Emily Dickinson Lexicon

DE-TAIL'ER, n.

One who details.

DE-TAIL'ING, ppr.

1. Relating minutely; telling the particulars
2. Selecting from the rosters.

DE-TAIN', v.t. [L. detineo; de and teneo, to hold; Fr. detenir; Sp. detener. See Tenant.]

1. To keep back or from; to withhold; to keep what belongs to another. Detain not the wages of the hireling. – Taylor.
2. To keep or restrain from proceeding, either going or coming; to stay or stop. We were detained by the rain. Let us detain thee, till we have made ready a kid. – Judges xiii.
3. To hold in custody. – Blackstone.

DE-TAIN'DER, n.

A writ. [See Detinue.]

DE-TAIN'ED, pp.

Withheld; kept back; prevented from going or coming; held; restrained.

DE-TAIN'ER, n.

1. One who withholds what belongs to another; one who detains, stops, or prevents from going.
2. In law, a holding, or keeping possession of what belongs to another; detention of what is another's, though the original taking may be lawful. – Blackstone.

DE-TAIN'ING, ppr.

Withholding what belongs to another; holding back; restraining from going or coming; holding in custody.

DE-TAIN'MENT, n.

The act of detaining; detention. – Blackstone.

DE-TECT', v.t. [L. detego, detectus; de and tego, to cover, W. toi, Eng. to deck, which see.]

Literally, to uncover; hence, to discover; to find out; to bring to light; as, to detect the ramifications and inosculations of the fine vessels. But this word is especially applied to the discovery of secret crimes and artifices. We detect a thief, or the crime of stealing. We detect the artifices of the man, or the man himself. We detect what is concealed, especially what is concealed by design.

DE-TEC'TED, pp.

Discovered; found out; laid open; brought to light.

DE-TECT'ER, n.

A discoverer; one who finds out what another attempts to conceal.

DE-TECT'ING, ppr.

Discovering; finding out.

DE-TEC'TION, n.

1. The act of detecting; discovery of a person or thing attempted to be concealed; as, the detection of a thief or burglarian; the detection of fraud or forgery; the detection of artifice, device, or a plot.
2. Discovery of any thing before hidden, or unknown. The sea and rivers are instrumental to the detection of amber and other fossils, by washing away the earth that concealed them. – Woodward.

DE-TEN'E-BRATE, v.t. [L. de and tenebræ.]

To remove darkness. [Not in use.] – Brown.

DE-TENT', n. [L. detentus; Fr. detente.]

A stop in a clock, which by being lifted up or let down, locks and unlocks the clock in striking. – Encyc.

DE-TEN'TION, n. [See Detain.]

1. The act of detaining; a withholding from another his right; a keeping what belongs to another, and ought to be restored. – Blackstone.
2. Confinement; restraint; as, detention in custody.
3. Delay from necessity; a detaining; as, the detention of the mail by bad roads.

DE-TER', v.t. [L. deterreo; de and terreo, to frighten.]

1. To discourage and stop by fear; to stop or prevent from acting or proceeding, by danger, difficulty, or other consideration which disheartens, or countervails the motive for an act. We are often deterred from our duty by trivial difficulties. The state of the road or a cloudy sky may deter a man from undertaking a journey. A million of frustrated hopes will not deter us from new experiments. – J. M. Mason.
2. To prevent by prohibition or danger. – Mitford.

DE-TERGE', v.t. [deterj'; L. detergo; de and tergo, to wipe or scour.]

To cleanse; to purge away foul or offending matter, from the body, or from an ulcer. – Wiseman.

DE-TER'GED, pp.

Cleansed; purged.

DE-TER'GENT, a.

Cleansing; purging.

DE-TER'GENT, n.

A medicine that has the power of cleansing the vessels or skin from offending matter.

DE-TER'GING, pp.

1. Cleansing; carrying off obstructions or foul matter.
2. adj. Having the quality of cleansing.

DE-TE'RI-O-RATE, v.i. [Fr. deteriorer; It. deteriorare; Sp. deteriorar, from deterior, worse, L. deterior.]

To grow worse; to be impaired in quality; to degenerate; opposed to meliorate.

DE-TE'RI-O-RATE, v.t.

To make worse; to reduce in quality; as, to deteriorate a race of men or their condition. – Hayley. Paley.

DE-TE'RI-O-RA-TED, pp.

Made worse; impaired in quality.