DEN 



270 



DEN 



late, a pause upon a point of difficulty in 

 an action, and a resting of the decision of 

 the cause upon that point. This abiding 

 upon a point of law is called demurring. 



DEMY' ^see DEMI). 1. A half-fellow at 

 Magdalen College, Oxford. 2. A par- 

 ticular size of paper, much used for print- 

 ing books upon. 3. In heraldry, a 



charge borne in half. 



DEXA'RII (see DENARU-S). A general 

 name in late for any sort of pecunia nume- 

 rata, or ready money. 



DENA'RICS, the Roman penny. A silver 

 coin estimated by Dr. Arbuthnot to have 

 been worth about seven pence three far- 

 things. As a weight, the denarius was the 

 seventh part of a Roman ounce. 



DEN'DRACATE, from $EvS|ev, a tree, and 

 i%a.'rr l t , agate ; arborescent agate ; agate 

 containing delineations of parts of plants, 

 as ferns, mosses, &c. Such pebbles are 

 found abundantly on the shore from Bog- 

 nor to Brighton, and are very beautiful 

 when cut and polished. 



DEN'DRITE, from Jc'*>Sv, a tree. Any 

 mineral having impressions or delinea- 

 tions of trees, shrubs, &c., or which as- 

 Bumes a ramified appearance. The native 

 silver of Potosi is also thus named from 

 its resembling, when first extracted, small 

 branches of trees. 



^DENDROI'D, from Ssv^ov, a tree, and 

 litiof, likeness. Atenn applied in natural 

 history to objects which have a ramified 

 or tree-like appearance. 



DENDROM'ETEH, from $gy$oy,a tree, and 

 (JATfw, measure, an instrument adapted 

 to the purposes of measuring trees. It 

 consists of a semi-circle, divided into two 

 quadrants, and graduated from the middle, 

 and upon the diameter there hangs a 

 plummet for fixing the instrument in a 

 vertical position. Fitted to a theodolite, 

 it may be applied to measuring the heights 

 and distances of objects, accessible or in- 

 accessible, whether situated in planes 

 parallel or oblique to the plane in which 

 the instrument is placed. 



DENEB. In astronomy, an Arabic term 

 signifying tail. Used to denote several 

 stars in the tails of some of the constella- 

 tions, as Deneb Adijem, the tail of the 

 Swan. 



DE'NIER, an old French copper coin, of 

 which 12 made a sol. There were two 

 kinds, the tournois and the parisis. 



DEN'IZEN, an alien born, who has ob- 

 tained letters patent whereby he is con- 

 stituted an English subject. The radix of 

 the term is "Welsh, din, dinas, a town, 

 city, or fortress. 



DENOMINATOR (of a fraction^. In arith- 

 metic and algebra, the number and letter 

 below the line, showing the number of 

 p*rt into which the integer is divided, 



and consequently indicating the denomi- 

 nation of the fraction, or giving it name. 



DENOC'EMEST (Fr.), from dtnmter, to 

 untie. The development of the plot or 

 story in a novel or play, or any other de- 

 partment of literature. 



DE Xo'vo (Latin), anew, from the be- 

 ginning. 



DENS (Latin), a tooth, quasi edens, from 

 edo, to eat. Many plants have this speci- 

 fic name from their fancied resemblance 

 to the teeth of some animal, as Dens leo- 

 nis, the Lion's tooth or Dandelion. 



DENSE, DEN'SITY, Lat. densus, close; 

 densitas, closeness. These terms are rela- 

 tive, and denote the comparativp quan- 

 tity of matter which is contained in the 

 same space ; they are directly opposed to 

 rare and rarity. The specific gravities of 

 bodies are presumed to be the measure of 

 their densities. See VOLUME. 



DENTA'GRA, from detis, a tooth, and 



ayetx,, a seizure. 1. The tooth-ache. 



2. An instrument for drawing teeth. 



DENTAL. By naturalists, the expres- 

 sion dental formula is used as the name 

 of a notation, used to signify the number 

 and kind of teeth of a mammiferous ani- 

 mal. Thus the genus Felis is character- 

 ised by Incis. 4 ; canin. ^-, -1 ; praemol. 

 M; mol. -,f = 30. This signifies that 

 j have six incisors in both the upper 

 and the lower jaw_; one canine tooth on 

 each side of both jaws, two praemolares 

 on each side of each jaw; two molareson 

 each side of the upper, and one on each 

 side of the lower jaw. 



DEXTA'LIUM, the tooth-shell; a genus of 

 marine tubicol shells ; it is a tubulous 

 arcuated cone open at both ends, and re- 

 sembling the tusk of an elephant in mi- 

 niature, whence the English and generic 

 names dentalis, tooth-like. 



DEN'TATE, Lat. dentalus, toothed. In 

 botany, leaves, petals, roots, &c., are den- 

 tate when beset with horizontal project- 

 ing points, or rather distant teeth of their 

 own substance. 



DENTA'TO-SIN'UATE, having points like 

 teeth with hollows about the edges. 



DEN'TBLS, DEN'TILS. In architecture, or- 

 naments in a cornice in the form of in- 

 dentations or teeth (denies') ; this member 

 is called a denticule or denticulated band. 



DEX'TES, plural of dens, a tooth. I), 

 acute, or incisores, the incisor teeth or 

 four front teeth ; D. adulti, the teeth of 

 the second dentition ; D. bicuspides, the 

 two first grinders on each side ; I>. canini 

 or cuspidati, the canine teeth, two in each 

 jaw on the sides of the incisores; D. mo- 

 lares, the grinders or double teeth ; D. 

 sapiential, the wisdom teeth; the two 

 double teeth farthest back in the jaw. 



DE.MlC'CiiTE, Lat. d<Htit*IU*'Vf. M* 



