%deme%

n. [ L. academia. See Academy. ] An academy. [ Poetic ] Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Pref. apo- + Gr. &unr_; body. ] (Zool.) One of the processes of the shell which project inwards and unite with one another, in the thorax of many Crustacea. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Intent. [ Obs. ] Spenser. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. An omen; a prognostic. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

This foolish, dreaming, superstitious girl
Makes all these bodements. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. the surgical excision of dead, contaminated, or damaged tissue, and foreign matter, especially from a wound. [ PJC ]

n. Means of forming a decision. [ Obs. ] Beau. & Fl. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Deprivation of rank or office; degradation. [ R. ] Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Gr. dh^mos. ] 1. (Gr. Antiq.) A territorial subdivision of Attica (also of modern Greece), corresponding to a township. Jowett (Thucyd.). [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Biol.) An undifferentiated aggregate of cells or plastids. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Demeaned p. pr. & vb. n. Demeaning. ] [ OF. demener to conduct, guide, manage, F. se démener to struggle; pref. dé- (L. de) + mener to lead, drive, carry on, conduct, fr. L. minare to drive animals by threatening cries, fr. minari to threaten. See Menace. ] 1. To manage; to conduct; to treat. [ 1913 Webster ]

[ Our ] clergy have with violence demeaned the matter. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To conduct; to behave; to comport; -- followed by the reflexive pronoun. [ 1913 Webster ]

They have demeaned themselves
Like men born to renown by life or death. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

They answered . . . that they should demean themselves according to their instructions. Clarendon. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To debase; to lower; to degrade; -- followed by the reflexive pronoun. [ 1913 Webster ]

Her son would demean himself by a marriage with an artist's daughter. Thackeray. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ This sense is probably due to a false etymology which regarded the word as connected with the adjective mean. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ OF. demene. See Demean, v. t. ] 1. Management; treatment. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Vile demean and usage bad. Spenser. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Behavior; conduct; bearing; demeanor. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

With grave demean and solemn vanity. West. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ See Demesne. ] 1. Demesne. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

2. pl. Resources; means. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

You know
How narrow our demeans are. Massinger. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Demeanor. [ Obs. ] Skelton. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Written also demeanour. ] [ For demeanure, fr. demean. See Demean, v. t. ] 1. Management; treatment; conduct. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

God commits the managing so great a trust . . . wholly to the demeanor of every grown man. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Behavior; deportment; carriage; bearing; mien. [ 1913 Webster ]

His demeanor was singularly pleasing. Macaulay. [ 1913 Webster ]

The men, as usual, liked her artless kindness and simple refined demeanor. Thackeray. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Behavior. [ Obs. ] Spenser. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ L. dementia, fr. demens mad. See Dement. ] Dementia; loss of mental powers. See Insanity. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ L. dementare, fr. demens, -mentis, out of one's mind, mad; de + mens mind. See Mental, and cf. Dementate. ] To deprive of reason; to make mad. [ R. ] Bale. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. demens, - mentis. ] Demented; dementate. [ R. ] J. H. Newman. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. dementatus, p. p. See Dement, v. t. ] Deprived of reason. [ 1913 Webster ]

Arise, thou dementate sinner! Hammond. [ 1913 Webster ]

pos>v. t. To deprive of reason; to dement. [ R. ] Burton. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The act of depriving of reason; madness. Whitlock. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ From Dement. ] Insane; mad; of unsound mind. -- De*ment"ed*ness, n. [1913 Webster]

n. mental deterioration of organic or functional origin.
Syn. -- dementia. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

‖n. [ L., fr. demens. See Dement. ] Insanity; madness; esp. that form which consists in weakness or total loss of thought and reason; mental imbecility; idiocy. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Demephitized p. pr. & vb. n. Demephitizing. ] [ Cf. F. méphitiser to infect with mephitis. ] To purify from mephitic or foul air. -- De*meph`i*ti*za"tion, n. [1913 Webster]

v. t. [ L. demergere. ] To plunge down into; to sink; to immerse. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

The water in which it was demerged. Boyle. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ F. démérite demerit (in sense 2), OF. demerite demerit (in sense 1), fr. L. demerere to deserve well, LL., to deserve well or ill; de- + merere to deserve. See De-, and Merit. ] 1. That which one merits or deserves, either of good or ill; desert. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

By many benefits and demerits whereby they obliged their adherents, [ they ] acquired this reputation. Holland. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. That which deserves blame; ill desert; a fault; a vice; misconduct; -- the opposite of merit. [ 1913 Webster ]

They see no merit or demerit in any man or any action. Burke. [ 1913 Webster ]

Secure, unless forfeited by any demerit or offense. Sir W. Temple. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. The state of one who deserves ill. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ Cf. F. démériter to deserve ill. See Demerit, n. ] 1. To deserve; -- said in reference to both praise and blame. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

If I have demerited any love or thanks. Udall. [ 1913 Webster ]

Executed as a traitor . . . as he well demerited. State Trials (1645). [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To depreciate or cry down. [ R. ] Bp. Woolton. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. To deserve praise or blame. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ L. demersus, p. p. of demergere. See Merge. ] To immerse. [ Obs. ] Boyle. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. (Bot.) Situated or growing under water, as leaves; submersed. [ 1913 Webster ]

pos>n. [ L. demersio. ] 1. The act of plunging into a fluid; a drowning. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. The state of being overwhelmed in water, or as if in water. Ray. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. To relieve from mesmeric influence. See Mesmerize. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ OE. demeine, demain, rule, demesne, OF. demeine, demaine, demeigne, domaine, power, F. domaine domain, fr. L. dominium property, right of ownership, fr. dominus master, proprietor, owner. See Dame, and cf. Demain, Domain, Danger, Dungeon. ] (Law) A lord's chief manor place, with that part of the lands belonging thereto which has not been granted out in tenancy; a house, and the land adjoining, kept for the proprietor's own use. [ Written also demain. ] Wharton's Law Dict. Burrill. [ 1913 Webster ]

Ancient demesne. (Eng. Law) See under Ancient. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Of or pertaining to a demesne; of the nature of a demesne. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Diademed. [ R. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The act of foreboding; the thing foreboded. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The act of incommoded. [ Obs. ] Cheyne. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. To behave ill; -- with a reflexive pronoun; as, to misdemean one's self. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. One guilty of a misdemeanor. Sydney Smith. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. Ill behavior; evil conduct; fault. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Law) A crime less than a felony. Wharton. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ As a rule, in the old English law, offenses capitally punishable were felonies; all other indictable offenses were misdemeanors. In common usage, the word crime is employed to denote the offenses of a deeper and more atrocious dye, while small faults and omissions of less consequence are comprised under the gentler name of misdemeanors. Blackstone.

The distinction, however, between felonies and misdemeanors is purely arbitrary, and is in most jurisdictions either abrogated or so far reduced as to be without practical value. Cf. Felony. Wharton. [ 1913 Webster ]

Syn. -- Misdeed; misconduct; misbehavior; fault; trespass; transgression. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Zool.) Any of several small reddish-brown wallabies of scrubby areas of Australia and New Guinea, especially those belonging to the genus Thylogale; a paddymelon. See Wallaby [ 1913 Webster + WordNet 1.5 ]