DEF 
There are five common rules of a good definition, 1. 
That it be clear, and more eafy and obvious than the thing 
Gefined. 
it not to agree cither to the whole thing, or 
the fole thing debe neque omni, wie e foli: 
nothing is more commen, even among the belt and jutteft 
authors. 4. That it be (hort. And 5. That neither the thing 
defined, nor a mere fynonymous name, make any part of the 
definition. 
hat tills the ground. 
was his mafter Plato lefs aa ee 
upon him on that account is ous : 
ned a animal bipes & imple, a two-foote 
mal without feathers. Upon w 
erying, « Here is Plato” 
Our definition of Tabitances, it muft be added, are very 
defeQtive: and as for individuals, we, have no definitions at 
all. The ideas of fubitances are compounded of the various 
oe ideas, jointly impreffed when they prefeat themfelves; 
we can do to define them, ie only to enumerate thofe 
ad fenfible ideas, as ett denfity, malleability, weight, 
&e.. us gold is ned by fuch a peculiar colour, gra- 
vity, &c. wae nitions may raife an idea clear 
enough of that tenes in the min who has fepa- 
haps received, by his fenfes, ail the fimple ess that are in 
the compofition of the complex idea defined ; though the 
intimate nature and effence of fubftance are unknown, and 
confequently cannot be defined. 
It fo.lows, that they are only the modes, or attributes, 
that can be explained by what we properly call a definition. 
FINITION, in Réetoric, is one of the common places, 
ee is defined by Tully, a fhort comprehenfive explanation 
of a thing. 
The definitions of the —— it muft be obferved, differ 
h from t ofe re) : thefe 
1, &e. 
ators tal a larger comply end ar things more 
ornamentally from the places of rhet thus: man is 
curious work of an mee aaah Cac fae after his own 
image, and endued with rcafori, and born for immortality? 
But this rhetorical definition, in friGinels, comes nearer to 
the nature of a defcription than an accurate definition. 
DEFINITIVE is applied to bla terminates 
or decides a queftion, or procefs. Thus w 
The houfe of lords have paffed a definitive fearences itt 
fuch a caufe: the church has given a definitive judgment on 
an make of faith. 
ord ftands-in oppofition to provifional, and interloe - 
eutor . 
Demis Pronoun, in Grammar. See DEMonsTRA« 
TIVE. 
ae an denote, according to-- the- gil te 
ment of Mr. Harris, one of the {pecies of. w 
or fuch as are — t- by relation, cailed by- an 
articles. See Arti 
DEFINITOR, a term ufed in feveral religious orders, 
for an affeflor, or count of a general, or fuperior in cer- 
tain monafter 
Tn mott orders of religious, the definitor takes place after 
DEF 
the fupzrior of the convent he lives in, when in the convent 
itfelf; but out of the convent, the definitor’s place is before 
his own fuperior. 
Definitors are alfo fubje& in the antiad where pie refide, 
to the immediate fuperior of the convent, as to things re- 
lating to the monatlic difcipline, on t in nothing 
DETFLAGRATION, in ee ig uly applied to 
any rapid combuftion fpreading any mixture ac 
companied with much evolution of eee and v Thus 
nitre deflagrates when thrown on hat coals, or mixed with 
charcoal and fired. When accompanied with a loud noife 
it is termed detonation. 
DEFLECTION, the turning any thing afide from its 
former courfe, by fome adventitious or external caufe. 
e word is often applied to the tendency of a thip from 
her true courfe, by reafon of currents, &c. which divert her, 
B 
and turn her out of her a 
Dervection of lig e INFLEcTION of ligh 
DEFLECTIVE oe cen Sade defledo, Late, G bend, 
to turn yeaa are thofe forces which oving body 
iu a direGtion diffcrent fro 
fequence of gia the reel body is 
original courfe, viz. is obliged to deviate from that direc- 
tion in which it would move “if not acted upon by any of ' 
thofe forces. ‘Thus a ball projecting horizontally from a 
cannon, would move in a ftraight line if the force of gravity 
did not deflect it from that dircGtion. See Cenrrat, or 
Cenrriperat, and oe 
DEFLORATION, o 
lating or taking away a woman’s virgin 
eat 4 or Sage are decreed ‘en the ate eile in cafe - 
of ite y anatomifts make t en a real’ 
proof at aa, pefuaded that’ where i is ot con, the 
girl m 
» the act of vio-« 
uft bave been deflowered. See 
The ancients had fo 
deflo 
had ne alfo it in Wales, nee Friend ar ime parts 
of Germany. . See Boroucu- 
B = cuttom of Anjou and hey ree 
five years of age, may fuffer herfelf to be deflowered, with- 
out Sate difinherited for it by. her father, 
De -Cange quotes an arret of the nineteenth of March, 
their cane! the three firft“nights ; the 
founded 
which decrees the fame, out. of reverence of the matrimonial 
benedi€tion. 
DEFLUVIUM, is ufed to exprefs a diftemper in trees, 
se dae they tofe their bark ; it is thought to be caufed 2s 
a fharp humour, that diffolves the glue whereby the bar 
is oo to. the wood, and fometimes by too n 
DEFLUXION, . ecto a defluo, I flow ae 
aterm ufed by the ers to denote an increéafed 
charge of fluids from. ne ae sie an as from the 
trils, in coryza, and from the trachea and bronchial pe 
‘maid, after twenty- - 
at 
