D E F 
ed.•—Concerning the time of the end of the world, the 
queftion is, whether that time be definable or no ? Bin-net. 
To DEFI'NE, v. a. [ dejinio , Lat. dfiner, Fr.] To give 
the definition; to explain a thing by its qualities and 
circtunftances.—Though defining be thought the proper 
way to make known the proper lignificution, yet there 
are fome words that will not be defined. Locke. —To cir- 
cumfcribe; to mark the limit; to bound.—When the 
rings appeared only black and white, they were very dif- 
tindt and well- defined. Nezoton. —To determine: 
Thefe warlike champions, all in armour fliine, 
Aflembled were in field, the challenge to define. Spenficr. 
To DEFI'NE, v. n. To determine; to decide; to de¬ 
cree.—The unjuft judge is the capital remover of land¬ 
marks, when he defineth amifs of lands and properties. 
Bacon. 
DEFI'NEMENT, /. [a Shakefperian word, formed 
for the purpofe of ridiculing afredted language.] De- 
feription.—-Sir, his definement duffers' no perdition in you. 
Hamlet. 
DEFI'NER,/ One that explains ; one tlfat deferibes 
a thing by its qualities: 
Let your imperfedt definition fliow, , 
That nothing you, the weak define?', know. Prior. 
DE'FINITE, adj. [from definitus, Lat.] Certain; li¬ 
mited; bounded. Exadt; precife.—In a charge of adul¬ 
tery, the accufer ought to fet forth, in the accufatory li¬ 
bel, or inquifition, which fucceeds in the place of accu- 
fation, fome certain and definite time. Aylifife. 
DE'FINITE,/. Thing explained or defined.—Special 
baftardy is nothing elfe but the definition of the general; 
and the general, again, is nothing elfe but a definite of the 
fpecial. Aylfife. 
DE'FINI FENESS,/ Certainty; limitednefs. 
DEFINI'TION, fi. [ [definitio , Lat. definition , Fr.] A 
fhort defeription of a thing by its properties.—I drew 
my definition of poetical wit from my particular confidera- 
tion of him ; for propriety of thoughts and words is only 
to be found in him. Dryden. —Decifion; determination. 
[In logic.] The explication of the elfence of a thing 
by its kind and difference.—What is man ? Not a reafon- 
able animal merely ; for that is not an adequate and dif- 
tinguifhing definition. Bentley. 
DEFFNITI VE,'adj. [ defihitimls , Lat.] Determinate ; 
pofitive; exprefs.. Ther authors write often dubioufiy, 
even in matters wherein is expected a ftridt and definitive 
truth. Brown. —Denoting one kind of fentence in fome 
courts of law.—A fingle judge forms is interlocutory 
decree, or definitive fentence, at his own diferetion. Blachjl. 
DEFI'NI LIVELY, adv. Pofitively; decifively; ex- 
prefsly.—That Metheufelah was the longeft lived of all 
the children of Adam, we need not grant; nor is it defi¬ 
nitively let down by Mofes. Brown. 
DEFI'NITIVENESS,/ Decifivenefs. 
DEFIX'US,/. [from dfiigo, Lat. to fallen.] A term 
with phyficians for impotenev, or the not being able to 
perform the aft of venery. It was formerly fuppofed 
that men in this fituation were bewitched, or fixed by 
fome charm. 
DEFLA.GRABI'LITY,/ [from defiagro, Lat.] Com- 
buftibility ; the quality of taking fire, and burning totally 
away.—We have fpent more time than the opinion of the 
ready defiagrability , if I may fo fpcak, of faltpetre did per¬ 
mit us to imagine. Boyle. 
DEFLA'GRABLE, adj. [from defiagro, Lat. to burn.] 
Having the quality of wafting entirely away by com- 
buftion.—Our chemical oils, fuppofing that they were 
exactly pure, yet they would be, as the beft fpirit of 
wine is, but the more inflammable and deflagrable. Boyle. 
DEFLAGRA'TION, fi. \_defiagratio, Lat.] Calcina¬ 
tion; the aft of burning, or confuming by fire. This 
term was formerly ufed in chemiftry to denote what is 
now meant by Combustion,; fee vol. iv. p, 154, 195. 
Vol, V. No. 304, 
D £ F G 63 
To DEFLE'CT, v. n. [ chflMo, Lat.] To turn aiide ■ 
to deviate from a true courfe, or right line : 
For, did not fome from a ftraight courfe dfieEf, 
They could not meet, they could no world ereft. Blaclim. 
DEFLEC'TION, fi. [from dfiePco. Lat. ] Deviation ; 
the aft of turning aiide.—Needles incline to the fouth 
on the other fide of the equator; and at the very line, 
or middle circle, Hand without defleilion. .Brown .—A turn¬ 
ing aiide, or out of the way. [In navigation.] The de¬ 
parture of a fliip from its true courfe. 
DEFLEX'URE, / [from dcfleElo , Lat.] A bending 
down ; a turning aiide, or out of the way. 
DEFLORA'TION, fi. [ defloration , Fr. from defioratus, 
I.at.] The aft of deflouring ; the taking away of a wo¬ 
man’s virginity. A feleftion of that which is molt va¬ 
luable.—The laws of Normandy are, in a great meafure, 
the defloration of the'Englifli laws, and a tranfeript o 
them. Hale. 
DEFLORA'TION,/ [from de and flos, Lat. a flower. ] 
In botany, it implies the ftate of a plant or flirub that 
has Hied or difehurged its flowers. 
To DEFLO'RE, v. a. \_defilorer , Fr.] To fully: 
The wondrous pattern, wherefoere it be, 
Whether in earth laid up in fecret (tore, 
Or elfe in heav’n, that no man may it fee 
With finful eyes for fear it to 1 deplore, 
Is perieft beauty which all men adore. Spenfer. 
■ To DEFLOUR', v. a. \_dcfiorer, Fr.] To ravifh ; to 
take away a woman’s virginity.—As is the lull of an eu¬ 
nuch to dejlour a virgin, fo is he that executeth judgment 
with violence. Ecclus. xx. iv.—To take away the beauty 
and grace of any thing.—If he died young, he died inno¬ 
cent, and before tire fweetnefs of his foul was deflourcd. 
and raviflied from him by the flames and follies of a fro- 
ward age. Taylor. 
How on a fudden loft, 
Defac’d, defiour’d, and now to death devote 1 Milton. 
DEFLOUR'ER,/ A ravifher; one that takes awav 
virginity.—I have often wondered, that thole deflourers 
cf innocence, though dead to all the fentiments of virtue 
and honour, are not-reftrained by humanity. Addifon . 
DEFLU'OUS, adj. \_dejlaus, Lat.] That flows down. 
That falls off. 
DE'FLUX,/. \_dcfiuxus, Lat.] Downward flow.—Both, 
bodies are clammy, and bridle the deflax of humours, 
without penning them in too much. Bacon. 
DEFLUX'ION, /. [djluxio, Lat.] The flow of hu¬ 
mours downwards.—We fee that taking cold moveth 
loofenefs, by contradtion of the (kin and outward parts 
and fo doth cold likewife caufe rheums and dcfilUxions from 
the head. Bacon. 
DEF'LY, adv. Dexteroufly; Ikilfully. Obfiqlete. Pro¬ 
perly deftly. 
Lo, how finely the graces can it foot 
To the inftrument; 
They dauncen dif/y, and fingen foote, 
In their merriment. Speifir. 
DEFO'E (Daniel), a writer of great natural ingenuity, 
born at London in 1663. His father, a-butcher by trade, 
and a proteftant dilTenter, w^as named James Foe; who 
educated his fon at an academy at Newington-green. De¬ 
foe foon difplayed his attachment to the caufe of liberty . 
and proteftanifm, by writing political tradts, and joining 
the ill-advifed infurredtion under the duke of Monmouth 
in the weft ; but he had the good fortune to efcape, and 
returned unnoticed to London. With the bufinefs of a 
writer he joined that of a trader ; and was firft engaged 
as a hofe-fadtor, and afterwards as a maker of bricks and 
pantiles near Tilbury-fort; but His commercial fchemes 
proved unfuccefsful, and he became infolvent. It is to 
his credit that, after having been freed from his debts 
by a compolition, he paid molt of them in full, and with 
