Emily Dickinson Lexicon

DIF'FER-ENCE, n.

1. The state of being unlike or distinct; distinction; disagreement; want of sameness; variation; dissimilarity. Difference may be total or partial, and exist in the nature and essence of things, in the form, the qualities or degrees. There is a difference in nature between animals and plants; a difference in form between the genera and species of animals; a difference of quality in paper; and a difference in degrees of heat, or of light.
2. The quality which distinguishes one thing from another.
3. Dispute; debate; contention; quarrel; controversy. What was the difference? It was a contention in public. – Shak.
4. The point in dispute; ground of controversy. – Shak.
5. A logical distinction.
6. Evidences or marks of distinction. The marks and differences of sovereignty. – Davies.
7. Distinction. There is no difference between the Jew and the Greek. – Rom x.
8. In mathematics, the remainder of a sum or quantity, after a lesser sum or quantity is subtracted.
9. In logic, an essential attribute, belonging to some species, and not found in the genus; being the idea that defines the species. – Encyc.
10. In heraldry, a certain figure added to a coat of arms, serving to distinguish one family from another, or to show how distant a younger branch is from the elder or principal branch.