demi-brassart 
demi-brassart (dem'i-l>ras"art), . In platc- 
iirmiir, the partial covcringof the arm, usually 
worn over the sleeve of the hauberk; especially, 
that covering the tipper arm at the back, as 
distinguished from the vambraco, which cov- 
ered the arm below the elbow. Also demigarde- 
lll'IIX. 
demi-cadence (dem'i-ka'dens), n. In music, a 
half cadence. It usually denotes the progres- 
sion from tonic to dominant. See cadence. 
demi-cannon (tlem'i-kan' on), n. A name given 
to one of the larger kinds of heavy gun, as 
used in the latter part of the sixteenth century. 
It is said to have been a piece having a bore of 6} inches, 
ainl throwlii); a shot weighing s:({ pounds. Some authors 
describe it as l.ir ' T tlmu this. 
demi-caponiere (dem'i-kap-o-ner'), n. In fort., 
a ditch so arranged that a fire can be delivered 
from one side only. Also half-capontere. 
demicarlino (dem'i-kar-le'no), n. A coin equal 
in value to half a carlino. 
demi-castpr (dem'i-kas'tor), n. 1. An infe- 
rior quality of beaver. "Hence 2f. A hat 
made of beaver of this quality. 
I know in that more subtil air of yours tinsel some- 
time* passes for tissue, Venice beads for pearl, and demi- 
ivm/iii 1 * for lii'avers. Howtll, Letters, ill. 2. 
demi-chamfron (dem'i-cham'fron), . A vari- 
ety of the chainfron that covered the head be- 
tween the ears and the forehead as far as below 
the eyes. See chamfron. 
demicircle (dem'i-ser-kl), . A simple instru- 
ment for measuring and indicating angles, 
sometimes used as a substitute for the theodo- 
lite. It consists essentially of a graduated scale of half 
a circle, a movable rule pivoted on the center so as to 
sweep the graduated arc, and a compass to show the mag- 
netic bearings. The two objects whose angle is to be 
measured are sighted along the rule and along the diam- 
eter of the scale. K. H. Knifflil. 
demi-cuirass (dem ' i - kwe " ras), n. The demi- 
plavate or pansiere. 
demi-culverin (dem'i-kul'ver-in), n. A kind 
of cannon in use in the sixteenth and seven- 
teenth centuries. It is described as having a bore of 
4J inches and throwing a shot weighing 9J pounds. 
They had planted me three demi-ndoerins just in the 
mouth of the breach. 
/;. Jonson, Every Man in his Humour, iii. 1. 
One [piece of ordnance] . . . was exceeding great, and 
about sixteene foote long, made of brasse, a demy culverlin. 
Caryat, Crudities, I. 125. 
demideify (dem-i-de'i-fi), v. t. ; pret. and pp. 
demuleijicd, ppr. demideifying. [< demi- + deify."] 
To treat as a demigod. [Rare.] 
Thus by degrees self-cheated of their sound 
And sober judgment that he is but man, 
They demideify and fume him so 
That in due season he forgets it too. 
Cotoper, Task, v. 266. 
demi-distance (dem'i-dis'tans), n. In /or*., the 
distance between the outward polygons and the 
flank. 
demi-ditone (dem'i-dl'ton), n. In music, a mi- 
nor third. 
demifarthing (dem-i-far'THing), n. A coin of 
Ceylon current at the value of half an Eng- 
lish farthing, or one fourth of a United States 
cent. 
demi-galoniert (dem'i-gal-o-ner*'), . A vessel 
for table use, apparently of' the capacity of half 
a gallon. See galonier. 
demigarde-bras (dem'i-gard'bras), n. Same 
as deiui-bwtxsiirt. 
demi-gauntlet (dem'i-gant'let), n. In surg., a 
bandage, resembling a glove, used in setting 
disjointed lingers. 
demigod (dem'i-god), n. [Formerly as dcmy- 
(lod ; < demi- + god; cf. F. demi-dieu.] An in- 
ferior or minor deity; one partaking of the 
divine nature; specifically, a fabulous hero 
produced by the intercourse of a deity with a 
mortal. 
He took his leave of them whose eyes bad him farewel 
with tears, making temples to him as to a demi-god. 
Sir P. Sidney. 
We . . . find ourselves to have been deceived, they de- 
claring themselves hi the eml to lie frail men, whom we 
judged demigod*. Hooker, Eccles. Polity, vii. 24. 
To be gods, or angels, demigods. 
Milton, P. L, in. 937. 
View him [Voltaire] at Paris iu his last career, 
Surrounding throngs the demiaod revere. 
Cowper, Truth, 1. 812. 
demigoddess (dem'i-god'es), n. A female deity 
of the minor or inferior order, 
demi-gorge (di'iu'i-'.'orj), . In fort., that part 
of the polygon which remains after the flank is 
raised, and jjoes from the curtain to the angle 
of the polygon. It is half of the vacant space 
of or entrance into a bastion. 
1525 
demigratet (dem'i-grat), r. i. [< L. demigratm, 
pp. of demigrare, migrate from, < de, from, + 
tiniiriire, migrate: see migrate.] To emigrate; 
expatriate one's self. Cockeram. 
deinigrationt (Jern-i-gra'shon), n. [< L. demi- 
i/nitto(it-), < di'inigrare, migrate from: see demi- 
1 1 fa i'. \ Emigration; banishment. 
We will needs bring upon ourselves the curse of Cain, 
to put ourselves from the side of Eden into the land of 
Nod, that is, of demigration. Up. Hall, Quo Vadis V ( 22. 
demi-grevieret (dem'i-gre-viar'), n. Same as 
dcmi-jambe. 
demi-hagt. n. [Also demi-hakc, demi-haque, < 
demi- + "hag, 'hake, "haque, short for Itaybut, 
hackbut.] A kind of firearm, a smaller kind of 
hackbut, iu use in the second half of the six- 
teenth century. See hackbut. 
The short gun, the hagbut, and the demi-hakc were de- 
rivatives, in the natural order of evolution, from the bom- 
bards of Crecy and the more perfect pieces of artillery 
that had enabled Henry VII. to establish his supremacy 
over the remnant of the nobles left by the wars of the 
Roses. S. Dowtll, Taxes in England, III. 282. 
derni-islandt (dem'i-iland), n. A peninsula. 
The place from which the Turks were to have had the 
aforesaid l>ooty was almost in manner an island. . . . 
Thus was the Persian armie quite discomfited in this demi- 
iilninl. Knoltet, Hist. Turks. 
demi-jambet, A piece of armor covering the 
front of the leg only. Compare bainberg. Also 
called demi-greviere. 
demijohn (dem'i-oon), n. [An accom. (as if 
demi- + John) of F. damejeanne, a demijohn, an 
accom. (as if Dante Jeanne, Lady Jane) of Ar. 
damagan, a demijohn, said to be so called from 
Damagan, a town in northern Persia, once fam- 
ous for its glass-works. The forced resemblance 
to John is in accordance with the humorous 
colloquial use of proper names as names for 
vessels; examples are jacfc 1 , jilft, and (prob.) 
jug 1 : see these words. ] A large glass vessel 
or bottle with a bulging body and small neck, 
usually cased in wickerwork, but sometimes in 
a wooden box with a notch in the top extend- 
ing over the neck of the vessel, for convenience 
in pouring out its contents. 
demi-lance (dem'i-lans), n. 1. A short and 
light spear introduced in the sixteenth century. 
Light demi-lances from afar they throw, 
Fasten'd with leathern thongs to gall the foe. 
Dryden, JEaeld. 
2. A lightly armed horseman, especially one 
armed with a demi-lance. The demi-lances seem to 
have succeeded the hobblers of the middle ages, and to 
have been the prototypes of the more modern light horse. 
Pedro, did you send for this tailor7 or you, Moncado? 
This light French demi-lance that follows us? 
Fletcher and Rowley, Maid in the Mill, 111. 2. 
To equip, in especial, as many demi-lancet, or light 
horsemen, as they could, and to meet the Duke at Walden. 
H. W. Dixon, Hist Church of Em;., xv. 
3. The armor worn by such a horseman, con- 
sisting of open helmet, breast- and back-pieces, 
usually fitted with pauldrons, tassets, and, 
rarely, brassarts or demi-brassarts. 
Also formerly dimilance. 
demilune (dem'i-lun), n. and a. [F., < demi, 
half , + lune, moon : see fane.] I. n. 1. Acres- 
cent. 
It is an immense mass of stone of the shape of a demi- 
lune with a bar in the middle of the concave. 
Roger North, Lord Guilford, I. 228. 
In some cases we find alveoli In which these small cells 
are not arranged in demihi.net. Encyc. Brit., XVII. 872. 
2. In fort., an outwork consisting of two faces 
and two little flanks, constructed to cover the 
curtain and shoulders of the bastion. 
He laid his hand, as Drayton might have said, on that 
stout bastion, horn-work, ravelin, or demilune which 
formed the outworks to the citadel of his purple isle of 
man. Kingtley, Westward Ho, rilL 
Demilunes of Heldenhaln. Same as crencentt of Gia- 
nnz:i (which see, under crescent). 
H. a. Crescent-shaped. 
The ili mil n in- cells and the serous cells which are present 
in considerable number In the sub-maxillary gland of the 
cat froc. Roy. Soc., XXXVIII. 215. 
demi-mentonniere (dem'i-men-to-niar'),n- In 
armor, a mentonniere for the tilt, protecting the 
left side strongly, high and heavy, and secured 
firmly to the breastplate, but leaving the right 
side unprotected. Compare just. 
demi-metamorphosis (dem ' i -met-a-mor ' fo- 
sis), M. Incomplete or imperfect metamorpho- 
sis, as of an insect ; hemimetabolism. 
demi-metope (dem'i-met'o-pe), n. In arch., a 
half metope, sometimes found at the angles of 
demise 
a Doric frieze in Koman, Renaissance, or other 
debased examples. 
demi-monde (dem'i-mond), . [F., < demi, half, 
+ monde, the world, society, < L. iiiimdun, the 
world: see niiiiidinn:] 1. A term introduced 
by Alexandra Dumas tbe younger to denote (as 
defined by himself) that class of women who 
occupy an equivocal position between women 
of good reputation and social standing on the 
one hand and courtezans on the other ; women 
of equivocal reputation and standing in society. 
2. Commonly, but less correctly, courtezans 
in general. 
derniostage (dem-i-os'taj), . A variety of 
tamin. Diet, of Needlework. 
demi-parallel (dem'i-par'a-lel), . ID. fort., a 
place of arms between the second and third 
parallels, designed to protect the head of the 
advancing sap. Wilhelm, Mil. Diet. 
demi-parcelt (dem'i-par'sl), n. The half ; the 
half part. 
My tongue denies for to set forth 
The demi-parcel of your valiant deeds. 
Greene, Alphonsus, Hi. 
demi-pauldron (dem'i-p&l'dron), n. A defense 
for the shoulder; the smaller pauldron of the 
close of the fifteenth century. 
demi-pectinate (dem'i-pek'ti-nat), a. Pecti- 
nate on one side only, as the antenna of an in- 
sect; semi-penniform. 
demi-pike (dem'i-pik), n. Same as spontoon. 
demi-placard (dem'i-plak'ard), n. In armor, 
same as demi-placate. 
demi-placate (dem'i-pla'kat), n. A piece of 
plate-armor covering a part only of the breast 
or of the back, used either alone or over a gam- 
beson or similar coat of fence, or forming part 
of an articulated breastplate. Compare pan- 
siere. 
demiquaver (dem'i-kwa'ver), n. In music, a 
sixteenth note. Also called semiquaver. 
demi-relief (dem'i-re-lef), n. Same as mezzo- 
rilievo. 
demirep (dem'i-rep), n. [Said to be short for 
'demi-reputation.'] A woman of doubtful repu- 
tation or suspected chastity. 
The Sirens . . . were reckoned among the demigods as 
well as the demi-reps of antiquity. 
Dr. Burney, Hist Music, I. 306. 
demirepdom (dem'i-rep-dum), n. [< demirep 
+ -dom.] Demireps collectively; the demi- 
monde. 
Him, Lady B., and demirepdom. 
Carlyle, In Froude, I. 137. 
demi-revetment (dem'i-re-vet'ment), n. In 
fort., that form of retaining-wall for the face 
of a rampart which is carried up only as high 
as cover exists in front of it, leaving above it 
the remaining height, in the form of an earthen 
mound at the natural slope, exposed to but in- 
vulnerable by shot. 
demisability (de-mi-za-bil'i-ti), n. [< deniis- 
able: see -liiliii/.] In law, the state of being 
demisable. 
demisable (de-mi'za-bl), a. [< demise + -able.] 
That may be demised or leased : as, an estate 
demisable by copy of court-roll. 
demisang (dem i-sang), n. [< F. demisang; < 
demi, half, + sang, blood.] In law, one who is 
of half-blood. 
demise (de-miz'), n. [< OF. demis, desmig, fern. 
demise, F! demis, dimise, pp. of OF. demettre, 
de&mettre, F. demettre, resign, < L. dimittere, 
send away, resign, dismiss: see dan it- = dim it, 
dismiss.] If. Transfer; transmission; devolu- 
tion, as of a right or an estate in consequence 
of death, forfeiture of title, etc. 
The greate Convention resolved that King James hav- 
ing deserted the kingdom . . . bad by demur abdicated 
himself and wholly vacated his right 
Eeetyn, Diary, Jan. 15, 1689. 
2. In law, a conveyance or transfer of an es- 
tate by will or lease in fee, for life or for a 
term of years ; in modern use, a lease for years. 
Hence 3. Death, especially of a sovereign 
or other person transmitting important pos- 
sessions or great fame: often used as a mere 
euphemism for death, without other implica- 
tion. 
So tender Is the law of supposing even a possibility of 
his (the king's] death, that his natural dissolution is gen- 
erally called his demue. Blaekttone, Com., 1 7. 
The crown at the moment of demite most descend to the 
next heir. Mactmlay. 
Demise and redemlse, a conveyance where there are 
mutual leases made from one to another of the same land 
or something out of it. = Svn. 3. Death, Deceate, Demitt. 
Seedecean. 
