DIM 



279 



DIG 



lu astronomy, denotes the apparent dis- 

 tance of the inferior planets, Mercury and 

 "Venus, from the sun. 



DiGYN'iA,from Sif, and <yuvvi, a woman. 

 The name of an order in several classes of 

 the sexual system of plants, embracing; 

 those plants which, to the character of 

 the class whatever it may be, add the 

 circumstance of having two styles or 

 pistils. 



DIHEDRON, from dtg, and t^gat, a face- 

 A figure having two sides or surfaces ; 

 hence dihedral, two-sided. 



DIHEXAHE'DRAL, from di and herahedral. 

 Having the form of a hexahedral prism, 

 with trihedral summits. 



DIKE, Sw. dike, Dutch dyk. Radically 

 the same word as ditch. Engineers use 

 this term in the same sense as embank- 

 ie>it, with this difference, that a hydraulic 

 embankment, and one impervious to 

 water, is meant. Thus a considerable 

 portion of Holland is preserved from the 

 sea by dikes. Geologists and miners em- 

 ploy the name dike to a wall of mineral 

 matter cutting through the strata in 

 nearly a vertical position. Many of these 

 dike? are fissures filled with clay, but the 

 most notable are those of igneous matter, 

 as whin. In Scotland a stone fence is 

 called a dike. 



DILAPIDATION, from di, and lapis, a 

 stone. In Jaw, this term is used to denote 

 a voluntary wasting, or suffering to go to 

 decay, any building in possession of an ec- 

 clesiastical incumbent. Dilapidation is 

 active when the incumbent pulls down a 

 building ; permissive when he suffers the 

 building to waste for want of repair. 

 Dilapidation extends, not only to build- 

 ings, but also to woods or anything which 

 happens to be church property. 



DIL'ATORI 1. Lat. dilatorium, a sur- 

 gical instrument for dilating any part. 



2. Lat. dilatoritts, intending to make 



delay, as in law, a dilatory plea, intended 

 to delay trial. 



DIL'IGENCE. In Scottish law, that pro- 

 cess by which persons, lands, or effects 

 are seized in execution, or in security for 

 debt. 



DiLf'virM, Lat. from di, and luo, to 

 wash. Water- worn debris, consisting of 

 loam, sand, gravel, &c. deposited by an 

 inundation of water : such deposits are 

 termed dilui-itm and diluvial. These terms 

 were originally introduced into geology 

 to distingush the accumulation of debris 

 consequent on the Noachian deluge. See 

 ALLUVIUM. 



DIME, (contracted from Fr. dixieme, 

 tenth). A silver coin of the United States 

 of America ; value ten cents, or the tenth 

 of a dollar. 



DIMEX'SIOX, from dimetior, to measure ; 

 leu^-th, breadth, or thickness. A line has 



one dimension, length ; a surface has two 

 dimensions, length and breadth; a solid 

 has the three dimensions, length, breadth, 

 and thickness. In algebra, the term dimen- 

 sion has reference to the highest power 

 which enters into the composition of an 

 equation or expression. Thus an equation 

 is said to be of one, two, three, &c. di- 

 mensions, according as it involves the 

 simple quantity, the square, cube, &c. 



DIMINISHED INTERVALS. In music, one 

 that is short of its quantity by a lesser 

 semitone. 



DIMINUEN'DO (It.;. In music, where 

 the volume of sound is to be lessened from 

 loud to soft, marked thus ~^^==*-. 



DIMINUTION, from di, and minor, less, 

 a making less; opposed to augmentation. 

 In architecture, a contraction of the upper 

 part of a column ; called also the dimi- 

 nishing of the column. In law, a plea by 

 the plaintiff, in an appeal to a superior 

 court, that part of the record is omitted 

 in the inferior court. In music, the reply 

 to a subject in notes of half the length of 

 those of the subject itself. 



DIMIS'SORT, Lat. dimissorius, sending 

 away, dismissing to another jurisdiction. 

 A letter dimissory is one given by a bishop 

 to a candidate for holy orders, having a 

 title in his diocese, directed to some other 

 bishop, giving leave for the bearer to be 

 ordained by him. 



DIM'ITY, Sp. dimite. A species of cross- 

 barred stuff, composed entirely of cotton, 

 and similar in fabric to fustian. 



DINOTHE'RIT, an extinct genus of ter- 

 restrial mammalia, thus named from 

 g(voy,huge, and 9i$n>, a wild beast, in 

 allusion to its huge size, the dinotherium 

 being considered to have been the largest 

 of all terrestrial animals. It holds an in- 

 termediate place between the tapir and 

 the mastodon, as it is believed to have 

 been a herbivorous aquatic animal, anA 

 supplies a link between the cetacea and 

 pachydermata. There are two species at 

 present recognised. The remains are 

 found chiefly at Epplesheim, in Germany. 

 The animal is referred to the miocene 

 period. 



DIOBO'LON, 5/eoAen. An ancientweight 

 of two oboli (a scruple). 



DI'OCESE, j from 'OIOIKWH, a jurisdic- 



DI'OCESS, / tion (radix oixo; , a house). 

 An ecclesiastical division of a kingdom 

 or state, subject to the authority of a 

 bishop, hence called a diocesan. A diocese- 

 was originally a division of the Roman 

 empire, called otherwise a prefecture . 



DIOCTAHE'DRAL, from di, and octahe- 

 dral, having the form of two octahedral 

 pyramids joined base to base, without 

 any intermediate column. Crystals of 

 this form constitute the genus dioctahedri*, 

 and the figure is called a dioctahedron. 



