devitrification 
incipient crystals, or glass beginning to lose its miintli- 
vidualizcd character, have received various names fn.ni 
lithologists, according to their shape and manner of group- 
ing. See inicrolifh and atobultte. 
devitrify (de-vit'ri-fi), v. t. ; pret. and pp. de- 
nitrified, ppr. denitrifying. [< F. deritrifier; as 
de- priv. + ritrifu.] To destroy or change, 
either in part or wholly, the vitreous condition 
of. See devitrification and glass. 
devive (de-viv'), v. t.; pret. and pp. devived, 
ppr. deriving. [< L. dc- priv. + vivits, living: 
see vivid. Cf. revive.'] To deprive of life ; ren- 
der inert or unconscious. [Bare.] 
Prof. Owen has remarked that " there are organisms 
which we can devitalize and revitalize, devive and revive 
many times." Bealf. 
devocalization (de-v6"kal-i-za'shon), n. [< 
devocalize + -ation.~\ The act of making voice- 
less or non-sonant. Sweet. 
devocalize (de-vo'kal-Iz), . t. ; pret. and pp. 
devocalized, ppr. devocalizing. [< de- priv. 4- 
vocal + -ize.] To make voiceless or non-so- 
nant. Sweet. 
devocatet (dev'o-kat), v. t. [< L. devocatus, 
pp. of devocare, call away, call off, allure, < de, 
away, + vocare, call: see vocation.] To call 
away; entice; seduce. 
The Commons of you doo complain 
From them you devocate. 
T. Preston, King Camhiscs. 
devocationt (dev-o-ka'shon), n. [< ML. as if 
*devocatio(n-),<,~Li.devoeare: see devocate.'] A 
calling away ; seduction. 
To be freed and released from all its [sorcery's] bland- 
ishments and flattering devocations. 
Hallywell, Melampronooa, p. 97. 
devoidt (de-void'), v. t. [< ME. devoiden, make 
empty, leave, < OF. desvoidier, desvuidier, emp- 
ty out, < des-, away, + voidier, vuidicr, void, < 
void, vuid, vuit, empty, void : see void.'} I. To 
avoid; leave; depart from. 
He took hys donghter by the hand, 
And had her swithe devoyde hys land. 
Richard Coer de Lion (Weber's Metr. Rom.),l. 1227. 
2. To do away ; put aside ; destroy. 
Ofte haf I wayted wyschande that wele, 
That wont watg whyle deuayde my wrange [wrong]. 
Alliterative Poems (ed. Morris), i. 15. 
devoid (de-void'), a. [Short for devoidcd (pp. 
of devoid, v.) ; conformed to void, q. v.] If. 
Empty ; vacant ; void. 
I awoke, and found her place devoid. Simmer, F. Q. 
2. Destitute; not possessing; lacking: with of: 
as, devoid of understanding. 
Her life was beastly and devoid of pity. 
Shak.', Tit. And., v. 3. 
No long dull daya devoid of happiness. 
When such a love my yearning heart shall bless. 
William Morris, Earthly Paradise, I. 335. 
= Syn. 2. V T oid, etc. See vacant. 
devoir (dev-wor'), n. [F., duty, < deroir, inf., 
owe, be obliged, < L. debere, owe, be obliged: 
see debt. Cf. dever, earlier form of the same 
word.] Duty or service; hence, an act of ci- 
vility or respect ; respectful notice due to an- 
other : as, we paid our devoirs to our host. 
Content to vse their best deuoire, 
In furdering eche honest harmelesse cause. 
Gascoigne, Steele Glas (ed. Arber), p. 70. 
To do your highness service and devoir, 
And save you from your foes, Berkeley would die. 
Marlowe, Edward II., v. 2. 
The time you employ in this kind devoir is the time that 
I shall be grateful for. Mrs. Behn, Lover's Watch. 
To ancient females his devoirs were paid. 
Crabbe, Works, II. 39. 
devolutet (dev'o-lut), v. t. [< L. devolutus, 
pp. of devolvere, roll down: see devolve."] To 
devolve. 
Government was devoluted and brought into the priests' 
hands. F axe, Martyrs, p. 329. 
devolution (dev-o-lu'shqn), n. [= F. devolu- 
tion = Sp. devolucion = Pg. devolucSo = It. de- 
voluzione, < ML. devolutio(n-), < L. devolvere, 
pp. devolutus, roll down : see devolve."] 1. The 
act of rolling down. [Rare.] 
The raising of new mountains, deterrations, or the devo- 
lution of earth down upon the valleys from the hills and 
high grounds, will fall under our consideration. 
Woodward. 
2. The act of devolving, transferring, or hand- 
ing over ; transmission from one person to an- 
other ; a passing or falling to a successor, as of 
office, authority, or real estate. 
There never was any devolution to rulers by the people 
of the power to govern them. Brougham. 
In all these Athenian rules, it is to be observed that, 
while the ancestral sacrifices are constantly mentioned, 
the object of special care is the devolution of the estate 
in the household. Maine, Early Law and Custom, p. 95. 
1582 
3. In Scots lair: (a) The reference made by 
two or more arbiters who differ in opinion to 
an oversman or umpire to determine the differ- 
ence. (A) The falling of a purchase made un- 
der articles of roup to the next highest offerer, 
on the failure of the highest bidder to find cau- 
tion for payment of the price within the time 
limited by the articles. 4. The opposite of 
evolution; degeneration. [Rare.] 
Not only its [speech's] evolution, but its devolution, its 
loss and impairment in disease, have been wrought out. 
Science, VII. 555. 
Clause of devolution. See clause. 
devolve (de-volv'), v. ; pret. and pp. devolved, 
ppr. devolving. [= Sp. Pg. devolver = It. de- 
volvere, < L. devolvere, roll down, < de, down, 
+ volvere, roll : see voluble. Cf. evolve, revolve.] 
1. trans. 1. To roll downward or onward. 
[Rare.] 
Every headlong stream 
Devolves his winding waters to the main. 
Akcmide, Pleasures of Imagination, ii. 
He spake of virtue : . . . 
And with a sweeping of the arm, 
And a lack-lustre dead-blue eye, 
Devolved his rounded periods. 
Tennyson, A Character. 
2. To transfer, as from one person to another; 
turn over; transmit. 
What madness is it for them who might manage nobly 
thir own Affairs themselves, sluggishly and weakly to de- 
volve all on a single Person. Milton, Free Commonwealth. 
All men are passionate to live according to that state 
in which they were born, or to which they are devolved, 
or which they have framed to themselves. 
Jer. Taylor, Works (ed. 1835), I. 699. 
They devolved their whole authority into the hands of 
the council of sixty. Addisoii. 
II. in trans. 1. To roll down; come or ar- 
rive by rolling down or onward. [Rare.] 
The times are now devolved 
That Merlin's mystic prophecies are absolved. 
B. Jonson, Prince Henry's Barriers. 
Streams that had . . . devolved into the rivers below. 
Lord, The Banians, p. 18. 
2. To be transferred or transmitted ; pass from 
one to another ; fall by succession or trans- 
ference. 
His estate is said to have been fifteen hundred a year, 
which by his death devolved to Lord Somerville of Scot- 
land. Johnson. 
The melancholy task of recording the desolation and 
shame of Italy devolved on Guicciardini. 
Macaulay, Machiavelli. 
On King John's death, in 1495, the crown of Portugal 
devolved on Emanuel. Prescott, Ferd. and Isa., ii. 4. 
3. To degenerate. [Rare.] 
A gentleman and scholar devolving into the buffoon, for 
example, is an xinseemly sight in the eye of the profound 
moralist. Jon Bee, Ess. on Samuel Foote. 
devolvement (de-volv'ment), n. [< devolve + 
-meat.] The act of devolving. Imp. Diet. 
Devonian (de-vo'ni-an), a. [< Devonia, Latin- 
ized form of Devon, < AS. Defenas, Defnas, pi., 
the inhabitants of Devon, a name of Celtic 
origin : W. Dyfnaint, Devon.] Of or pertaining 
to Devonshire in England. 
Eas'ly ambling down through the Devonian dales. 
Drayton, Polyolbion, i. 284. 
The term was applied specifically, in geol., by Murchison 
to a great part of the Paleozoic strata of North and South 
Devon, and used by him as synonymous with Old Red 
Sandstone, for which term he substituted it, "because the 
strata of that age in Devonshire lithologically very un- 
like the old red sandstone of Scotland, Hereford, and the 
South Welsh counties contain a much more copious and 
rich fossil fauna, and were shown to occupy the same in- 
termediate position between the Silurian and Carlxmifer- 
ous rocks." Later geologists, however, do not use the 
terms as identical, the conditions under which the strata 
were deposited being very different. 
Devonic (de-von'ik), a. Same as Devonian. 
Devon kerseys. See kersey. 
devonshire (dev'on-sher), v. t. Same as den- 
shire. 
Devonshire colic, lace, etc. See the nouns. 
devorationt (dev-o-ra'shon), n. [< LL. devora- 
tio(n-), < L. devorare, pp. devoratus, devour: see 
devour."] The act of devouring. 
They [bear-wards] have either voluntarilie, or for want 
of power to master their sauage beasts, beene occasione 
of the death and deuoration of manie children. 
Holinshed, Description of England, x. 
devorst, An obsolete form of divorce. 
devotaryt (de-vo'ta-ri), n. [< ML. devotarius, 
< L. ilevotus, devoted : see devote, a. , and votary. ] 
A votary. 
To whose shrine [Diana's] there went up a more famous 
and frequent pilgrimage of devotaries than to any holy 
land of their's whatsoever. Gregory, Works, p. 50. 
devote (de-vof), v. t.; pret. and pp. devoted, ppr. 
devoting. [< L. devotus, pp. (> devotare, freq.) 
devotedness 
of ttevovere, vow, give up, devote, < de, away, + 
vovere, vow: see roir and devoiit. Cf. devow."] 
1. To appropriate by or as if by vow; set apart 
or dedicate by a solemn act or with firm inten- 
tion ; consecrate. 
No devoted, thing, that a man shall devote unto the Lord, 
. . . shall be sold or redeemed : every devoted thing is 
most holy unto the Lord. Lev. xxvii. 28. 
For, since the substance of your perfect self 
Is else devoted, I am but a shadow. 
Shak., T. O. of V., iv. 2. 
It behooves each to see, when he sacrifices prudence, to 
what god he devotes it. Emerson, Essays, 1st ser., p. 286. 
Hence 2. To doom; consign to some harm 
or evil ; doom to destruction : used absolutely, 
to curse or execrate. 
Let her, like me, of every joy forlorn, 
Devote the hour when such a wretch was born. 
Rowe. 
Aliens were devoted to their rapine and despight. 
Decay of Christian Piety. 
Yet not for thy advice or threats I fly 
These wicked tents devoted. Milton, P. L., v. 890. 
Here I devote your senate ! Croly, Catiline. 
3. To addict or surrender, as to an occupation 
or a pursuit ; give or yield up ; direct in action 
or thought. 
He hath devoted and given up himself to the contem- 
plation, mark, and denotement of her parts and graces. 
Shak., Othello, ii. 3. 
Wise-seeming censors count that labour vain 
Which is devoted to the hopes of love. 
Ford, Honour Triumphant. 
The hours between breakfast and dinner the ladies de- 
voted to dress and study. Goldsmith, Vicar, ii. 
They devoted themselves to leisure with as much assi- 
duity as we employ to render it impossible. 
Lowell, New Princeton Rev., I. 158. 
= Syn. Devote, Dedicate, Consecrate, Hallow, destine, set 
apart. In dedicate and the cognate words devote, devout, 
etc., the root idea is always that of a complete mental 
consecration ; thus, devotion (def. 2) is the consecration 
of the entire mind to God and his worship; and a devout 
(def. 1) spirit is one entirely absorbed in the worship or 
service of God. To devote, indicates the inward act, state, 
or feeling ; to dedicate is to set apart by a promise, and in- 
dicates primarily an external act ; to consecrate is to make 
sacred, and refers to an act affecting the use or relations 
of the thing consecrated ; to hallow is to make holy, and 
relates to the character of the person or thing hallowed. 
Thus, we devote ourselves by an act of the mind ; we dedi- 
cate our lives or property by a more formal act ; we conse- 
crate to sacred uses a building not before sacred ; and we 
hallow the name of God, recognizing in it its inherent 
holy character. 
Mysterious and awful powers had laid their unimagin- 
able hands on that fair head and devoted it to a nobler ser- 
vice. Lowell, Among my Books, 2d ser., p. 272. 
Let no soldier fly : 
He that is truly dedicate to war 
Hath no self-love. Shak., 2 Hen. VI., v. 2. 
Now go with me, and with this holy man, 
Into the chantry by ; there, before him, 
And underneath that consecrated roof, 
Plight me the full assurance of your faith. 
Shak., T. N., iv. 3. 
And, from work 
Now resting, bless'd and hallow'd the seventh day. 
Milton, P. L., vii. 592. 
3. Addict, Devote, etc. See addict. 
devotet (de-vof ), a. and n. [< ME. devote, < OF. 
devot, F. devot = Pr. devot = Sp. Pg. devoto = 
It. divoto, < L. devotus, pp., devoted: see devote, 
v. Doublet, devout, q. v.] I. a. Devoted ; de- 
vout. 
We do offer the said Master of ours, and our whole com- 
pany, vnto your highnes, as your perpetual and denote 
friends. Hakluyt's Voyages, I. 148. 
Lawyers, physicians, philosophers, scholars are his, 
wholly devote to his service. 
Burton, Anat. of Mel., p. 212. 
II. n. A devotee. 
One professeth himself a devote, or peculiar servant to 
our Lord. Sir E. Sandys, State of Religion. 
devoted (de-vo'ted), p. a. [Pp. of devote, .] 
1. Set apart; given up, especially to some 
harm or evil ; doomed. 
No wonder they revolted from accumulating new woes 
on her devoted head. Prescott, Ferd. and Isa., ii. 11, note. 
No more ignoble yet more dangerous creature had yet 
been loosed upon the devoted soil of the Netherlands. 
Motley, Dutch Republic, III. 530. 
The workmen either perished in the flames, or fled from 
the devoted spot in terror and despair. 
Schaf, Hist. Christ. Church, III. 4. 
2. Ardent ; zealous ; assiduous ; strongly at- 
tached or addicted: as, a devoted friend; a de- 
voted student of philosophy. 
The most devoted champion. Macattld;/. 
devotedness (de-vo'ted-nes), 11. The state of 
being devoted, attached, or addicted ; zealous 
faithfulness and attachment. 
The owning of our obligation unto virtue may be styled 
natural religion : that is to say, a devotedness unto God, 
so as to act according to his will. Grew. 
