D E X 
He, now to prove his late renewed might. 
High brandifhing his bright dew-burning blade, 
Upon his crefted fcalp fo fore did finite, 
That to the fcull a yawning wound it made. Spenfer. 
DEW-CLAWS, /. The little claws or nails growing 
cn the infide of the fore-legs of a dog, juft above the feet. 
DEW-DROP, J'. A drop of dew which fparkles at 
fun-rife: 
Innumerable as the ftars of night, 
Or ftars of morning, dew-drops, which the fun 
Impearls on ev’ry leaf, and ev’ry flower. Milton. 
Reft, fweet as dew-drops on the flow’ry lawns! 
When the (ky opens, and the morning dawns! Tickell. 
DEW-SPRINKLED, adj. Sprinkled with dew.—The 
fweets of a dew-fprinkled rofe. S/ien/fone. 
DEW-WORM, f. A worm found in the dew. See 
the article Lumbricus. 
DEWAE'RT, an ifland lying at forne diftance eaft of 
Terra Magellanica, South America. It had its name 
from the firft difeoverer. 
DE'WAH, or Gogra, a river of Hindooftan, which 
erodes the country of Oude, and joins the Ganges, fifteen 
miles weft of Patna. 
DEWE'E, an ifland in South Carolina, which forms 
one of the three harbours of Charleftown city. 
DE-WIT (John), the famous Dutch penfionary, born 
at Dort, in 1625 ; Where he profecuted his ftudies fo di¬ 
ligently, that, at twenty-three years of age, he publifhed 
Elementa Cur.va.tum tinearum, one of the deepeft books in 
mathematics at that time. After taking his degrees, and 
travelling, he, in 1650, became penfionary of Dort, and 
diftinguiflied himfelf very early in the management of 
public affairs, which foon after raifed him to the rank of 
penfionary of Holland. After rendering the greateft be¬ 
nefits to his country in many important inftances, and 
ferving it in feveral high'capacities,. with the greateft 
ability, diligence, and integrity, by fome intrigues of the 
court, it is faid, he and his brother were thrown into 
prifon, from whence they were dragged by the mob, and 
butchered with the moft cruel and favage barbarity. 
DEWLAP, /. [from lapping or licking the deiu. ] The 
fleflt that hangs down from the throat of oxen : 
Large rowles of fat about his flioulders flung, 
And from his neck the double dewlap hung. Addifon. 
.It is ufed in Shakefpeare for a lip flaccid with age, in con¬ 
tempt : 
And fometimes lurk I in a goflip’s bowl. 
In very likenefs of a roafted crab ; 
And when fhe drinks againft her lips I bob, 
And on the wither’d dewlap pour the ale. M.Night'sDream. 
DEW'LAPT adj. Furnilhed with dewlaps : 
The dezolapt bull now chafes along the plain. 
While burning love ferments in ev’ry vein. Gay. 
DEW'Y, adj. Refembling dew ; partaking of dew : 
From the earth a dewy mift 
Went up, and water'd all the ground, and each 
Plant of the field. * Milton. 
Moift with dew ; rofeid : 
The joyous day ’gan early to appear, 
And fair Aurora from her dewy bed 
Of aged Tithone ’gan herfelf to rear, 
With rofy cheeks, for lhame as blufhing red. Spenfer. 
DEX'TANS,/! In Roman antiquity, ten ounces, er 
^ of their libra. See Libra. 
DEX'TER, adj. [Lat.] The right j not the left. A 
term in heraldry, which fee : 
My mother’s blood 
Runs on the dexter cheek, and this finifter 
Bounds in my fire’s. Shakefpeare. 
Von. V. No. 314, 
D E Z 73 5 
DEXTE'RITY, f. {;iexteritas , Lat.] Readinefs of 
limbs ; activity ; readinefs to attain (kill ; (kill ; expert- 
ne-fs. Readinefs of contrivance ; quicknefs of expedient; 
(kill of management.—They attempted to be knaves, 
but wanted art and dexterity. South. 
DEX'TEROUS, adj. [ dexter, Lat ] Expert at any 
manual employment; aCtive; ready: as, a dexterous 
workman.—For both their dext’rous hands the lance could 
wield. Pope. —Expert in management; fubtle ; full of 
expedients. 
DEX'TEROUSLY, adv. Expertly ; fkilfully ; art¬ 
fully.—The magiftrate fometimes cannot do his own of¬ 
fice dexteroujly, but by aCting the minifter. South. 
But then my ftudy was to cog the dice, 
And dext'roujly to throw the lucky fice. Drydcn. 
DEX'TRAL, adj. [dexter, Lat.] The right; not the 
left.—As for any tunicles or (kins, which (hould hinder 
the liver from enabling the dextral parts, wemuft not con¬ 
ceive it diffufeth its virtue by mere irradiation, but by 
its veins and proper veffels. Brown. 
DEXTRA'LITY,/. The date of being on the right, 
not the left, fide.—If there were a determinate prepo¬ 
tency in the right, and fuch as arifeth from a conftant 
root in nature, we might expedt the fame in other ani¬ 
mals, whofe parts are alfo differenced by dextrality. Brown. 
DEY, f. The title of the fovercign of Algiers, under 
the protedtion of the grand fignior. A prince under this 
title was appointed by the fultan, at the requeft of the 
Turkifli foldiers, in 1710. The term dey, in the Turkifli 
language, dignifies “ an uncle by the mother’s fide;” and 
the reafon of the denomination is this : that the Turkifli 
military confider the grand fignior as their father ; the re¬ 
public as their mother ; and the dey as the brother of 
the republic, and confequently the uncle of all who are 
under his dominion. Befides the age, experience, and 
valour, which are neceffary qualifications of a perfon to 
be elected, he muft alfo be a native Turk, and have 
made the voyage to Mecca. He prefides at the divan, 
and is moft diftinguiflied by the refpeCt and fubmiffion 
which are paid him. 
DEY'DESHEIM, or Didinf.sheim, a town of Ger¬ 
many, in the circle of the Upper Rhine, and bifliopric of 
Spire: fourteen miles weft-north-weft of Spire. 
DEZALLIER' D’ARGENVILLE (Antony Jofeph), 
a valuable writer in natural hiftory and the polite arts, 
native of Paris, in which city he had a place of mafter 
of accounts. He fpent a confiderable time in foreign coun¬ 
tries, particularly in Italy, where he formed a tafte for 
painting, as well from practice as from ftudying the 
works of the principal artifts. He was connected with 
men of fcience in various parts of Europe, and became a 
member of the royal fociety of London, and the acade¬ 
my of fciences at Montpellier.- He died at Paris in 1766. 
Befides the articles Hydrographie and Jardinage in the 
French Encyclopedia, he wrote the Theory and Practice 
of Gardening, 1747, 4to. ; Conchyliology, or a Trea- 
tife of the Nature of Shells, 1757, 2Vols. 4to. This is 
his moft valued work in natural hiftory : he founds his 
arrangement on the external form of (hells, and throws 
them into the divifions of (hells of the fea, of fre(h wa¬ 
ter, and of the land : to this work he added Zoomor- 
phofe ; or, a reprefentation of the living animals which 
inhabit (hells, 1757, 4to. In mineralogy he wrote in La¬ 
tin, an Enumeration of the Foffils in the different Pro¬ 
vinces of France ; and Orythologie, or a Treatife on 
Foflils, 1755, 4to. His biography of painters is a work 
well known, and confiderably efteemed ; it is entitled 
Abrege de la Vie des plus fameux Peintres, avec leurs Portraits , 
&c. firft printed in 1745, and in an improved form in 
1762, 3 vols. 4to. and 4 vols. 8vo. His Ion, a member 
of the royal academy of Rochelle, has publifhed two 
volumes on the lives of architects and fculptors, as a con¬ 
tinuation of this work. 
DEZI'ZE, a town of Egypt, on the Nile, fuppefed to 
9 O be 
