D I M 
ble of any diminution or augmentation at all by men; tne 
other apt to admit both. Hooker. —The ftate of growing 
lefs : oppofed to incrcafe .—-Finite and infinite feem to be 
looked upon as the modes of quantity, and to be attri¬ 
buted primarily to .thofe things which are capable of in- 
creafe or diminution. Locke.— Difcredit; lofs of dignity ; 
degradation : 
Gladly to thee 
Heroic laurel’d Eugene yields the prime; 
Nor thinks it diminution to be rank’d 
In military honour next. Philips. 
Deprivation of dignity; injury of reputation.—Make me 
wife by thy truth, for my own foul’s falvation, and Khali 
not regard the world’s opinion or diminution of me. King 
Charles. [In architecture.] The contraction of the dia¬ 
meter of a column, as it afeends. 
DIMINUTION, f in law, is where the plaintiff or 
defendant, on an appeal to a fuperior court, alleges that 
part of the record is omitted, and remains in the inferior 
court not certified ; whereupon he prays that it may be 
certified by certiorari. Of courfe diminution is to be cer¬ 
tified on a writ of error; though if ilfue be joined upon 
the errors afligned, and the matter is entered upon re¬ 
cord, which is made a conjilium ; in this cafe there muff 
be a rule of court granted for a certiorari to certify dimi¬ 
nution. i Lil. Abr. 245. Diminution cannot be alleged 
of a thing which is fully certified ; but in fomething that 
is wanting, as want of an original, or a warrant of attor¬ 
ney, See. 1 Keif. Abr. 658. And if on diminution alleged, 
and the plaintiff’ in error certify one original, See. which 
is wrong; and the defendant in error certifies another 
that is true ; the true one dial 1 (land. Cro.Jac.e, 97. Af¬ 
ter a writ of error brought, and the defendant hath pleaded 
in nullo cji. erratum, he cannot afterwards allege diminu¬ 
tion ; becaufe by that plea he affirmeth or alloweth the 
record to be inch as is certified upon the writ of error. 
Godb. 266. But in fome cafes, diminution hath been al¬ 
leged, after in nullo eft erratum pleaded, ex gratia curia-, 
though not ex rigorejuris. Palm. 85. And there is an in¬ 
stance, that the court in fuch a cafe hath awarded a cer. 
tiorari, to inform their confidence of the truth of the re¬ 
cord in the common pleas, where the defendant in error 
had not joined in nullo eft erratum. 1 Nelf. 658. 
DIMI’NUTIVE, adj. [diminutivus, Lat.] Small; lit¬ 
tle; narrow; contracted.—If the ladies fhouldonce take 
a liking to fuch a diminutive race of lovers, we fhould, in 
a little time, fee mankind epitomized, and the whole fpe- 
cies in miniature. Addifon. 
The poor wren, 
The mod diminutive of birds, will fight, 
Her young ones in her neft, againft the owl. Skahefp. 
DIMI'NUTIVE, f. A word formed to exprefs little- 
nefs; as lapillus, in Latin, a little ftone-, maifonette, in French, 
a little houj'e ; mannikin, in Englifh, a little man. A term in 
Grammar.—He afterwards proving a dainty and effeminate 
youth, was commonly called, by the diminutive of his. 
name, Peterkin or Perkin. Bacon. 
Sim, while but Sim, in good repute did live ; 
Was then a knave, but in diminutive. Cotton. 
A fnyall thing : a fenfe not now in ufe; 
Follow his chariot; rnonfter-like, be fhewn 
For poor’ll diminutives, for doits 1 . Shakespeare. 
DIMI'NUTIVELY, adv. In a diminutive manner. 
DIMI'NUTIVENESS, f. Smallnefs; littlenefs; pet¬ 
ty nefs ; want of bulk; want of dignity. 
DIM'ISH, adj. Somewhat dim ; fomewhat obfeure: 
s Tis true, but let it not be known, 
My eyes are fomewhat dimijh grown ; 
For nature, always in the right. 
To your decays adapts my light. ~ Swift. 
DIMIS'SORY, adj. [_dimiJforivs, Lat.] That by which 
a man is difmilfed to another jurildiCtion, 
Vol. V. No. 318. 
D I M 829 
DIMIS'SORY LETTERS, are ufed where a candi¬ 
date for holy orders has a title in one diocefe, and is to 
be ordained in another : the proper diocefan fends his 
letters dimiffory directed to fomc other ordaining bifhop, 
giving leave that the bearer may be ordained, and have 
fuch a cure within his diftriCt. Cowel. 
DIMI'TRIA, a town and fort of Ruffian Tartary, on 
the Don, in the government of Caucafus : twelve miles 
north of Ekaterinograd. 
DIMITROW', a town of Poland, in the palatinate of 
Braclaw : fifty miles fouth-fouth-weff of Braclaw. 
DFMITTY, f. A fine kind of cotton cloth.—I di¬ 
rected a trowze of fine dimitty. Wifeman. 
DIM'LU, a Itrong town of Arabia, in the country of 
Yemen : twenty miles eaff-fouth-eaft of Taas. 
DIM'LY, adv. Not with a quick fight; not with a 
clear perception : 
Unfpeakable ! who fitt’ff above thefe heav’ns. 
To us invilible, or dimly feen 
In thefe thy lowed works. Milton. 
Not brightly ; not luminoufly.—In the beginning of our 
pumping the air, the match appeared well lighted, tliq’ 
it had almoft filled the receiver with fumes; but by de¬ 
grees it burnt more and more dimly. Boyle. 
DIM'NAH, (Jofft. xxi. 35.) a city of Paleftine, in the 
tribe of Zebulon, was one of the cities of the Levites, 
of the family of Merari. 
DIM'NE,atown of Arabia, in the country of Yemen: 
twelve miles fouth-fouth-eaff of Dsjebi. 
DIM'NESS, f. Dulnefs of fight. Want of apprehen¬ 
sion; ftupidity.—Anfwcrable to this dimnefs of their per¬ 
ception, was the whole fyftem and body of their religion. 
Decay of Piety. 
DEMON, [Heb. red. ] A river of the land of Moab, 
terminating in the Dead Sea. If a. xv. 9. 
DIMO'NAH, (Jofh.xv. 22.) A city of Paleftine, in 
the tribe of Judah, fituated in the fouthern part of that 
province, near the borders of Edom. 
DIMCE'RIT.CE, a name given to the Apollinarifts, 
who at firlt held, that the Word only affumed a human 
body, without taking a reafonabie foul like ours ; but 
being at length convinced by formal texts of feripture, 
they allowed, that he did affume a foul, but without un- 
derftanding; the Word fupplying the want of that fa¬ 
culty. From this way of feparating the underftanding 
from the foul, they became denominated dimeerites, i. e. 
dividers, feparaters, of 01a and fy.oioa.ee, I divide. 
DIMOR'PHA, f [from , twice, and fy.oopn, form.] 
In botany, a genus of the clafs diadelphia, order decan- 
dria, natural order papilionaceae or leguminofae. The 
generic characters are—Calyx : perianthium one-leafed, 
rounded at the bafe, deeply three or four cleft, obtufe. 
Corolla : petal very wide, ventricofe, convolute at the 
Tides, crenulate, inferted into the calyx below the ftamens, 
placed at the lower fide. Stamina : filaments diadel- 
phous, tingle at the opening of the petal, and nine-cleft 
incumbent on the middle of the petal, afeending, longer 
than the corolla; antherae parallelopiped, incumbent. 
Piftillum: germ pedicelled, compreffed, fhort; ftyle 
longer than the ftamens ; ftigma fimple. Pericarpium s 
legume large, oblique, compreffed, one-celled. Seed : 
fingle or few ; petal Tingle, as in amorpha, but occupying 
the place of the keel; the wings and ftandard are want¬ 
ing. The eperua of Aublet has the filaments thickened 
at the bafe and villofe ; legume fabre-thaped, with three 
or four feeds in it.— EJfential CharaEler. Petal, one large 
convolute, in place of the keel; ftandard and wings, none. 
Species. 1. Dimorpha falcata, or fcythe-ftiaped di- 
morpha : leaves pinnate; pods falciform. A tall tree, 
upwards of fixty feet high, very much branched at top, 
and branches much fcattered. Native of woods in Gui¬ 
ana ; flowering in September. 
2. Dimorpha grandiflora, or great-flowered dimorpha; 
flowers larger than in the other lpecies. A large tree, 
10 B with 
