D I II 
D I S 
857 
fubjeift is enjoined to obfcrve tl'.ofe rights, 1 and abftain 
from the commiflion of thofe wrongs. Blackjlone. 
DIREC'TRESS, f. A directing female.—Another 
now took the lead, and, feizing an embroidered handker¬ 
chief, completely hoodwinked the direBrcfs. Shenjlone. 
DI'REFUL, adj. [This word is frequent among the 
pdets, but has been cenfured as not analogical; all other 
words compounded of full confiding of a liibftantive and 
full\ as, dreadful, or full of dread; joyful, or full of 
joy.] Dire; dreadful ; difmal.—The voice of God him- 
felf fpeaks in the heart of men, whether they underftand 
it or no ; and by fecret intimations gives the (inner a fore- 
tafie of that direful cup, which he is like to drink more 
deeply of hereafter. South. 
I curs’d the direful author of my woes; 
’Twas told again, and thence my ruin rofe. Dryden. 
Achilles’ wrath, to Greeks the direful fpring 
Of woes unnumber’d, heavenly goddefs! fing. Pope. 
DI'RENF.SS, /. Difmalnefs; horror; hideoufnefs: 
Dirensfs , familiar to my flaught’rous thoughts, 
Cannot once ftart me. Skakefpeare. 
DI'RENKRUTT, a town of Germany, in the arch¬ 
duchy of Auftria: five miles fouth-eaft of Zifterfdorff. 
DI'RENOW, a river of Germany, in the circle of 
Upper Saxony, which runs from the Grofs Haft'into the 
Baltic. 
DIREP'TION, /. [ direptio , Lat.] The aft of plun¬ 
dering. 
DIRGE, f. [This is not a contraflion of the Latin 
dirige, in the popilh hymn, Dirige grejfus mens, as fome 
pretend ; but from the Teutonic dyrke , to praife and ex¬ 
tol. Whence it is poflible their dyrke, and our dirge, was 
a laudatory fong to commemorate and applaud the dead. 
Verjlegan. Bacon apparently derives it from dirige. Ca- 
faubon from o^v^a, a lamentation.] A mournful ditty; a 
long of lamentation.—Meanwhile the body of Richard, 
after many indignities and reproaches, the dirigies and 
obfequies of the common people towards tyrants, was 
obfcufely buried. Bacon. 
Th’ imperial jointrefs of this warlike ftate 
Have we, as ’twere, with a defeated joy, 
With mirth in funeral, and with dirge in marriage. 
In equal fcale weighing delight and dole, 
Taken to wife. Skakefpeare. 
DI'RIGENT, adj. [dirigens, Lai.] The dirigent line 
in geometry is that along which the line defcribent is 
carried in the generation of any figure. Harris. 
DI'RITY, f. [diriias, Lat.] Terriblenefs. 
DIRK,/, [an Erfe word.] A kind of dagger ufed in 
the Highlands of Scotland : 
In vain thy hungry mountaineers 
Come forth in all thy warlike geers, 
The fhield, the piftol, dirk, and dagger, 
In which they daily wont to fwagger. Tickcll. 
To DIRKE, v. a. Tofpoil; to ruin; to obfcure; to 
darken: 
Thy wafte bignefs but cumbers the ground, 
And dirkes the beauties of my bloftoms round. Spenfer. 
DIRM'STEIN, a town of Germany, in the circle of 
flhe Upper Rhine, and bilhopric of Worms : leven miles 
fouth-fouth-weft of Worms. 
DIRO'IS (Francis), a French ecclefiaftic, and dodtor 
of the Sorbonne, in the feventeenth century, who died 
canon of Avranches, where he was held in high efteem 
by all clafies of people. He was the author of a work 
highly fpoken of by catholic writers, intitled Preuves & 
Prejuges pour la Religion Ckretienne & Catholique , centre les 
fauffes Religions & PAtheifme, in quarto ; and of a treatife 
on ecclefiaftical hiftory, which, though it is written with 
•more precifion than elegance, forms not the leaft orna¬ 
mental part of Mezeray’s Abridgment of the Hiftory of 
France. 
Vgl. V. No. 320. 
DIR'RITORF, a town of Germany, in the archduchy 
of Auftria. In 1310, Charles de Treves, grand mailer 
of the Teutonic order, feized on this town, pillaged it, 
and reduced it to allies; three miles north of Steyr. 
DIRT,/ [dryt, Dutch; dirt, Illandic.] Mud; filth; 
mire ; any thing that (licks to the clothes or body. Mean- 
nefs; fordidnefs.—Numbers engage their lives and la¬ 
bours to heap together a little dirt that Ihall bury them 
in the end. Wake. 
Mark by what wretched Heps their glory grows ; 
From dirt and fea-weed as proud Venice rofe : 
In each how guilt and greatnefs equal ran, 
And all that rais’d the hero funk the man. Pope. 
To DIRT, v. a. To foul; to bemire; to make filthy ; 
to bedaub; to foil; to pollute; tonally.—Ill company 
is like a dog, who dirts thofe whom he loves belt. Swift. 
DIR'TILY, adv. Naftily; foully; filthily. Meanly; 
fordidly; ftiamefully : 
Such gold as that wherewithal 
Chimiques from each mineral 
Are dirtily and defperately gull’d. Donne. 
DIR'TINESS,/ Nallinefs; filihinefs; foulnefs. Mean- 
nefs; bafenefs; fordidnefs. 
DIR'TY, adj. Foul; naftv; filthy: 
Thy Dol and Helen of thy noble thoughts 
Is in bafe durance, and contagious prifon, 
Haul’d thither by mechanic, "dirty hands. Skakefpeare. 
Sullied; cloudy; not elegant.—Pound an almond, and 
the clear white colour will be altered into a dirty one, 
and the fweet tafte into an oily one. Locke. —Mean ; bale ; 
defpicable.—Marriages lliould be made up upon more 
natural motives than mere dirty inferefts, and increafe of 
riches without meafure or end. Temple. 
To DIR'TY, v. a. To foul; to foil.—The lords Strutts 
lived generoiilly, and never ufed to dirty their fingers 
with pen, ink, and counters. Arbuthnot. —To difgrace ; 
to fcandalize. 
DIRUP'TION,/ [ diruptio, Lat.] The ad of burfting 
or breaking. The ftate of burfting or breaking. 
DIS. An infeparable particle ufed in compolition, im¬ 
plying commonly a privative or negative fignification of 
the word to which it is joined: as, to arm , to difarm ; 
to join, to disjoin. It is borrowed from des, ufed by the 
French and Spaniards in this fenfe : as, defiouer, to untie; 
dejlerrar, to banilh : from the Latin de\ as ,Jlruo, to build ; 
defruo, to deftroy. 
DI'SA, f. In botany, a genus of the clafs gynandria, 
order diandria, natural order of orchideas. The generic 
charaders are—Calyx : fpathe one-valved, acuminate, 
oblong, gaping longitudinally on one fide. Corolla: pe¬ 
tals three, ovate, fpreading, large, nearly equal ; the 
upper one unequal, fomewhat horned obtufely at the 
bafe behind. Stamina: filament fubulate; antherae two, 
connected into a lanceolate form, a little fhorterthan the 
corolla, fubulate at the bafe, gaping, mounted on the 
ftyle ; dorfal petal of the ftamens two-parted, ftiorter than 
the ftamens ; diviftons oblong, obtufe, converging. Pif- 
tillum : germ inferior, length of the fpathe ; ftyle tongue- 
fliaped, fnort, hollowed at the bafe, twe-horned back¬ 
wards. Pericarpium : capfule oblong, three-valved. 
Seeds : numerous, minute.— EJfential CharaBer. Spathe 
one-valved; petals three; the third lefs, two-parted, 
gibbous at the bafe. 
Species. 1. Difa grandiflora, or large-flowered difa ; 
horn ftiorter than the petals, with about two flowers on 
the ftem. Thefe are all natives of the Cape. The firll 
was found there by Bergius; and that, with all the reft, 
by Thunberg, from whom we exped farther informa¬ 
tion on this genus. Stem a foot high, ered, quite limple, 
even. Leaves ftiorter than the ftem; thofe next the root 
lanceolate-linear; thofe on the ftem Iheathing, alternate, 
three in number, the dilk ftiorter than the llieath, acu¬ 
minate at the end. Flower terminating, peduncled, in¬ 
to I dined; 
