Dictionary: DU'TI-A-BLE – DWIN'DLE

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DU'TI-A-BLE, a. [See Duty.]

Subject to the imposition of duty or customs; as, dutiable goods. – Supreme Court, U.S.

DU'TI-ED, a.

Subjected to duties or customs. – Ames.

DU'TI-FUL, a.

  1. Performing the duties or obligations required by law, justice, or propriety; obedient; submissive to natural or legal superiors; respectful; as, a dutiful son or daughter; a dutiful ward or servant; a dutiful subject.
  2. Expressive of respect or a sense of duty; respectful; reverential; required by duty; as, dutiful reverence; dutiful attentions.

DU'TI-FUL-LY, adv.

In a dutiful manner; with a regard to duty; obediently; submissively; reverently; respectfully. – Swift.

DU'TI-FUL-NESS, n.

  1. Obedience; submission to just authority; habitual performance of duty; as, dutifulness to parents. – Dryden.
  2. Reverence; respect. – Taylor.

DU'TY, n. [from due, Fr. dû.]

  1. That which a person owes to another; that which a person is bound, by any natural, moral or legal obligation, to pay, do or perform. Obedience to princes, magistrates and the laws, is the duty of every citizen and subject; obedience, respect and kindness to parents are duties of children; fidelity to friends is a duty; reverence, obedience and prayer to God are indispensable duties; the government and religious instruction of children are duties of parents which they can not neglect without guilt.
  2. Forbearance of that which is forbid by morality, law, justice or propriety. It is our duty to refrain from lewdness, intemperance, profaneness and injustice.
  3. Obedience; submission.
  4. Act of reverence or respect. They both did duty to their lady. – Spenser.
  5. The business of a soldier or marine on guard; as, the company is on duty. It is applied also to other services or labor.
  6. The business of war; military service; as, the regiment did duty in Flanders.
  7. Tax, toll, impost, or customs; excise; any sum of money required by Government to be paid on the importation, exportation, or consumption of goods. An impost on land or other real estate, and on the stock of farmers, is not called a duty, but a direct tax. – United States.
  8. In enginery, the amount of weight which is lifted by a steam engine, by a certain quantity of coal.

DU'UM-VIR, n. [L. duo, two, and vir, man.]

One of two Roman officers or magistrates united in the same public functions.

DU'UM-VIR-AL, a.

Pertaining to the duumvirs or duumvirate of Rome.

DU'UM-VIR-ATE, n.

The union of two men in the same office; or the office, dignity or government of two men thus associated; as in ancient Rome.

DWALE, n.

  1. In heraldry, a sable or black color.
  2. The deadly nightshade, Atropa lethalis; a plant; or a sleepy potion. – Chaucer.

DWARF, n. [Sax. dwerg, dweorg; D. dwerg; Sw. id.; Dan. dværg.]

  1. A general name for an animal or plant which is much below the ordinary size of the species or kind. A man that never grows beyond two or three feet in highth, is a dwarf. This word when used alone usually refers to the human species, but sometimes to other animals. When it is applied to plants, it is more generally used in composition; as, a dwarf-tree; dwarf-elder.
  2. An attendant on a lady or knight in romances. – Spenser.
  3. To hinder from growing to the natural size; to lessen; to make or keep small. – Addison.

DWARF'ED, pp.

Hindered from growing to the natural size.

DWARF'ISH, a.

Like a dwarf; below the common stature or size; very small; low; petty; despicable; as, a dwarfish animal; a dwarfish shrub. – Dryden.

DWARF'ISH-LY, adv.

Like a dwarf.

DWARF'ISH-NESS, n.

Smallness of stature; littleness of size.

DWAUL, v.i. [Sax. dwelian, dwolian, to wander.]

To be delirious. [Obs.] – Junius.

DWELL, v.i. [pret. dwelled, usually contracted into dwelt. Dan. dvæler, to stay, wait, loiter, delay; Sw. dvala, a trance; dvälias, to delay, abide, remain or linger. Teut. dualla; Ice. duelia; Scot. duel, dwell. Qu. W. attal, dal, to hold, stop, stay, and Ir. tuilim, to sleep. This word coincides nearly with dally in its primitive signification, and may be of the same family. Its radical sense is probably to draw out in time; hence, to hold, rest, remain. We see like senses united in many words, as in teneo, τεινω, continue. See Dally and Class Dl, No. 3, 5, 6, 21.]

  1. To abide as a permanent resident, or to inhabit for a time; to live in a place; to have a habitation for some time or permanence. God shall enlarge Japheth, and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem. – Gen. ix. Dwell imports a residence of some continuance. We use abide for the resting of a night or an hour; but we never say, he dwelt in a place a day or a night. Dwell may signify a residence for life or for a much shorter period, but not for a day. In Scripture, it denotes a residence of seven days during the feast of tabernacles. Ye shall dwell in booths seven days. – Lev. xxiii. The word was made flesh, and dwelt among us. – John i.
  2. To be in any state or condition; to continue. To dwell in doubtful joy. – Shak.
  3. To continue; to be fixed in attention; to hang upon with fondness. The attentive queen Dwelt on his accents. – Smith. They stand at a distance, dwelling on his looks and language, fixed in amazement. – Buckminster.
  4. To continue long; as, to dwell on a subject, in speaking, debate or writing; to dwell on a note in music. Dwell, as a verb transitive, is not used. “We who dwell this wild,” in Milton, is not a legitimate phrase.

DWELL'ED, pp.

Inhabited.

DWELL'ER, n.

An inhabitant; a resident of some continence in a place. – Dryden.

DWELL'ING, n.

  1. Habitation; place of residence; abode. Hazor shall be a dwelling for dragons. – Jer. xlix.
  2. Continuance; residence; state of life. Thy dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field. – Dan. iv.

DWELL'ING, ppr.

Inhabiting; residing; sojourning; continuing with fixed attention.

DWELL'ING-HOUSE, n.

The house in which one lives.

DWELL'ING-PLACE, n.

The place of residence.

DWIN'DLE, v.i. [Sax. dwinan, to pine, to vanish; Sw. taina; G. schwinden. I suppose founded on the root of wane or vain, vanish.]

  1. To diminish; to become less; to shrink; to waste or consume away. The body dwindles by pining or consumption; an estate dwindles by waste, by want of industry or economy; an object dwindles in size as it recedes from view; an army dwindles by death or desertion. Our drooping days are dwindled down to naught. – Thomson.
  2. To degenerate; to sink; to fall away. Religious societies may dwindle into factious clubs. – Swift.

DWIN'DLE, v.t.

  1. To make less; to bring low. – Thomson.
  2. To break; to disperse. – Clarendon.