dead-spindle 
dead-spindle (dcd'spin'dl), . The spindle in 
tin- tail-stock or dead-head of a lathe, which 
does not rotate. 
dead-stroke (ded'strok), . Delivering a blow 
without recoil: as, a drad-xtrokt- hammer. See 
dead-thraw (ded'thril), . [Scotch form of 
dfiith-iltriH:] The death-throe. 
\\ ha ever hranl of a door ln-iii^ ham d wlu-n aman was 
ill the <!>'<tff -Hu-nii 1 ! How d yr think th-- -spirit was to i:-t 
awa through bolts ami hars ijki- lhar '.' 
*<<>/!, Cny Mannering, xxvii. 
dead-tongue (ded'tung), . The water-hem- 
lock, (Eiiiintlii- criH'iitn : so culled from its para- 
lyzing effects upon the organs of speech. 
dead-water (ded'wa"ter), H. Naut., the water 
which eddies about a ship's stern during her 
progress. Also called eddy-water. 
dead-weight (ded'wat), n. 1. A heavy or op- 
pressive burden ; a weight or burden tliat has 
to be borne without aid or without compensa- 
tory advantage. 
The fact is, flue thoughts, enshrined In appropriate lan- 
guage, are dead-teeights upon the stage, unless they are 
struck like sparks from the action of the fable. 
Cornhill May. 
The gentlest of Nature's growths or motions will ( in 
time, burst asunder or wear away the proudest dead-weight 
man can heap upon them. II'. philliiut, Speeches, p. 42. 
2. A name given to an advance by the Bank 
of England to the government on account of 
half-pay and pensions to retired officers of 
the army and navy. 3. Kaut., the lading of a 
vessel when it consists of heavy goods; that 
part of the cargo, as coal, iron, etc., which 
pays freight according to its weight, and not to 
its bulk. 
dead-well (ded'wel), n. Same as absnrbing- 
in-II. See absorb. 
dead-wind (ded'wind), . Naut., an old term 
for a wind dead ahead, or blowing directly 
from the point toward which a ship is sailing. 
dead-wood (ded'wud), n. 1. In shipbuilding, 
a body of timber built up on top of the keel at 
either end, to afford a firm fastening for the 
cant timbers. 2. A buffer-block. 3. In ten- 
pins and pin-pool, the pins which have been 
knocked down. Hence 4. Useless material. 
The commissioner [of patents] has made some effort 
though not so strenuous as might be to cut the dead- 
wood out of the examining and clerical forces left him as 
a legacy by his predecessor. Sci. Ainer., N. S., LVII. 209. 
To get the dead-wood on one, to have one entirely at 
a disadvantage or in one's power; secure advantage over 
one. [U. S. slang.] 
dead-wool (ded'wul), n. Wool taken from the 
skins of sheep which have been slaughtered or 
have died. 
dead-work (ded'werk), n. Work which is in it- 
self unprofitable, but is necessary to, and leads 
up to, that which is profitable or productive ; 
specifically, in mining, that work which is done 
in the way of opening a mine, or preparing to 
remove the ore in a mine, but is not accom- 
panied by any production of ore, or is almost 
non-remunerative. 
To describe dead-ipork is to narrate all those portions 
of our work which consume the most time, give the most 
trouble, require the greatest patience and endurance, and 
seem to produce the most insignificant results. 
Science, VI. 174. 
dead- works (ded'werks), n. pi. Naut., the parts 
of a ship which are above the surface of the wa- 
ter when she is balanced for a voyage : now gen- 
erally called upper works. 
de-aerate (do-a'e-rat), c. /. : pivt. snul | ,;. <!<- 
iii : riiti'd, ppr. (lc-<ierating. [< de-priv. + aerate.] 
To expel the air from ; free from air. [Bare.] 
Dr. Meyer states that the gases employed in this re- 
soaivh were obtained from tlit- roals hy introducing two 
to four hundred grains into a flask, which was imtm-di- 
ately tlllrd up with hot <l>'-n> rri'' <t water. 
t ',-,>. Diet., IV. 240. 
deaf (def or def), a. [Early mod. E. also deef; 
< ME. def, deef, def,. ,l,,if. etc., < AS. deaf = 
OS. dof = OFries. Oaf = D. doof = MLG. dof, 
LG. dor = OHG. MHG. tou/i, ( i. towft, deaf, dull, 
stupid, etc., = Icel. daufr = Sw. dof = Dan. dm 
= (troth, daubs, deaf; prob. akin to Gr. rvfMc, 
blind, and to E. dumb, q. v.] 1. Lacking the 
sense of hearing ; insensible to sounds. 
Blind are their eyes, their ears are deaf, 
Nor hear when mortals pray ; 
Mortals that wait for their relief 
Are blind and deaf as they. Watts. 
2. Unable to hear, or to hear clearly, in con- 
sequence of some defect or obstruction in tho 
organs of hearing; defective in ability to per- 
1471 
ceive or discriminate sounds; dull of hearing: 
as, a deaf man ; to be deaf in one ear. 
f-'nl. Hoy, trll him I am deaf. 
Page. You must speak louder, my master is deaf. 
XA/i*.. :>. lien. IV., I. 2. 
And many of hem becamen hlynde, and many dere, for 
the noyse of the water. V"i"lrrille, Travels, p. 308. 
Deaf with tin- noise, I took my hasty flight. Itryden. 
3. Refusing to listen or to hear ; unwilling to 
regard or give heed ; unmoved or unpersuaded ; 
insensible: as, deaf to entreaty ; deaf to all ar- 
gument or reason. 
Kur Hod M def now a dayes ami deyneth iinnht mi* to 
huyre. Pier* /'/ m" i> i< '), xii. (il. 
To counsel this lady was deaf, 
To Judgment she was blind. 
Margaret of Crainnarifat (Child's Ballads, VIII. 252). 
Oh, the millions of deaf hearts, deaf to everything really 
impassioned in music, that pretend to admire M o/art ! 
De Qitincey, Secret Societies, if. 
They might as well have blest her ; she was deaf 
To blessing or to cursing save from one. 
Tennyson, Heraint. 
4. Lacking sharpness or clearness; dull; stifled; 
obscurely heard; confused. [Rare.] 
Nor silence is within, nor voice express, 
But a ! r noise of sounds that never cease. 
Dryden. 
5f. Numb. 
T6rpido is a flsshe, but who-so handeleth hym shal be 
lame A defe of lynimes that he shall fele no thyng. 
Babees Book (E. E. T. S.), p. 239. 
6. Barren; sterile; blasted: as, deaf land ; deaf 
corn. 
Every day, it seems, was separately a blank day, yield- 
ing absolutely nothing what children call a deaf nut, 
ottering no kernel. De Quincey, Autobiog. Sketches, 1. 91. 
deal 
A B C D 
Deaf and dumb. See deaf -mvtr. Deaf as a door, post, 
or stone, exceedingly deaf. 
deaft. r. '. [Also deave. early mod. E. also deve ; 
< ME. "defen, "deren, \ AS. 'dedfian, in comp. 
adedfian, become deaf (= OFries. dava = I). 
dooren, tarnish, verdooven, deafen, = OHG. tou- 
ben, MHG. ttiuben, G. betduben, deafen, stun, = 
Icel. deyfa = Dan. dove = Sw. dofva), < deaf, 
deaf: see deaf, a. Cf. deafen.] To make deaf; 
deprive of hearing; deafen; stun with noise. 
Thou deafest me with thy kryeng so londe. 
Palsgrave, sig. B til., fol. 206. 
And lest their lamentable shreeks should sad the hearts 
of their Parent*, the Priests of Molech did deaf their ears 
with the contimiall clangs of trumpets and timbrels. 
Sandy*, Travailes, p. 145. 
An obstinate sinner . . . still deafs himself to the cry 
of his own conscience, that he may live the more licen- 
tiously. Ree. T. Adamt, Works, II. 41. 
deaf-adder (def'ad'er), n. A popular name in 
the United States of sundry serpents reputed to 
be venomous. 
deaf-dumbness (def'dum'nes), . Dumbness 
or aphony arising from deafness, whether con- 
genital or occurring during infancy. 
Deafness, resulting from functional or nervous derange- 
ment, from actual disease, or from deaf-dwnbnets. 
B. W. Richardson, Prevent. Med., p. 198. 
deafen (def 'n), r. t. [< deaf + -en*. Cf. deaf, 
r.] 1. To make deaf ; deprive of the power of 
hearing. 2. To stun ; render incapable of per- 
ceiving or discriminating sounds distinctly : as, 
to be deafened, with clamor or tumult. 
And all the host of hell 
With deafening shout return'd them loud acclaim. 
Milton, P. L., ii. 520. 
Dazzled by the livid-flickering fork, 
And deafen'd with the stammering cracks and claps 
That follow'd. Tennyson, Merlin and Vivien. 
3. In arch., to render impervious to sound (as 
a door or a partition) by means of sound-board- 
ing or pugging. 
eafening (def'n-ing), n. In arch., the pugging 
used to prevent the passage of sound through 
floors, partitions, and the like. Also called r 
2. A subject for dissection. [Med. slang.] 
deaf-muteness (def'mut'nes), n. [< deaf-mute 
+ -ness.] Deaf-dumbness. 
Physiological accidents, more painful and not less incur* 
able than those of deaf-mutrneit and blindness. 
O. W. Unlmrt, Old Vol. of Life, p. 358. 
deaf-mutism (defmu'tizm), n. [< deaf-mute 
+ -ittm,] The condition of being a deaf-mute. 
Deaf-muti*m may give no actual indication of disease, 
though the organ of hearing itself is, probably, always de- 
fective and of imperfect development. 
B. W. Richardmn, Prevent Med., p. 194. 
deafness (def'nes), H. [< ME. defnes, < tirf, 
deaf, + -ness.] 1. Incapacity of perceiving 
or distinguishing sounds, in consequence of 
the impairment of the organs of hearing; that 
state of the organs which prevents the recep- 
tion of the impressions that constitute hearing; 
want of the sense of hearing. Deafness occurs in 
every degree, from that which merely impairs the accu- 
racy of the ear in distinguishing faint or similar sounds, 
to that state in whicli there is no more sensation pro- 
duced by sounds in this organ than in any other part of 
the Imdy. Dumbness is the usual concomitant of com- 
plete deafness, but in general results rather from the 
absence of incitement by tile sense of hearing than from 
any natural defect in the organs of speech. See deaf-mute. 
He answered that it was impossible for him to hear a 
man three yards olf, by reason of deafttettft that had held 
him fourteen years. 
State Trials, Earl of Stratford, an. 1640. 
2. Unwillingness to hear ; voluntary rejection 
of what is addressed to the ear or to the under- 
standing. 
I found such a deafness that no declaration from the 
bishops could take place. Kikim liatilikr. 
Boiler-makers' deafness, deafness due to occujtation in 
the midst of loud and continuous noises, as in the case 
of a boiler-maker. It is marked by catarrh of the middle 
ear, with more or less nervous exhaustion. 
deal 1 (del), n. [< ME. ilrcl, drl, da-l, < AS. dSI, 
mutated form (after the verb) of the reg. but 
less common dtil (whence ME. ddl, dol, E. dole*. 
. v.) = OFries. del = OS. del = D. deel = MLG. 
\el, detl, LG. deel = OHG. MHG. teil, G. tcil, 
tAcil = Icel. deil-d, dcil-dli = Sw. del = Dan. del 
= Goth, dails, m., daila, f., a part, share, por- 
tion, = OBulg. diftti, Bulg. diet = Serv. diyel = 
Bohem. dil = Pol. tizial (barred 1) = Russ. diel, 
a part, also OBulg. dola = Pol. dola = Russ. 
/"///". a part, portion, share, lot. Hence deal, 
. Deal, n., in senses 3 and 4, is from the 
d'el. 
deafly (def'li), adv. Without sense of sounds; 
obscurely heard. 
deaf-mute (def'mut), w. [< deaf+ mute*.] 1. 
A person who is both deaf and dumb, the dumb- 
ness resulting from deafness which has existed 
either from birth or from a very early period 
of the person's life. Deaf-mutes communicate their 
thoughts by means either of significant or arbitrary signs 
or motions, or of a manual alphabet formed by positions 
of the fingers of one or both hands. The accompanying 
illustration shows a form of the single-hand alphabet now 
nni\rF>ally taught to deaf-mutes in the Tinted States. 
The two-hand alphabet, invented about the close of the 
eighteenth century, is somewhat more complicated, and is 
in limited use in other countries. Deaf-mutes are taught 
in many cases to understand spoken language by observ- 
ing the motions of the speaker's lips, and to use articulate 
speech themselves, sometimes very distinctly. 
verb.] If. Apart; portion; share. 
Of poynaunt sauce hire needede never a deel. 
Chawer, Nun's Priest's Tale, L 14. 
Take hit euery dele ; 
That thou hit have, me lykythe wele. 
Political Poems, etc. (ed. Furnivall), p. 141. 
This erthe it trembelys for this tree, and ilyns [resounds] 
ilk dele . York Plays, p. 3-2. 
A tenth deal of flour mingled with the fourth part of an 
hin of beaten oil. Ex. xxix. 40. 
Hence 2. An indefinite quantity, degree, or 
extent : as, a deal of time and trouble ; a deal 
of snow ; a deal of money. In this sense usually 
qualified with great or good : as, a great deal of 
labor; a good deal of one's time. 
Unitiano speaks an infinite deal of nothing. 
Shot., M. of V., i. 1. 
