To work sluggishly or slowly; to plod. [Obs.]
Droil, n. [D. druil sluggard. Cf. Droll.] 1. A drudge. [Obs.] Beau. & Fl.
2. Mean labor; toil.[Obs.]
Droit (?), n. [F. See Direct.] A right; law in its aspect of the foundation of rights; also, in old law, the writ of right. Abbott.
||Droit d'aubaine. See under Aubaine. -- Droits of the Admiralty (Eng. Law), rights or perquisites of the Admiralty, arising from seizure of an enemy's ships in port on the breaking out of war, or those coming into port in ignorance of hostilities existing, or from such ships as are taken by noncommissioned captors; also, the proceeds of wrecks, and derelict property at sea. The droits of admiralty are now paid into the Exchequer for the public benefit.
Droi"tu*ral (?), a. (O. Eng. Law) relating to the mere right of property, as distinguished from the right of possession; as, droitural actions. [Obs.] Burrill.
||Droitzsch"ka (?), n. See Drosky.
Droll (?), a. [Compar. Droller (?); superl. Drollest (?).] [F. drôle; cf. G. & D. drollig, LG. drullig, D. drol a thick and short person, a droll, Sw. troll a magical appearance, demon, trolla to use magic arts, enchant, Dan. trold elf, imp, Icel. tröll giant, magician, evil spirit, monster. If this is the origin, cf. Trull.] Queer, and fitted to provoke laughter; ludicrous from oddity; amusing and strange.
Syn. -- Comic; comical; farcical; diverting; humorous; ridiculous; queer; odd; waggish; facetious; merry; laughable; ludicrous. -- Droll, Laughable, Comical. Laughable is the generic term, denoting anything exciting laughter or worthy of laughter; comical denotes something of the kind exhibited in comedies, something humorous of the kind exhibited in comedies, something, as it were, dramatically humorous; droll stands lower on the scale, having reference to persons or things which excite laughter by their buffoonery or oddity. A laughable incident; a comical adventure; a droll story.
Droll, n. 1. One whose practice it is to raise mirth by odd tricks; a jester; a buffoon; a merry-andrew. Prior.
2. Something exhibited to raise mirth or sport, as a puppet, a farce, and the like.
Droll, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Drolled (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Drolling.] To jest; to play the buffoon. [R.]
Droll, v. t. 1. To lead or influence by jest or trick; to banter or jest; to cajole.
Men that will not be reasoned into their senses, may yet be laughed or drolled into them.
L'Estrange.
2. To make a jest of; to set in a comical light. [R.]
This drolling everything is rather fatiguing.
W. D. Howells.
Droll"er, n. A jester; a droll. [Obs.] Glanvill.
Droll"er*y (?), n.; pl. Drolleries (#). [F. drôlerie. See Droll.] 1. The quality of being droll; sportive tricks; buffoonery; droll stories; comical gestures or manners.
The rich drollery of "She Stoops to Conquer."
Macaulay.
2. Something which serves to raise mirth; as: (a) A puppet show; also, a puppet. [Obs.] Shak. (b) A lively or comic picture. [Obs.]
I bought an excellent drollery, which I afterward parted with to my brother George of Wotton.
Evelyn.
Droll"ing*ly, adv. In a jesting manner.
Droll"ish, a. Somewhat droll. Sterne.
Droll"ist, n. A droll. [R.] Glanvill.
Dro`mæ*og"na*thous (?), a. [NL. dromaius emu + Gr. &?; jaw.] (Zoöl.) Having the structure of the palate like that of the ostrich and emu.
||Drom`a*the"ri*um (?), n. [NL., fr. Gr. droma`s running + qhri`on beast. See Dromedary.] (Paleon.) A small extinct triassic mammal from North Carolina, the earliest yet found in America.
Drome (drm), n. [F., fr. Gr. droma`s running. See Dromedary.] (Zoöl.) The crab plover (Dromas ardeola), a peculiar North African bird, allied to the oyster catcher.
Drom"e*da*ry (drm"*d*r), n.; pl. Dromedaries (#). [F. dromadaire, LL. dromedarius, fr. L. dromas (sc. camelus), fr. Gr. droma`s running, from dramei`n, used as aor. of tre`chein to run; cf. Skr. dram to run.] (Zoöl.) The Arabian camel (Camelus dromedarius), having one hump or protuberance on the back, in distinction from the Bactrian camel, which has two humps.
In Arabia and Egypt the name is restricted to the better breeds of this species of camel. See Deloul.
{ Drom"ond (?), or Drom"on (?) }. [OF. dromont, L. dromo, fr. Gr. dro`mwn light vessel, prob. fr. dramei^n to run. See Dromedary.] In the Middle Ages, a large, fast-sailing galley, or cutter; a large, swift war vessel. [Hist. or Archaic] Fuller.
The great dromond swinging from the quay.
W. Morris.
Drone (?), n. [OE. drane a dronebee, AS. drn; akin to OS. drn, OHG. treno, G. drohne, Dan. drone, cf. Gr. &?; a kind of wasp, dial. Gr. &?; drone. Prob. named fr. the droning sound. See Drone, v. i.] 1. (Zoöl.) The male of bees, esp. of the honeybee. It gathers no honey. See Honeybee.
All with united force combine to drive
The lazy drones from the laborious hive.
Dryden.
2. One who lives on the labors of others; a lazy, idle fellow; a sluggard.
By living as a drone,to be an unprofitable and unworthy member of so noble and learned a society.
Burton.
3. That which gives out a grave or monotonous tone or dull sound; as: (a) A drum. [Obs.] Halliwell. (b) The part of the bagpipe containing the two lowest tubes, which always sound the key note and the fifth.
4. A humming or deep murmuring sound.
The monotonous drone of the wheel.
Longfellow.
5. (Mus.) A monotonous bass, as in a pastoral composition.
Drone (?), v. i. [imp. & p. p. Droned (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Droning.] [Cf. (for sense 1) D. dreunen, G. dröhnen, Icel. drynja to roar, drynr a roaring, Sw. dröna to bellow, drone, Dan. dröne, Goth. drunjus sound, Gr. &?; dirge, &?; to cry aloud, Skr. dhran to sound. Cf. Drone, n.] 1. To utter or make a low, dull, monotonous, humming or murmuring sound.
Where the beetle wheels his droning flight.
T. Gray.
2. To love in idleness; to do nothing. "Race of droning kings." Dryden.
Drone" bee` (?). (Zoöl.) The male of the honeybee; a drone.
Drone" fly` (?). (Zoöl.) A dipterous insect (Eristalis tenax), resembling the drone bee. See Eristalis.
Drone"pipe`, n. One of the low- toned tubes of a bagpipe.
Dron"go (?), n.; pl. Drongos (&?;). (Zoöl.) A passerine bird of the family Dicruridæ. They are usually black with a deeply forked tail. They are natives of Asia, Africa, and Australia; -- called also drongo shrikes.
Dron"ish (?), a. Like a drone; indolent; slow. Burke. -- Dron"ish*ly, adv. -- Dron"ish*ness, n.
Dron"ke*lewe (?), a. [See Drink.] Given to drink; drunken. [Obs.] Chaucer.
Dron"te (?), n. [F.] (Zoöl.) The dodo.
Dron"y (?), a. Like a drone; sluggish; lazy.
Drool (?), v. i. [imp. & p. p. Drooled (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Drooling.] [Contr. fr. drivel.] To drivel, or drop saliva; as, the child drools.
His mouth drooling with texts.
T. Parker.
Droop (?), v. i. [imp. & p. p. Drooped (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Drooping.] [Icel. dr&?;pa; akin to E. drop. See Drop.] 1. To hang bending downward; to sink or hang down, as an animal, plant, etc., from physical inability or exhaustion, want of nourishment, or the like. "The purple flowers droop." "Above her drooped a lamp." Tennyson.
I saw him ten days before he died, and observed he began very much to droop and languish.
Swift.
2. To grow weak or faint with disappointment, grief, or like causes; to be dispirited or depressed; to languish; as, her spirits drooped.
I'll animate the soldier's drooping courage.
Addison.
3. To proceed downward, or toward a close; to decline. "Then day drooped." Tennyson.
Droop, v. t. To let droop or sink. [R.] M. Arnold.
Like to a withered vine
That droops his sapless branches to the ground.
Shak.
Droop, n. A drooping; as, a droop of the eye.
Droop"er (?), n. One who, or that which, droops.
Droop"ing*ly, adv. In a drooping manner.
Drop (?), n. [OE. drope, AS. dropa; akin to OS. dropo, D. drop, OHG. tropo, G. tropfen, Icel. dropi, Sw. droppe; and Fr. AS. dreópan to drip, drop; akin to OS. driopan, D. druipen, OHG. triofan, G. triefen, Icel. drj&?;pa. Cf. Drip, Droop.] 1. The quantity of fluid which falls in one small spherical mass; a liquid globule; a minim; hence, also, the smallest easily measured portion of a fluid; a small quantity; as, a drop of water.
With minute drops from off the eaves.
Milton.
As dear to me as are the ruddy drops
That visit my sad heart.
Shak.
That drop of peace divine.
Keble.
2. That which resembles, or that which hangs like, a liquid drop; as a hanging diamond ornament, an earring, a glass pendant on a chandelier, a sugarplum (sometimes medicated), or a kind of shot or slug.
3. (Arch.) (a) Same as Gutta. (b) Any small pendent ornament.
4. Whatever is arranged to drop, hang, or fall from an elevated position; also, a contrivance for lowering something; as: (a) A door or platform opening downward; a trap door; that part of the gallows on which a culprit stands when he is to be hanged; hence, the gallows itself. (b) A machine for lowering heavy weights, as packages, coal wagons, etc., to a ship's deck. (c) A contrivance for temporarily lowering a gas jet. (d) A curtain which drops or falls in front of the stage of a theater, etc. (e) A drop press or drop hammer. (f) (Mach.) The distance of the axis of a shaft below the base of a hanger.
5. pl. Any medicine the dose of which is measured by drops; as, lavender drops.
6. (Naut.) The depth of a square sail; -- generally applied to the courses only. Ham. Nav. Encyc.
7. Act of dropping; sudden fall or descent.
Ague drop, Black drop. See under Ague, Black. -- Drop by drop, in small successive quantities; in repeated portions. "Made to taste drop by drop more than the bitterness of death." Burke. -- Drop curtain. See Drop, n., 4. (d). -- Drop forging. (Mech.) (a) A forging made in dies by a drop hammer. (b) The process of making drop forgings. -- Drop hammer (Mech.), a hammer for forging, striking up metal, etc., the weight being raised by a strap or similar device, and then released to drop on the metal resting on an anvil or die. -- Drop kick (Football), a kick given to the ball as it rebounds after having been dropped from the hands. -- Drop lake, a pigment obtained from Brazil wood. Mollett. -- Drop letter, a letter to be delivered from the same office where posted. -- Drop press (Mech.), a drop hammer; sometimes, a dead- stroke hammer; -- also called drop. -- Drop scene, a drop curtain on which a scene is painted. See Drop, n., 4. (d). -- Drop seed. (Bot.) See the List under Glass. -- Drop serene. (Med.) See Amaurosis.
Drop (?), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Dropped (?) or Dropt; p. pr. & vb. n. Dropping.] [OE. droppen, AS. dropan, v. i. See Drop, n.] 1. To pour or let fall in drops; to pour in small globules; to distill. "The trees drop balsam." Creech.
The recording angel, as he wrote it down, dropped a tear upon the word and blotted it out forever.
Sterne.
2. To cause to fall in one portion, or by one motion, like a drop; to let fall; as, to drop a line in fishing; to drop a courtesy.
3. To let go; to dismiss; to set aside; to have done with; to discontinue; to forsake; to give up; to omit.
They suddenly drop't the pursuit.
S. Sharp.
That astonishing ease with which fine ladies drop you and pick you up again.
Thackeray.
The connection had been dropped many years.
Sir W. Scott.
Dropping the too rough H in Hell and Heaven.
Tennyson.
4. To bestow or communicate by a suggestion; to let fall in an indirect, cautious, or gentle manner; as, to drop hint, a word of counsel, etc.
5. To lower, as a curtain, or the muzzle of a gun, etc.
6. To send, as a letter; as, please drop me a line, a letter, word.
7. To give birth to; as, to drop a lamb.
8. To cover with drops; to variegate; to bedrop.
Show to the sun their waved coats dropped with gold.
Milton.
To drop a vessel (Naut.), to leave it astern in a race or a chase; to outsail it.
Drop, v. i. 1. To fall in drops.
The kindly dew drops from the higher tree,
And wets the little plants that lowly dwell.
Spenser.
2. To fall, in general, literally or figuratively; as, ripe fruit drops from a tree; wise words drop from the lips.
Mutilations of which the meaning has dropped out of memory.
H. Spencer.
When the sound of dropping nuts is heard.
Bryant.
3. To let drops fall; to discharge itself in drops.
The heavens . . . dropped at the presence of God.
Ps. lxviii. 8.
4. To fall dead, or to fall in death.
Nothing, says Seneca, so soon reconciles us to the thoughts of our own death, as the prospect of one friend after another dropping round us.
Digby.
5. To come to an end; to cease; to pass out of mind; as, the affair dropped. Pope.
6. To come unexpectedly; -- with in or into; as, my old friend dropped in a moment. Steele.
Takes care to drop in when he thinks you are just seated.
Spectator.
7. To fall or be depressed; to lower; as, the point of the spear dropped a little.
8. To fall short of a mark. [R.]
Often it drops or overshoots by the disproportion of distance.
Collier.
9. To be deep in extent; to descend perpendicularly; as, her main topsail drops seventeen yards.
To drop astern (Naut.), to go astern of another vessel; to be left behind; to slacken the speed of a vessel so as to fall behind and to let another pass a head. -- To drop down (Naut.), to sail, row, or move down a river, or toward the sea. -- To drop off, to fall asleep gently; also, to die. [Colloq.]
Drop"let (?), n. A little drop; a tear. Shak.
Drop"light` (?), n. An apparatus for bringing artificial light down from a chandelier nearer to a table or desk; a pendant.
{ Drop"meal`, Drop"mele` } (?), adv. [AS. drop-mlum; dropa drop + ml portion. Cf. Piecemeal.] By drops or small portions. [Obs.]
Distilling dropmeal, a little at once.
Holland.
Drop"per (?), n. 1. One who, or that which, drops. Specif.: (Fishing) A fly that drops from the leader above the bob or end fly.
2. A dropping tube.
3. (Mining) A branch vein which drops off from, or leaves, the main lode.
4. (Zoöl.) A dog which suddenly drops upon the ground when it sights game, -- formerly a common, and still an occasional, habit of the setter.
Drop"ping (?), n. 1. The action of causing to drop or of letting drop; falling.
2. pl. That which falls in drops; the excrement or dung of animals.
Dropping bottle, an instrument used to supply small quantities of a fluid to a test tube or other vessel. -- Dropping fire, a continued irregular discharge of firearms. -- Dropping tube, a tube for ejecting any liquid in drops.
Drop"ping*ly, adv. In drops.
Drop"si*cal (?), a. [From Dropsy.] 1. Diseased with dropsy; hydropical; tending to dropsy; as, a dropsical patient.
2. Of or pertaining to dropsy.
Drop"si*cal*ness, n. State of being dropsical.
Drop"sied (?), a. Diseased with drops. Shak.
Drop"sy (?), n.; pl. Dropsies (#). [OE. dropsie, dropesie, OF. idropisie, F. hydropisie, L. hydropisis, fr. Gr. &?; dropsy, fr. &?; water. See Water, and cf. Hydropsy.] (Med.) An unnatural collection of serous fluid in any serous cavity of the body, or in the subcutaneous cellular tissue. Dunglison.
Dropt (?), imp. & p. p. of Drop, v. G. Eliot.
Drop"wise` (?), adv. After the manner of a drop; in the form of drops.
Trickling dropwise from the cleft.
Tennyson.
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Drop"worm` (drp"wûrm`), n. (Zoöl.) The larva of any geometrid moth, which drops from trees by means of a thread of silk, as the cankerworm.
Drop"wort` (-wûrt`), n. (Bot.) An Old World species of Spiræa (S. filipendula), with finely cut leaves.
||Dros"e*ra (drs"*r), n. [NL., fr. Gr. drosero`s dewy.] (Bot.) A genus of low perennial or biennial plants, the leaves of which are beset with gland-tipped bristles. See Sundew. Gray.
Dros"ky (drs"k), n.; pl. Droskies (-kz). [Russ. drojki, dim. of drogi a kind of carriage, prop. pl. of droga shaft or pole of a carriage.] A low, four-wheeled, open carriage, used in Russia, consisting of a kind of long, narrow bench, on which the passengers ride as on a saddle, with their feet reaching nearly to the ground. Other kinds of vehicles are now so called, esp. a kind of victoria drawn by one or two horses, and used as a public carriage in German cities. [Written also droitzschka, and droschke.]
Dro*som"e*ter (?), n. [Gr. dro`sos dew + -meter: cf. F. drosométre.] (Meteorol.) An instrument for measuring the quantity of dew on the surface of a body in the open air. It consists of a balance, having a plate at one end to receive the dew, and at the other a weight protected from the deposit of dew.
Dross (?), n. [AS. dros, fr. dreósan to fall. See Dreary.] 1. The scum or refuse matter which is thrown off, or falls from, metals in smelting the ore, or in the process of melting; recrement.
2. Rust of metals. [R.] Addison.
3. Waste matter; any worthless matter separated from the better part; leavings; dregs; refuse.
All world's glory is but dross unclean.
Spenser.
At the devil's booth are all things sold,
Each ounce of dross coats its ounce of gold.
Lowell.
Dros"sel (?), n. [Cf. Drazel.] A slut; a hussy; a drazel. [Obs.] Warner.
Dross"less, a. Free from dross. Stevens.
Dross"y (?), a. [Compar. Drossier (?); superl. Drossiest (?).] Of, pertaining to, resembling, dross; full of dross; impure; worthless. " Drossy gold." Dryden. "Drossy rhymes." Donne. -- Dross"i*ness, n.
Drotch"el (?), n. See Drossel. [Obs.]
Drough (?), imp. of Draw. [Obs.] Chaucer.
Drought (drout), n. [OE. droght, drougth, druð, AS. drugað, from drugian to dry. See Dry, and cf. Drouth, which shows the original final sound.] 1. Dryness; want of rain or of water; especially, such dryness of the weather as affects the earth, and prevents the growth of plants; aridity.
The drought of March hath pierced to the root.
Chaucer.
In a drought the thirsty creatures cry.
Dryden.
2. Thirst; want of drink. Johnson.
3. Scarcity; lack.
A drought of Christian writers caused a dearth of all history.