Emily Dickinson Lexicon

DE-STRUC'TION, n. [L. destructio. See Destroy.]

1. The act of destroying; demolition; a pulling down; subversion; ruin, by whatever means; as, the destruction of buildings, or of towns. Destruction consists in the annihilation of the form of any thing, that form of parts which constitutes it what it is; as the destruction of grass or herbage by eating; of a forest, by cutting down the trees; or it denotes a total annihilation; as, the destruction of a particular government; the destruction of happiness.
2. Death; murder; slaughter; massacre. There was a deadly destruction throughout all the city. – 1 Sam. v.
3. Ruin. Destruction and misery are in their ways. – Rom. iii.
4. Eternal death. Broad is the way that leadeth to destruction. – Matth.vii.
5. Cause of destruction; a consuming plague; a destroyer. The destruction that wasteth at noon-day. – Ps. xci.