<B>deanery, </B>noun, pl. <B>-eries.</B><DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>the position or authority of a dean. <DD><B> 2. </B>the residence or district of a dean. <BR> <I>Ex. ... those joint church magazines which are published by the rural deaneries (J. W. Robertson Scott).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="deanship">
<B>deanship, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> the position, office, or rank of a dean. <BR> <I>Ex. He succeeds to the deanship vacated by the resignation (Science).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="deanslist">
<B>dean's list,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a list published by the dean of a college, containing the names of students who have achieved the highest grades during the school term or year; honor roll. </DL>
<A NAME="deanthropomorphize">
<B>deanthropomorphize, </B>transitive verb, <B>-phized,</B> <B>-phizing.</B><DL COMPACT><DD> to deprive of anthropomorphic attributes or character. </DL>
<A NAME="dear">
<B>dear</B> (1), adjective, noun, adverb, interjection.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>adj. </I> <B>1. </B>much loved; precious. <BR> <I>Ex. His sister was very dear to him. This is an old story but somehow each time more dear (Atlantic).</I> (SYN) beloved. <DD><B> 2. </B>much valued; highly esteemed. <I>Dear</I> is used as a form of polite address at the beginning of letters. <BR> <I>Ex. Dear Sir.</I> <DD><B> 3. </B>(Figurative.) costing much; high in price. <BR> <I>Ex. Fresh strawberries are dear in winter.</I> (SYN) costly, high-priced. <DD><B> 4. </B>charging high prices; high. <BR> <I>Ex. That grocer is very dear.</I> <DD><B> 5. </B>(Obsolete.) heartfelt; earnest. <DD><B> 6. </B>(Obsolete.) worthy; honorable. <DD><I>noun </I> <B>1. </B>a dear one; a darling. <BR> <I>Ex. "Come, my dear," said her mother.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>a very attractive or engaging person. <BR> <I>Ex. The distinguished actress ... is a dear and a doll in the leading role (Bosley Crowther).</I> <DD><I>adv. </I> <B>1. </B>with affection; fondly. <BR> <I>Ex. The old lady held dear the memories of her childhood.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>(Figurative.) at a high price; much; very much. <BR> <I>Ex. That mistake will cost you dear. "Buy cheap, sell dear" was his motto.</I> <DD><I>interj. </I> an exclamation of surprise, trouble, regret, etc.. <BR> <I>Ex. Oh dear! I lost my pencil. Dear me, I'm late again!</I> noun <B>dearness.</B> </DL>
<B>dearborn, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> (U.S.) a kind of four-wheeled country carriage. </DL>
<A NAME="dearjohnletter">
<B>Dear John letter,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> (U.S. Slang.) <DD><B> 1. </B>a letter to a man from his wife or fiancee, informing him that she has found another man. <BR> <I>Ex. A Dear John letter ended their marriage (Wall Street Journal).</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>any letter declaring the end of a relationship. <BR> <I>Ex. Dear John letters from Birch Society sympathizers told of their cooled ardor (Harper's).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="dearly">
<B>dearly, </B>adverb.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>fondly. <BR> <I>Ex. Mother loves her baby dearly.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>(Figurative.) at a high price. <BR> <I>Ex. He bought his new car quite dearly.</I> <DD><B> 3. </B>(Figurative.) very much. <BR> <I>Ex. You will regret your foolish behavior dearly in years to come.</I> </DL>
<A NAME="dearnessallowance">
<B>dearness allowance,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> in India: <DD><B> 1. </B>an agreement to grant an increase in wages in case of a rise in the cost of living. <DD><B> 2. </B>such a wage increase. </DL>
<A NAME="dearth">
<B>dearth, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>a scarcity; lack; too small a supply. <BR> <I>Ex. A dearth of food caused the prices to go up. The orphan suffered from a dearth of affection.</I> (SYN) want. <DD><B> 2. </B>a scarcity of food; famine. <BR> <I>Ex. Drought in China is often followed by dearth and disease.</I> (SYN) poverty. </DL>
<A NAME="deary">
<B>deary</B> or <B>dearie, </B>noun, pl. <B>dearies.</B><DL COMPACT><DD> (Informal.) a dear one; darling. </DL>
<A NAME="death">
<B>death, </B>noun, adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>noun </I> <B>1. </B>the act or fact of dying; the ending of any form of life in people, animals, or plants. <BR> <I>Ex. The old man's death was calm and peaceful.</I> (SYN) decease, demise, passing. <DD><B> 2. </B>any ending that is like dying. <BR> <I>Ex. the death of a newspaper, the death of an empire, (Figurative.) the death of one's hopes. In every parting there is an image of death (George Eliot).</I> <DD><B> 3. </B>a being dead. <BR> <I>Ex. eyes closed in death. In death his heart was still.</I> <DD><B> 4. </B>any condition like being dead. <BR> <I>Ex. No longer being well-liked was death to the salesman.</I> <DD><B> 5. </B>a cause of dying. <BR> <I>Ex. His high blood pressure was his death.</I> <DD><B> 6. </B>bloodshed; murder. <DD><B> 7. </B>extinction; destruction. <BR> <I>Ex. The wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23).</I> <DD><B> 8. </B>(Figurative.) loss or absence of spiritual life. <BR> <I>Ex. His death occurred when he retired, though he still lived on for years.</I> <DD><B> 9. </B>way of dying. <BR> <I>Ex. Let me die the death of the righteous (Numbers 23:10).</I> <DD><B> 10. </B>(Obsolete.) a pestilence. <DD><I>adj. </I> of or having to do with death. <BR> <I>Ex. the death agonies of the damned.</I> (SYN) mortal. <BR><I>expr. <B>at death's door,</B> </I>almost dead; dying. <BR> <I>Ex. Poor Mrs. Crawley had been at death's door (Anthony Trollope).</I> <BR><I>expr. <B>be death on,</B> </I>(Informal.) to be well-equipped at handling; be able to deal with firmly. <BR> <I>Ex. Fanny ... was always death on you English chaps (E. Fawcett).</I> <BR><I>expr. <B>catch one's death,</B> </I>(Informal.) to catch a bad cold. <BR> <I>Ex. What if it is snowing or raining and I catch my death? (Earl Hines).</I> <BR><I>expr. <B>do to death,</B> <DD><B> a. </B>to kill; murder. </I> <I>Ex. Done to death by slanderous tongues was the hero that here lies (Shakespeare).</I> <DD><B> b. </B>to do, act, or say the same thing so often that it becomes boring. <BR> <I>Ex. The play was done to death over the years, so that it no longer attracts audiences.</I> <BR><I>expr. <B>in at the death,</B> <DD><B> a. </B>present when the game is killed by the hounds. </I> <I>Ex. The hunter was close enough to the fox to be in at the death.</I> <DD><B> b. </B>(Figurative.) present at the end of something. <BR> <I>Ex. Reporters reached the scene late, and only one managed to be in at the death of the fire.</I> <BR><I>expr. <B>put to death,</B> <DD><B> a. </B>to kill or execute. </I> <I>Ex. The farmer must put his herd of diseased beef cattle to death.</I> <DD><B> b. </B>killed. <BR> <I>Ex. By the ancient law of the forest, poachers were put to death.</I> <BR><I>expr. <B>to death,</B> </I>beyond endurance; excessively. <BR> <I>Ex. She was bored to death.</I> <BR><I>expr. <B>to the death,</B> </I>to the last resource or extremity. <BR> <I>Ex. to fight tyranny to the death.</I> </DL>
<A NAME="death">
<B>Death, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> the power that destroys life, often represented as a skeleton dressed in black and carrying a scythe or spade and mattock. </DL>
<A NAME="deathadder">
<B>death adder,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a common venomous snake of Australia, related to the cobra. </DL>
<A NAME="deathangel">
<B>death angel,</B><DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>(in Jewish and Moslem tradition) Azrael, the angel who takes the soul from the body at the moment of death. <DD><B> 2. </B><B>=death cup.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="deathash">
<B>death ash,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> radioactive fallout. <BR> <I>Ex. ... thermonuclear explosion in the Pacific that sifted death ash on Japanese fishermen 71 miles away (Time).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="deathbed">
<B>deathbed, </B>noun, adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>noun </I> <B>1. </B>the bed on which a person dies. <BR> <I>Ex. The sick old man lay on his deathbed.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>the last hours of life. <BR> <I>Ex. He spent his deathbed in futile recriminations.</I> <DD><I>adj. </I> during the last hours of life. <BR> <I>Ex. The murderer made a deathbed confession.</I> </DL>
<A NAME="deathbell">
<B>death bell,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a bell tolled at the death of a person; passing bell. </DL>
<A NAME="deathbenefit">
<B>death benefit,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> insurance money paid to beneficiaries. </DL>
<A NAME="deathblock">
<B>death block,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a block of death cells. <BR> <I>Ex. a story about a warden's wife who was in love with a condemned man in the death block (Atlantic).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="deathblow">
<B>deathblow, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>a blow that kills. <BR> <I>Ex. The knight received a deathblow early in the battle.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>(Figurative.) a thing that puts an end (to something). <BR> <I>Ex. His illness was the deathblow to hopes for a trip to Europe.</I> </DL>
<A NAME="deathcamas">
<B>death camas</B> or <B>camass,</B><DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>a perennial plant of the lily family common in the western United States, with grasslike leaves, cream-colored flowers, and a bulb poisonous to cattle, sheep, and other grazing animals. <DD><B> 2. </B>its bulb. </DL>
<A NAME="deathcamp">
<B>death camp,</B> <B>=extermination camp.</B> <I>Ex. ... Auschwitz, the largest and most famous of the death camps (Hannah Arendt).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="deathcell">
<B>death cell,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> one of a row of cells in a death house. <BR> <I>Ex. The first play is set in a death cell an hour or so before its occupant, a lawyer, is to be hanged (New Yorker).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="deathcertificate">
<B>death certificate,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a certificate by a doctor on which the facts relating to a person's death, such as the date, time, and cause, are recorded. <BR> <I>Ex. Investigators double-checked both the primary cause of death and other contributory diseases with the physician who signed the death certificate (Time).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="deathchamber">
<B>death chamber,</B><DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>a room in which condemned prisoners are executed. <DD><B> 2. </B>a room where someone lies dead or dying. </DL>
<A NAME="deathcontrol">
<B>death control,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> the prolonging of human life by improved medical care. </DL>
<A NAME="deathcup">
<B>death cup,</B><DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>a very poisonous, white mushroom found in woodlands, that has a cuplike enlargement at the base of the stem. <BR> <I>Ex. Rabbits can digest the death cup (New Scientist).</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>the cuplike enlargement. </DL>
<A NAME="deathdamp">
<B>death damp,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> the cold sweat that sometimes precedes death. </DL>
