debonairly (deb-o-nar'li), adv. Courteously; 
graciously ; elegantly ; with a genteel air. 
any thinge that thei woi 
Merlin (E. E. T. S.), i. 105. 
he wolde do their reques 
of hym desire. 
Your apparel sits about you most debonairly. 
Ford, Love's Sacrifice, li. 1. 
I received Father Ambrose debonairly, and suffered him 
to steal a word now and then with . . . Roland Graeme. 
Scott, Abbot, vi. 
debonairness (deb-o-nar'nes), . Courtesy; 
gentleness ; kindness ; elegance. 
I will go to the Duke, by heaven ! with all the gaiety 
and debonairness in the world. 
Sterne, Sentimental Journey, p. 1 5. 
debonairtyt, See debonairity. 
debosht, deboshmentt, etc. See debauch, etc. 
debouch (de-bosh'), v. i. [< F. deboucher (= It, 
diboccare), emerge from, issue, pass out, tr. 
open, uncork, < de-, from, + Voucher, stop up, < 
bouche, mouth, < L. bucca, cheek.] To emerge 
(a) To issue or march out of a 
1478 decacerous 
Se5SE?aSSrtti*ttSffiB^WS^ 
Ltf:o;si*d.i.ta.. . *> -<-*":. '..!'- ^STSK^ Bssssjc: 1 "'" 1 "* 
Clutwer, Gen. Prol. to C. T. (ed. Morris), 1. 58-2. 
debtor (det'or), . [Early mod. E.detter;< ME. 
dettar, detto'ur, < OF. detor, detcur, mod. F. det- 
teur = Pr. deutor = Sp. deitdor = Pg. devrdor = 
It. debitore = D. debiteur = G. Sw. Daii. debi- 
tor, < L. debitor, a debtor, lit. an ower, < debcre, 
owe : see debt.'] One who owes another money, 
goods, or services ; one who is in debt ; hence, 
one under obligations to another for advantages 
received, or to do reparation for an injury com- 
mitted; one who has received from another an 
advantage of any kind. Abbreviated Dr. 
I am debtor both to the Greeks and to the Barbarians. 
Rorn. i. 14. 
He is a debtor to do the whole law. Gal. v. 3. 
In Athens an insolvent debtor became slave to his cred- 
itor. Mitford. 
Debtor exchanges. See clearing-house. Debtors' Act, 
an English statute of 1869 (32 and 33 Viet., c. 62) abolish- 
in;; imprisonment for debt, with certain exceptions, and 
punishing fraudulent debtors. It was extended to Ire- 
land in 1872 (35 and 36 Viet., c. 57), and to Scotland in 
1880 (43 and 44 Viet., c. 34). Such a statute in the United 
States is commonly called an insolvent law or a poor-law 
act. Debtor side of an account, the part of an ac- 
count in which debts are charged. See debit. Judg- 
ment debtor, a debtor by force of a judgment ; one who 
has been adjudged to be indebted to another by a re- 
covery in favor of the latter; one whose indebtedness 
has been sued on, and established by a judgment. Poor 
debtor, one who, imprisoned in a civil action for debt, is 
entitled under the laws of several States to be discharged, 
after a short period, on proof of poverty, etc. Poor 
debtor's oath, the oath of poverty, etc., taken to secure 
a discharge when imprisoned for debt, 
deburset (de-bers'), v. [< F. debourser, disburse, 
< OF. desbowrser, whence the older E. form dis- 
burse, q. v.] I. trans. To pay out ; disburse. 
4 certain sum was promised to he paid to the Earl of 
Ormond in consideration of what he had debursed for the 
army. Ludlow, Memoirs, I. 193. 
II. intrans. To pay money ; make disburse- 
ment. 
But if so chance thon get nought of the man, 
The widow may for all thy charge deburse. 
Wyatt, How to Use the Court. 
From its summit he could descry the movements of the 
Spaniards, and their battalions debouching on the plain, 
with scarcely any opposition from the French. Prescott. 
It is hardly to be supposed that the . . . travellers 
(whom we have called Pelasgians) . . . found the lands 
into which they debouched quite bare of inhabitants. 
Keary, Prim. Belief, p. 167. 
(b) In phys. ge.off., to issue from a mountain : said of a river 
which enters a'plain from an elevated region. [Rare.] (c) 
bladder. 
debouch^ (de-bo-sha'), n. [P., < deboucher, 
open: see debouch.] An opening. Specifically 
(a) An opening for trade ; a market; demand, (b) Milit., 
an opening in works for the passage of troops. 
Orders were given to make all preparations for assault 
on the 6th of July. The dfbouches were ordered widened 
to afford easy egress, while the approaches were also to 
be widened to admit the troops to march through four 
abreast. If. S. Grant, Personal Memoirs, I. 555. 
debouchment (de -bosh 'ment), n. [< F. de- 
bouchement, < deboucher, debouch.] 1. The act 
of debouching. 
Although differences of opinion exist as to its relations 
and manner of debouchment, we believe that it [the pia- 
matral envelop of the cerebral arteries] terminates by 
funnel-shaped openings into the spaces which exist over 
the sulci. E. C. Mann, Psychol. Med., p. 146. 
2. An outlet. 
deboutt, '. t. [< OF. debouter, debater, debuter, 
put, thrust, or drive from, expel, depose, < de-, 
away, + bouter, boter, put, thrust, push: see 
butt*.] To put or thrust from. 
The abbots of the hermitage, who were not able enough 
to debout them out of their possessions. 
Time's Storehouse, 208, 2. (Latham.) 
debridement (F. pron. da-bred' moil), n. [F., 
< debrider, unbridle, < de- priy. + bride, bridle : 
see bridle.] In surg., a loosing or unbridling 
by cutting the soft parts, as around a wound 
or an abscess, to permit the passage of pus, or 
for the removal of a stricture or an obstacle of 
any kind. 
debris (de-bre'), n. sing, and pi. [< F. debris, 
fragments, < OF. dfsbriscr, break apart: see de- 
bruise, and cf. breeze 3 .] 1. Fragments; rub- 
bish; ruins. 
Your grace is now disposing of the debris of two bishop- 
ricks, among which is the deanery of Ferns. 
Swift, To Dorset. 
The road was bounded by heavy fences, there were three 
Arch. Forbes, Souvenirs of some Continents, p. 60. 
2. In geol., a mass of rocky fragments irregu- 
larly accumulated at any one spot: as, the 
debris at the base of a cliff: used as both a 
singular and a plural by French and English 
writers. See drift, detritus, and screes. 
They [the moraines] consist of the debris which have 
been brought in by lateral glaciers. LyM. 
debruiset, v. [< ME. debrusen, debrisen, break 
apart, < OF. debrusier, debruisier, debrisier, des- 
briser, break, break open, bruise, < de-, des-, 
apart, + brusier, bruisier, brisier, briser, break : 
see de- and bruise. Cf. debris.] I. trans. To 
break; bruise. 
Our giwes [Jews] debrusede al is bones. 
Holy Itood (E. E. T. S.), p. 40. 
II. intrans. To be bruised or hurt. 
Hit ladde him vpe the tour & hei, & made him hnppe to 
grounde ; 
He hupte * debrusede, (t diede in a stounde. 
Jiabert of Gloucester, p. 537. 
I **\K\ 
, of the 16th I J^- 
century; it is not found in ear- ' X*"" 
Her E. Early mod. E. and ME. ^'^u 
det, usually dette, < OF. dette, 
dete, later sometimes spelled debte, mod. F. dette 
= Pr. deute = Sp. deuda = Pg. dwida = It. detta, 
f., < ML. debita, f. (orig. neut. pi.) (cf. OF. det = 
OSp. deudo = It. debito, m., = E. debit, q. v.), < 
L. debitum, neut., what is owed, a debt, a duty, 
neut. pp. of debere, owe, contr. of *dehibere, lit. 
have from,< de, from, + habere = E. have. From 
the same source are debit, a doublet, and due, 
nearly a doublet, of debt; also debtor, indebted, 
etc.] 1. That which is due from one person 
to another, whether money, goods, or services, 
and whether payable at present or at a future 
time ; that which one person is bound to pay to 
or perform for another ; what one is obliged to 
do or to suffer; a due; a duty; an obligation. 
This curtysy he claymes as for clere det. 
Destruction of Troy, 1. 634. 
Thowshe I ileye to'-daye my dettes ar quitte. 
Piers Plowman (B), vi. 100. 
Your son, my lord, has paid a soldier's debt. 
Shak., Macbeth, v. 7. 
My deep debt for life preserved 
A better meed had w^ll deserved. Scott. 
2. The state of being under obligation to make 
payment, as of money or services, to another; 
figuratively, the state of being under obligation 
in general. 
There was one that died greatly in debt : well, says one, 
if he be gone, then he hath carried five hundred ducats of 
mine with him into the other world. 
Bacon, Apophthegms. (Latham.) 
"When you run in debt, you give to another power over 
your liberty. Franklin. 
She considered men in general as so much in ihedebtot 
the opposite sex that any individual woman had an un- 
limited credit with them. The Century, XXX. 257. 
3. An offense requiring reparation or expiation ; 
default of duty ; a trespass; a sin. 
Forgive us our debts. Mat. vi. 12. 
Action Of debt, in law, an action to recover a fixed sum 
of money alleged to be due on contract. Active debt, a 
debt due to one. Alimentary debt. See alimentary. 
Bill of debt. See bills. Bonded debt. See bonded. 
Crown debt. See crown. Debt of honor, a debt not 
recognized by law, but resting for its validity on the honor 
of the debtor ; especially, a debt incurred in gambling or 
betting. Debt Of nature, the necessity of dying ; death. 
Fiduciary debt, a debt Incurred by transactions had 
in a relation involving special trust in the integrity and 
debuscope (de'bus-kop), . [< M. Debus, the 
inventor, + -scope, < Gr. aKoireiv, view.] A dou- 
ble mirror, composed of two polished surfaces 
placed at an angle of 70, used like a kalei- 
doscope to repeat a pattern or other object. 
It was invented by M. Debus, a French optician, and is 
used in preparing geometrical decorative designs. Also 
called chromeidogcope. 
debtf (da-bu'), n. [F., the lead, first throw or 
stroke, first appearance, < debuter, lead, play 
first, have the first throw or stroke, < de-, from, 
off, + buter, throw at a mark, aim at, < but, a 
debt of a government or corporation ; all miscellaneous 
of a government), promissory notes, drafts, etc., maturing 
at different dates, and requiring to be liquidated or re- 
newed, as distinguished from funded debt. Funded 
debt, floating debt which has been converted into per- 
petual annuities, as in the case of British consols, or into 
annuities which have a considerable time to run, or into 
stock or bonds, redeemable at the option of the debtor 
after a specified date, as in the case of the United States 
funded loans of 1881, 1891, and 1907. Hypothecary 
debt, a debt which is a lien on an estate. In one's debt, 
under a pecuniary or moral obligation to one. 
If my efforts to serve you had not succeeded, you would 
have been in my debt for the attempt. 
Sheridan, School for Scandal, v. 3. 
Judgment debt, a debt which is evidenced by legal 
record. Liquid debt, a debt which is due immediately 
and unconditionally. National debt, a sum which is 
owing by a government to individuals who have advanced 
Scotland, a sheriff court. Small debts, in law, in Eng- 
land, such debts as are usually sued for in the county 
courts ; in Scotland, debts under 12, recoverable by sum- 
mary process in the sheriff court. 
debt-bookt (det'buk), it. A ledger. Nares. 
debtedt (det'ed), p. a. [< ME. dettid, owed: 
see debt.] Indebted; obliged; bounden. 
I stand debted to this gentleman. Shak., C. of E., iv. 1. 
She whose love is but derived from me, 
Is got before me in my debted duty. 
Mtddletvn, Massinacr, and Rowley, Old Law, i. 1. 
debtee (de-te'), . [< debt + -ee.] In laic, a 
creditor; one to whom a debt is due. 
r . or appearance; first step: 
cally of a first appearance in society, or before 
the public, as that of an actor or an actress on 
the stage. 
debutant (da-bu-ton'), n. [F., ppr. of debuter, 
make one's first appearance: see debut.] One 
who makes a dbut ; a man who makes his first 
appearance before the public. 
debutante (da-bii-tont'), n. [F., fern, of de- 
butant.] A woman appearing for the first time 
before the public or in society ; specifically, an 
actress or a singer making her first appearance 
in public, or a young woman during her first 
season in society. 
Floral offerings pour in from relatives, and from family 
friends who have already an acquaintance with the debu- 
tante. Arch. Forbes, Souvenirs of some Continents, p. 164. 
on credit of the general power which the government 
possesses of levying the amount necessary to pay interest 
for the money borrowed or to repay the principal. Pas- 
Sive debt, a debt which one owes. Privileged debt, 
a debt which is to be paid before others if the debtor 
should become insolvent. The privilege may result from 
the character of the creditor, as when the debt is due to 
the government ; or from the nature of the debt as fu- 
The reader is doubtless aware of William Shakspeare's 
ilebutment, and that of twenty others, on the stage of life. 
Jon Bee, Essay on Samuel Foote, p. xxli. 
debyllet, An obsolete form of dibble*. 
dec. An abbreviation (a) [cap.] of December; 
(b) of decani; (c) of decrcscendo. 
deca-. [L-, etc., deca-, < Gr. <5a, for Mf/tav = 
L. decem = E. ten: see decimal and ten.] An 
element in words of Greek origin, meaning ' ten.' 
Decacera (de-kas'e-rii), n.pl [NL., neut. pi. of 
decacerus, ten-horned": see deeaeerotts.] The ten- 
armed cephalopods : contrasted with Octocera. 
The name is given as an alternative of Derapixln. on tin- 
view that the arms or rays of cephalopods arc not to ) 
regarded as feet, or because Decapoda is preoccupied for 
crustaceans. Also Decacenttn. 
decacerous (de-kas'e-rus), a. [< NL. decacerus, 
< Gr. <VKCI, = E. ten, "+ e/f, horn.] Having ten 
horns, or ten tentacles, arms, or other processes 
likened to horns ; specifically, pertaining to the 
Decacera ; decapodous, as a cephalopod. 
