If such dilucidations be necessary to make us value writings, that treat of familiar and secular affairs, and were written in an European language, and in times and countries much nearer to ours; how much do you think we must lose of the elegancy of the Book of Job, the Psalms of David, the Song of Solomon, and other sacred composures.

Id. 16. vol. ii. p. 260. On the Style of Holy Scriptures.

For he has taken in, sir, the whole subject, examined every part of it dialectically, then brought it into full day; dilucidating it with all the light which either the collision of his own natural parts could strike, or the profoundest knowledge of the sciences had empowered him to cast upon it.

DILUTE, v.

DILUTE, adj.

DILUTER,

DILUTION,

DILU'TENT, n.

Sterne. Tristram Shandy, vol. i. ch. xxxvii.

Lat. diluere, utum, to wet or wash; (dis, and luere ; Gr. λούειν.)

To dilute; to mixture of liquid,

DILU'TENT, adj. J thin, to weaken.

thin by the

of water; to

DIM, v.
DIM, adj.
DIMMING,
DI'MMY,
DI'MLY,
DI'MNESS,

DI'MMISH,
DIM-DESCRIED,
DIM-DISCOVERED,
DIM-GLEAMING,
DIM-SIGHTEd.

า

"A. S. dimnian, adimnian, obscurare. It was formerly in English written Dimn." Tooke, ii. 309. Somner writes the "A. S. adimmian, obscurare, to dull, to darken, to make dimme ;" and it is so written in Lye, and in the usages of the word quoted by him. In Shakspeare, Dimn, bedymn. See DUMB, and Bedimn.

To dull, to obscure, to darken, to deaden. Though formerly of general application to any of the senses, is now restricted to the sense of sight; as dumb, to the power of speech.

And wenne he drow to be dore. panne dimmed hus eyen. Piers Plouhman. Vision, p. 108. A voys aloud seyde The lord of myght and of man. þat made all þynges Duke of pis dymme place. anon undo pe gates That Crist mowe comen in. pe kynges sone of heavene And with pat brep helle brake. Id. Ib. p. 358. When Phoebus the sonne beginneth to spreade his clernesse with rosen chariottes, than the starre dymmed paleth her white cheres by the flambs of the sonne that ouercometh the sterre light. Chaucer. The second Booke of Boecius, fol. 217.

And with that soun he herd a murmuring

Ful low and dim, that sayde thus, Victorie.

For which he yaf to Mars honour and glorie.
Id. The Knightes Tale, v. 2435.

Wherin anone my hertes eie

I cast, and sawe my colour fade,
Myn eien dim, and all vnglade,
My chekes thinne, and all my face
With elde I might see deface.

Gower. Conf. Am. book viii,
He herde a voice, which cried dymme,
And he his ere to the brymme
Hath leide, and herde it was a man,
Which seide: O helpe here Adrian,
And I will yeuen halfe my good.

Id. Ib. book v. If your doctryne bee darkened with errours, yf ye light of your lyfe be dimmed with worldly desires and lustes. what thing shall driue awaye the darkenes of the multytude? Udall. Matthew, ch. v. The eyes of the seing shal not be dymme, and the eares of them that heare, shal take dilygent hede.

Bible, Anno 1551. Isay, ch. xxxii.

I hate to speake, my voice is spent with crying;

I hate to heare, lowd plaints haue dul'd mine eares;

I hate to tast, for food witholds my dying;

I hate to see, mine eyes are dim'd with teares.

Spenser. Daphnaida.

Euen so my selfe bewayles poor Gloster's case
With sad unhelpeful teares, and with dimn'd eyes.

Shakspeare. Henry VI. Second Part, fol. 132. Athanis the histriographer writeth, that during the wars he had against Mamercus and Hippon, as he was in his camp at Mylles, there came a white spot in his eyes, that dimmed his sight somewhat so that every man perceived that he should lose his sight altogether.

:

Sir Thomas North. Plutarch, fol. 236. Timoleon The sunne of all the world is dimme and darke: The earth now lacks her wonted light,

And all we dwell in deadly night.

Spenser. Shepheard's Calendar. November. Sister haue comfort, all of vs haue cause To waile the dimming of our shining starre.

Shakspeare. Richard III. fol. 184. Your cheeks of late are (like bad printed books) So dimly charactered, I scarce can spell One line of love in them.

Dekkar. The Hunest Whore, Second Part, act i.

The sunne sett pale, his beames dispers'd; whose light
Partly to north, and partly south inclin'd.
The middle of his orbe but dimmely shin'd :
And dazled not the weake beholder's eyes.

May. Lucan, book v.
Yon dimmy clouds which well employ your staining.
Sidney. Arcadia, book iv.
And therefore in the view of state t' have show'd
A counterfeit of state, had been to light

A candle to the sun, and so bestow'd

Our pains to bring our dimness into light.

Daniel. Dedication of the Queen's Arcadia.
There, as he sat, enthron'd above the skies,
Full on the Libyan realms he fix'd his eyes.
When lo! the mournful queen of love appears;
Her starry eyes were dimm'd with streaming tears.
Pitt. Virgil. Eneid, book i.
(They) Fortune's fault upon the poor can throw ;
Point at the tatter'd coat, and ragged shoe;
Lay nature's feelings to their charge; and jeer
The dim weak eye-sight, when the mind is clear.
Dryden. Persius. Satire 1.

Those parts of the fish that were scarce visible before or shone but dimly, receiving presently their former splendour. Boyle. Works, vol. iii. p. 164. Concerning Light and Air. "Tis true, but let it not be known, My eyes are somewhat dimmish grown.

Swift. Stella's Birth-day, 1724, 5.

For Oberon, or Druids falsely sing,
Wore his prime visier in a magic ring,
A subtle spright, that opening plots foretold,
By sudden dimness on the beamy gold.

Tickell. Kensington Gardens.

It is very difficult for us dim-sighted mortals to discern the extent of the divine power and knowledge, and therefore unfit and unsafe to determine it negatively.

Boyle. Works, vol. vi. p. 680. Appendix to the first Part of the

Christian Virtuoso.

Now set the sun, and twilight dimm'd the ways,
When, drawing down his bark into the deep,
He gave her all her furniture.

Cowper. Homer. Odyssey, book ii.
As eagles drink the noon-tide flame,
While the dim raven beats her weary wings,
And clamours far below.

Akenside. Ode 13. book i. On Lyric Poetry. Before each virgin dimly burns a lamp, Whose livid spires just temper with a gleam The dead obscurity of night.

Glover. Leonidas, book x. As when thick mists involve the mountain's head, Fear'd by the shepherd-swain, but to the thief Happier than midnight, and the eye extends To a stone's-throw its indistinct survey, With such thick dimness of excited dust In their impetuous march they fill'd the air.

Cowper. Homer. Iliad, book iii. '

But who the melodies of morn can tell?
The wild brook babbling down the mountain side;
The lowing herd; the sheepfold's simple bell;
The pipe of early shepherd dim-descried

In the lone valley.

Beattie. The Minstrel, book i.

Or if chill blustering winds, or driving rain,
Prevent my willing feet, be mine the hut,

That from the mountain's side

Views wilds and swelling floods,

And hamlets brown, and dim-discover'd spires.
Collins. Ode to Evening.
And oft he trac'd the uplands, to survey,

When o'er the sky advanced the kindling dawn,
The crimson cloud, blue main, and mountain gray,
And lake dim-gleaming on the smoky lawn.

Beattie. The Minstrel, book i. I once knew a man remarkably dim-sighted, who, by conversing much with a country gentleman found himself irresistibly determined to sylvan honours. His great ambition was to shoot flying. Johnson. Rambler, No. 66.

DIMENSION.

DIMBLE, Benson has Dim-hof, or dim-hol, antrum; DIMBLE. and Somner says of dim-hof, that it is, "A cave, a hole, a denne, a vault, a grot, a secret or dark house, place or corner, a hiding-place." Dimble may be corrupted from dimhol; thus dimhol, dimmel, dimble.

And satyrs, that in shades and gloomy dimbles dwell,
Run whooting to the hills to clap their ruder hands.
Drayton. Poly-olbion, song 2.

And in a dimble near (even as a place divine,
For contemplation fit) in ivy-cieled bower
As nature hath therein ordain'd some sylvan power.
Id. Ib. song 26.

ALK. Within a gloomie dimble, shee doth dwell
Downe in a pitt, ore grown with brakes and briars.
Ben Jonson. Sad Shepherd, act ii. sc. 8.

DIMENSION, v.7 DIMENSION, n.

DIMENSIONLESS,

DIME'NSITY,

DIME'NSIVE.

Fr. dimension; It. dimensione; Sp. dimension; Lat. dimensio, from dimetiri, dimensus; (de, and metiri,) to measure.

To examine or ascertain the magnitude or size, of any thing; its bulk, its extent, the space it occupies or fills; its capacity.

Or whether hys bodye be there in hys naturelle substaunce, without any dimensions at al, or whether he be there in all hys distinctions of the members of his holye bodye.

Sir Thomas More. Workes, fol. 1111. Answer to the Poysoned Booke, &c.

Wherefore base?

When my dimensions are so well compact,
My minde as generous, and my shape as true
As honest madam's issue?

Shakspeare. Lear, fol. 285.
But far within

And in thir own dimensions like themselves
The great seraphic Lords and cherubim
In close recess and secret conclave sat
A thousand demy-gods on golden seats.

Milton. Paradise Lost, book i. 1. 793.
To heav'n their prayers
Flew up, nor miss'd the way, by envious windes
Blown vagabond or prostrate: in they pass'd
Dimentionless through heav'nly dores.

If statuaries could

Id. Ib. book xi. 1. 17.

By the foot of Hercules set down punctually
His whole dimensions, and the countenance be
The index of the mind, this may instruct me,
With the aids of that I've read touching this subject,
What she is inward.

Massinger. The Emperor of the East, act ii. sc. 1.
If of the smallest stars in sky

We know not the dimensity;

If those bright sparks which them compose,

The highest mortal wits do pose,

How then poor shallow man, canst thou
The Maker of these glories know.

Howell. Letter 44. book iv.
All bodies are confin'd within some place,
But she all place within herself confines.
All bodies have their measure and their space;
But who can draw the soul's dimensive lines?
Davies. Immortality of the Soul, sec. 4.
Moreouer, in heauen the existence of his bodie is dimensive,
and complete with the full proportion and quantitie of the same
bodie wherewith he ascended.
Fox. Martyrs, fol. 210.

A mantle purple-ting'd, and radiant vest,
Dimension'd equal to his size, express'd
Affection grateful to my honour'd guest.

Pope. Homer. Odyssey, book xix.
Yet, enter'd in the brick-built town [Babylon] he try'd,
The tomb, and found the strait dimensions wide:
Death only this mysterious truth unfolds,
The mighty soul, how small a body holds.

Dryden. Juvenal. Satire 10.

What havock hast thou made, foul monster, sin!
Greatest and worst of ills.-The fruitful parent
Of woes in all dimensions.
Blair. The Grave.

When he sees that, as the earth is but a point compared to the orb of Saturn, so the orb of Saturn itself grows dimentionless when compared to that vast extent of space, which the stellarsolar systems possess and occupy; this lord of the creation shrinks suddenly from his height, and mingles with the lowest crowds of unheeded and undistinguished beings.

Warburton. Sermon 2. vol. ix.

DIMETER, versus dimeter, duo metra, seu duas mensuras habens ; having two meters or measures.

Observe, that the second of these lines is the same measure with the iambic dimeter of the ancients, whereof you will find examples in the Latin prosody, as, Eternitatis janua.

Beattie. Moral Science, part iv. ch. i. sec. 5. DIMIDIATE, Lat. dimidium. A medium est dimidium. Vossius. Quasi per medium divisus; i. e. as if separated or divided through the middle.

The artificer brings it [a block] home, puts it up properly upon the dimidiate platform of your staircase, and sets it exactly by the equation table: now it is an organism.

Search. Light of Nature, vol. ii. part ii. ch. xxiii.

DIMINISH, v. DIMINISHINGLY,

Dimi'nishment,

DIMINUTE,

DIMINUTION,

DIMINUTIVE,
DIMINUTIVELY,

DIMINUTIVENESS.

Fr. diminuer; Sp. diminuir ; Lat. diminuere. "Verbum fuit antiquum, μίω, unde μίνω, μίνυω ; Lat. minuo, minuor, minutus." Schedius.

To be or cause to be, or to become, less, (in number or magnitude ;) to lessen; to lessen the power, to weaken, to impair; to take away a part or portion; to decrease, to contract. See MINISH.

And put it all in your discretion

To intreat or make diminucion,

Of my language.

Chaucer. The third Booke of Troilus, fol. 173.

By whiche multiplicacion

Is made, and diminucion

Of sommes by thexperience

Of this arte, [Algorisme] and of this science.

Gower. Conf. Am. book vii. fol. 142.

I came not to dyminishe & abate the lawe, or to abolishe it with new preceptes: but I came rather to fulfil the law, and make it perfecte. Udall. Matthew, ch. v.

The seconde plage of the seconde Angell, is the seconde iudgement of God againste the regiment of Rome, and this is imbeselynge and diminyshe of their power and dominion, many landes and people fallynge from them.

Id. Reuelacion, ch. xvi. These things being once felt in the common welth, as they must needs be, euerye man seeth by and by what foloweth, a great diminishment of the strength of the realme.

Sir John Cheke. The Hurt of Sedition, G 2. Moreouer it is a wondre to beholde there, the subtilty that this Anselme vseth to bring his deuelishe purpose to passe, for deminishment of the Christen princes authoryty & augmenting of Antichristes vsurpacion. Bale. English Votaries, part ii.

He may peraduenture saye that hee neuer wrote that sermon himselfe, but that some of hys audience whyche of deuocio wrote as muche as they bare awaye vpon the hearyng, dydde wryte it dyminute, and mangled for lacke of good remebrauce.

Sir Thomas More. Workes, fol. 861. The Apology, ch. viii.

O thou that with surpassing glory crown'd,
Look'st from thy sole dominion like a God
Of this new world; at whose sight all the starrs
Hide thir diminisht heads; to thee I call.

Milton. Paradise Lost, book iv. 1. 35.
Weak'neth our power by oft diminishings.

VOL. XXI.

Drayton. The Barons' Wars, book i.

Specially I would have you to consider that a wicked opinion this DIMINISH is, to fantasy that giving to the poore is a diminishing of our goods. Latimer. Sermons, p. 163. The sixth Sermon on the Lord's DIMINU

Prayer.

Some at home, less affectionate to studies of this nature, for reasons best known to themselves were induced to speak somewhat diminishingly, and below the worth, of his Clavis and Commentary upon the Apocalyps. Mede. Works. The Life, fol. 12.

Nor could any one that look'd upon our author, his parts or pains with an evil eye, speak so meanly and diminishingly of him as he would of himself. Id. Ib. fol. 38.

Neither could love, too deeply grounded, receive diminishment.
Sidney. Arcadia, book iii.

This is essential joy, where neither he
Can suffer diminution, nor we;

"Tis such a full, and such a filling good

Had th' Angels once look'd on him, they had stood.
Donne. Progress of the Soul. Second Anniversary.
By tincture or reflection they augment

Thir small peculiar, though from human sight
So far remote, with diminution seen.

Milton. Paradise Lost, book vii. 1. 369.
For the poore wren

(The most diminitiue of birds) will fight,
Her young ones in her nest, against the owle.

Shakspeare. Macbeth, fol. 145.
Then doth she point it

With tender accents, and severely joint it
By short diminutive.

Crashaw. Musick's Duel.

The common affection of nounes is diminution. A diminutive is a noune, noting the diminution of his primitive. Ben Jonson. The English Grammar, ch. xi. The freeness of the giver, his not exacting security, nor expressing conditions of return, doth not diminish but rather increase the debt. Barrow. Sermon 9. vol. i.

In ardent Contemplation's rapid car,
From earth, as from my barrier, 1 set out.
How swift I mount! diminish'd earth recedes.
Young. The Complaint. Night 9.

In these places more clearly and immediately, in many other places obliquely and according to fair consequence; in many more probably our Saviour is called God, God absolutely without any interpretative restriction or diminution.

Barrow. Sermon 21. vol. ii. The light of man's understanding, is but a short diminutive, contracted light, and looks not beyond the present.

South. Sermons, vol. i. p. 318.
Ah how the poor world is pester'd with such
Water-flies such diminutives of nature.

Dryden. Troilus and Cressida, act iv. sc. 2. At all our concerts he was a constant, but an invisible performer; for, while he stood on tiptoes thrumming his bass-viol, the diminutiveness of his figure was totally eclipsed by the expanStudent, ii. 225.

sion of his instrument.

Kings who have weak understandings are apt to imagine that the rules and laws made for the exercise and security of the former [the people] are so many diminutions of their dignity, and restraints on their power.

Bolingbroke. Works, vol. iv. The Idea of a Patriot King.

The seed, selected wisely, plump, and smooth
And glossy, he commits to pots of size
Diminutive, well fill'd with well prepar'd
And fruitful soil, that has been treasur'd long,
And drank no moisture from the dripping clouds.
Cowper. The Task, book iii.

Magnify the former [Oliver] they are still diminutively conceived if a glass could expand Cooper's pictures to the size of Vandyck's, they would appear to have been painted for that proportion. Walpole. Anecdotes of Painting, vol. iii. p. 110.

DIMINUTION, in Law, is where the Plaintiff or Defendant in a Writ of Error alleges to the Court

D

TION.

As the smooth surface of the dimply flood
The silver-slipper'd virgin lightly trod;
From her loose hair the dropping dew she press'd,
And thus mine ear in accents mild address'd.

Warton. The Triumph of Isis. DIN, v. A. S. dyn-an, "strepere, sonare, tonare, DIN, n. resonare, to make a noise." Somner. Dutch and Ger. donen; Sw. dona.

To make a noise; a stunning, deafening, continued noise.

Ayper axed of oper, of his grete wonder
Of pe deone and doerknesse.

Piers Plouhman. Vision, p. 346.

This blisse is a maner of sowne delicious, in a quaint voice touched, and ne dinne of notes.

Chaucer. The Testament of Loue, fol. 303. Jesus droue al these folkes out a doores, which fylled the house ful of noyse and dinne with their vayne weping & wayling. Udall. Mark, ch. v.

FAB. Be softer prethee, 'Tis private musick.

JAC. What a din it makes?

I had rather hear a Jew's trump than these lutes,
They cry like school-boys.

Beaumont and Fletcher. The Captain, act ii. sc. 2.

Stann'd at the din, the swain with list'ning ears
From some steep rock the sounding ruin hears.

Pitt. Virgil. Eneid, book ii.

Since which time she had continually interrupted my repose, with dinning in my ears the folly of refusing honours, and of adhering to a party, and to principles, by which I am certain of procuring no advantage to myself and my family. Fielding. Works, vol. xiii. p. 126. A Journey from this World to the next, &c. ch. xxiii.

On his breast loud rang the shield
Of the impetuous chief. The sudden din
Had struck a terrour to the boldest heart.

DINE, v.

DINE, n. DI'NING, DI'NING-CHAMBER, DINING-HALL, DINING-PLACE, DINING-ROOM, DI'NING-TABLE, DINING-TIME,

DINNER,

DINNER-BELLS,

DINNER-DOCTRINE, DI'NNER-TIME.

Cowper. Homer. Iliad, book iv. Fr. disner; It. desinare. Perhaps, as suggested in Menage, and adopted by Minshew, from the Lat. desin-ere, i. cessare, a cessatione ab opera; to cease, the time of ceasing from labour. Minshew, inconsistently enough, derives dinner from δεῖπνον.

To dine with Duke Humphrey is variously explained. See the two Quotations from Fuller, the one from Hall, and the Miscellaneous Article.

Ac pe king nolde a vot, bote he dined oper ete. R. Gloucester, p. 558. He migte po at his diner abbe bileued al so wel, As me seith, whan ich am ded, make me a caudel.

Id. p. 561. On Saynt Margarete day Sir Ingram & Sir Eymere Com on pam þer þei lay alle dight to pe dinere. R. Brunne, p. 334. þei wossben and wÿpeden. and wenten to þe dýner. Piers Plouhman, Vision, p. 243.

And entring the dining-place, being a greater roome, the prince was set bare headed, his crowne and rich cappe standing vpon a pinnacle by.

Hakluyt. Voyages, &c. Mr. Henry Lane, vol. i. fol. 465., Also before dinner hee changed his crowne, and in dinner-time two crownes; so that I saw three seuerall crownes vpon his head in one day. Id. Ib. Richard Chancelour, vol. i. fol. 239,

For let the beginne at sixe, and it will be twelue or they can ende. In which time they be so wearied that by the tyme they have dined, they have lust to nothing saue to sleepe. Tyndall. Workes, fol. 221. Exposition upon the sixth Chapter of Matthew.

This proverb [to dine with Duke Humphrey] hath altered the original meaning thereof, for first it signified alienâ vivere quadrâ, to eat by the bounty, or feed by the favour of another man; for Humphrey Duke of Gloucester (commonly called the goood Duke) was so hospital, that every man of fashion, otherwise unprovided, was welcome to dine with him.

Fuller. Worthies. London.
'Tis Ruffio: trow'st thou where he din'd to-day?
In sooth I saw him sit with Duke Humfray.
Many good welcomes, and much gratis cheere,
Keeps he for everie straggling cavaliere.
An open house, haunted with greate resort:
Long service mixt with musicall disport.
Many faire yonker with a feather'd crest,
Chooses much rather be his shot-free guest,
To fare so freely with so little cost,
Than stake his twelve-pence to a meaner host.

Hall. Satire 7. book iii.

And he [Seneca] says that to that end they did usually keep them living in glass-bottles in their dining-rooms; and they did glory much, in their entertaining of friends, to have that fish taken from under their table alive that was instantly to be fed upon. Walton. Angler, part i. ch. iii.

In this triumph hee shewed a golden moone weighing thirtie pounds, three dining-tables also of gold, other vessell likewise of massie gold and precious stones as much as would garnish nine cupboards. Holland. Plinie, vol. ii. fol. 602. ANN. Brother, dear brother, know what I have been, And know that now there's but a dining-time "Twixt us and our confusion; let's not waste These precious hours in vain and useless speech. Ford. 'Tis Pity she's a Whore, act v. sc. 5. But after the death of good Duke Humphrey (when many of his former alms-men were at a losse for a meal's meat,) this proverb did alter its copy; to dine with Duke Humphrey importing to be dinnerless. Fuller. Worthies. London.

Cease all you petty larums; for to-day
Is young Tom's resurrection from the clay :
And know, when Tom rings out his knells,
The best of you will be but dinner-bells.
Corbet.

On Great Tom of Christ Church.