Emily Dickinson Lexicon

D,

in the English alphabet, is the fourth letter and the third articulation. It holds the same place in the English, as in the Chaldee, Syriac, Hebrew, Samaritan, Greek and Latin alphabets. In the Arabic, it is the eighth; in the Russian, the fifth; and in the Ethiopic, the nineteenth letter. D is a dental articulation, formed by placing the end of the tongue against the gum just above the upper teeth. It is nearly allied to T, but is not so close a letter, or rather it does not interrupt the voice so suddenly as T, and in forming the articulation, there is a lingual and nasal sound, which has induced some writers to rank D among the lingual letters. It has but one sound, as in do, din, bad; and is never quiescent in English words, except in a rapid utterance of such words as handkerchief. As a numeral, D represents five hundred, and when a dash or stroke is placed over it thus, {D with super-macron}, it denotes five thousand. As an abbreviation, D stands for Doctor; as M.D. Doctor of Medicine; D.T. Doctor of Theology, or S.T.D. Doctor of Sacred Theology; D.D. Doctor of Divinity, or dono dedit; D.D.D. dat, dicat, dedicat; and D.D.D.D. dignum Deo donum dedit.

D,

Flow; stream; course; move through a channel. 162/219 My River runs to Thee

D,

Valorous; prestigious; heroic. 73/136 How many Bullets bearest? / Hast Thou the Royal scar?

D, [Fig.]

beauty; magic; bliss; joy; happiness; contentment; freedom from care or trial. 257/317 I … Took Rainbows, as the common way, / And empty skies / The Eccentricity raise (-d), v. [ON reisa.] (webplay: approach, build, child, death, dispose, grow, house, land, life, pass, rank, remembrance, service, sleep, stir).

D,

Resurrect; restore; bring to life. 1731/1758 Love can do all but raise the Dead … love is tired and must sleep

D,

Flourish; thrive; spread; grow unrestrained; take root in an uncontrolled manner; [fig.] commandeer; conquer; take over; take control of. 1147/1149 After a hundred years / Nobody knows the Place … Weeds triumphant ranged rank (-s), n. [see range, v.] (webplay: degree, high, raised).

D,

Order; classification; degree; grade. 325/328 The Spangled Gowns, a lesser Rank / Of Victors – designate

D,

Transported; seized; taken; snatched; [fig.] changed; immortalized; taken to a heavenly realm. 282/342 a sudden sky / Reveals the fact that One is rapt / Forever from the eye rapture (-'s), n. [see rapt, verbal adj.] (webplay: delight, ecstasy, joy, music, rapidity, ravished, transport).

D, [Fig.]

heaven; salvation; exaltation. 1699/1729 Not to do a magnanimous thing … Is Rapture herself spurn

D,

Fairly; quite; particularly; especially; somewhat. 373/575 Court is a stately place – / I've heard – / so I … perch my Tongue / On Twigs of singing – rather high … Better to be ready

D,

Stretch; extend the arm and hand in attempt to obtain. 554/548 The Black Berry … clasps a Rock, with both His Hands … to the Sky / A little further reaches

D,

Recite; repeat; deliver; utter; pronounce; verbalize; [fig.] chant; sing. 157/229 Musicians wrestling Everywhere! … It is not Hymn from pulpit read readiness, n. [see ready, adj.] Promptness; willingness; preparedness to act; lack of reluctance. 1258/1280 “The Father and the son” himself / Would doubtless answer … But had they the readiness / When I desired to know, / We better Friends had been reading, n. [see read, v.] (webplay: justice). Recitation; utterance; vocal pronouncement. 1/1 Now to the application, to the reading of the roll, / to bringing thee to justice, and marshalling thy soul ready, adj. [Early ME < Germanic *raið-, put in order, prepare.] (webplay: go, near, ride, sea, speech, word). Prepared; equipped; fit; in proper condition and state of mind. 279/338 I am ready to go! … we must ride to the Judgment … never I mind the Sea real, adj. [OFr < L. rēs, thing + -āl-em, pertaining to.] (webplay: appearance, body, fictitious, life, wine, words).

D,

Phrase. “The Real One”: Jesus Christ; the Savior. 394/562 The Real One died for Thee real, n. [see real, adj.] (webplay: appearance, fictitious, life). Fact; truth; things actually occurring; items proven to exist through physical perception. 646/757 The Real – fictitious seems … Had all my Life but been Mistake reality, n. [see real, adj.]

D, [Fig.]

Earth; mortal existence; earthly possession; power in a mortal sphere. 343/375 Realms – just Dross … Dominions dowerless – beside this Grace

D, [Fig.]

experience; encounter. 387/671 The Sweetest Heresy received … the Faith accommodate but Two … The Grace so unavoidable recently, adv. [L. recens.] Lately; not long ago. 116/101 I had some things that I called mine – / And God, that he called his – / Till recently a rival claim / Disturbed these amities receptacle, n. [L. receptāculum < recipěre; see receive.] Vessel; container; box; case; storage carton; [fig] casket; coffin; grave; tomb; abyss; death. 1378/1402 in this black Receptacle / Can be no Bode of Dawn reception, n. [L. receptiōn-em < recipěre; see receive, v.] (webplay: hold). Admission; entrance; greeting; welcoming; [fig.] presence. 758/769 These – held Dimples – / Smooth them slow … Paradise – the only Palace / Fit for Her reception – now recess, n. [L. recess-us < recēděre; see recede, v.] Break; leisure; play time; recreation hour; time when school children pause from studying to engage in physical play outdoors. 712/479 We passed the school, where Children strove / At Recess – in the Ring recitation, n. [see recite, v.] (webplay: express, tell).

D, [Fig.]

bear the scar of; retain proof of. 314/457 Nature – sometimes sears a Sapling … Her Green People recollect it

D,

Purple; lavender; violet; bluish-red. 142/85 in the valleys lie … Bartsia, in the blanket red … Rhodora's cheek is crimson

D, [Fig.]

eliminate; destroy; kill; suppress; repress; subdue; extinguish; quench; snuff out; put down; do away with. 422/415 A Frost more needle keen / Is nescessary, to reduce / The Ethiop within. reduceless, adj. [see reduce, v.] Limitless; inexhaustible; bottomless; endless; eternally capable of producing. 855/1091 Possession is to One / As an Estate perpetual / Or a reduceless Mine. reed, n. [OE hréod < Germ. *hreuđom.] Thin stalk of grass; tall, flexible aquatic plant; [possible allusion to Isaiah 19:7.] 1100/1100 Then lightly as a Reed / Bent to the Water, struggled scarce – / Consented, and was dead reef (-s), n. [ME riff.]

D,

Notice; observe; watch; attend to; pay attention to; [fig.] show compassion for; be merciful to. 1560/1601 Of other minds / The Heart cannot forget … I was regarded then / Raised from oblivion / A single time … Worthy to be forgot regard, n. [see regard, v.] (webplay: hear, mind). Esteem; estimation; opinion; respect; admiration. 747/785 It dropped so low – in my Regard – / I heard it hit the Ground … At bottom of my mind regardless, adj. [see regard, v.] (webplay: feels, heart, pain, person, question). Careless; apathetic; heedless; indifferent; disinterested; [fig.] numb; stiff; incapable of emotion. 341/372 After great pain, a formal feeling comes … The stiff Heart questions … Regardless grown … As Freezing persons regiment (-s), n. [Late L. regěre, rule.] (webplay: commanded).

D,

Stay; linger; tarry; stay behind. 131/123

D,

Bring to memory; give recognition; bring to recollection. 431/389 My Holiday, shall be / That They – remember me remembered, verbal adj. [see remember, v.] (webplay: bear, before, consider, forgotten, let, memory, one, put, recollect, regard, said, still, time, tomb).

D,

Known; kept in mind.

D,

Slight; little; faint 936/866 This World, and it's species / A too concluded show / For it's absorbed Attention's / Remotest scrutiny remote (-ly), adv. [see remote, adj.] (webplay: small). Distantly; far away; out of the way. 1202/1190 A Stranger hovering round / A Symptom of alarm / In Villages remotely set remoteness, n. [see remote, adj.] (webplay: alien, foreign, place). Distance; separation from the present. 1219/1274 Now I knew I lost her / Not that she was gone / But Remoteness travelled / On her Face and Tongue… . Alien … As a Foreign Race / Traversed she though pausing / Latitudeless Place. remove (-d, -s), v. [OFr < L. re-, again + movēre, move.] (webplay: away, being, change, death, heart, move, residence, thing).

D, [Fig.]

resurrection; exaltation; salvation; paradise; celestial glory. 260/323 As if a Kingdom – cared! … Brave names of Men … Passed out – of Record / Into – Renown!

D,

Bring; carry; convey; cause to move. 948/1093 The instant holding in it's claw / The privilege to live / Or warrant to report the Soul / The other side the Grave reported, verbal adj. [see report, v.] (webplay: seldom) Told about; stated; communicated to others. 1651/1715 A Word made Flesh is seldom / And tremblingly partook / Nor then perhaps reported reporter, n. [see report, v.] (webplay: heard, returned, tell). One who gives an account. 160/132 I heard recede the disappointed tide! / Therefore, as One returned, I feel, / Odd secrets of the line to tell! … Some pale Reporter, from the awful doors / Before the Seal! reportless, adj. [see report, v.] (webplay: answer). Undistinguished; not well known; without repute. 1633/1654 Slipping I perceive / To thy reportless Grave … Which question shall I clutch – / What answer wrest from thee repose, n. [see repose, v.] (webplay: friend, lay, mind, rest, tranquillity).