<B>diamond-backed, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> having the back marked with diamond-shaped figures. </DL>
<A NAME="diamondbackmoth">
<B>diamondback moth,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a small, destructive European and American moth, having gray or brownish wings which exhibit white diamond-shaped markings when closed. It feeds on cabbage leaves, cauliflower, and similar plants. </DL>
<A NAME="diamondbackterrapin">
<B>diamondback terrapin,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> an edible turtle that has diamond-shaped markings on its shell. It lives in salt marshes along the North American coast of the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico. </DL>
<A NAME="diamondbeetle">
<B>diamond beetle,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a large, black, South American beetle studded with points of brilliant golden green. </DL>
<A NAME="diamonddrill">
<B>diamond drill,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a drill or borer which cuts by means of diamonds set like teeth in an annular bit. </DL>
<A NAME="diamonddust">
<B>diamond dust,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a powder of crushed or ground diamonds, used as an abrasive. </DL>
<A NAME="diamonded">
<B>diamonded, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>set with or as if with diamonds. <BR> <I>Ex. (Figurative.) ... the diamonded night (Tennyson).</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>having parts shaped like diamonds or lozenges. <BR> <I>Ex. A casement ... diamonded with panes of quaint device (Keats).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="diamondhitch">
<B>diamond hitch,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a hitch used in fastening a pack on an animal, in which a diamond-shaped arrangement of rope is formed on the top of the pack. </DL>
<A NAME="diamondhorseshoe">
<B>diamond horseshoe,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> (U.S.) the dress circle in a theater, opera house, or other auditorium or grandstand. </DL>
<B>diamond jubilee,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> the 75th anniversary, or sometimes the 60th or 70th, of the founding of an organization or the happening of some event. <BR> <I>Ex. Anatomists from all parts of the world attended the diamond jubilee ... of the American Association of Anatomists (Science News Letter).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="diamondoid">
<B>diamondoid, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> having the form of a diamond. <BR> <I>Ex. However, the large diamondoid hydrocarbon diamantane, although known, was extremely difficult to prepare and has thus remained a chemical curiosity (New Scientist and Science Journal).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="diamondpoint">
<B>diamond-point, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>having a point or tip made of diamond. <BR> <I>Ex. a diamond-point phonograph needle, a diamond-point chisel.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>made with diamond-point instruments. <BR> <I>Ex. a diamond-point engraving.</I> </DL>
<A NAME="diamondpowder">
<B>diamond powder,</B> =diamond dust.</DL>
<A NAME="diamonds">
<B>diamonds, </B>noun pl.<DL COMPACT><DD> See under <B>diamond.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="diamondsaw">
<B>diamond saw,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a circular saw, edged with diamond dust, for cutting stone. <BR> <I>Ex. Diamond saws ... are used to saw diamond crystals in half (Frederick H. Pough).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="diamondshaped">
<B>diamond-shaped, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> having the shape of a diamond or lozenge. </DL>
<A NAME="diamondskindisease">
<B>diamond-skin disease,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a form of erysipelas in swine, marked by the appearance of red, diamond-shaped patches on the skin. </DL>
<B>Dian, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> (Poetic.) Diana. <BR> <I>Ex. Dian, goddess of the golden bow (William Cowper).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="diana">
<B>Diana, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>(Roman Mythology.) the goddess of the hunt and of the moon. She was worshiped especially as the protectress and helper of women. The Greeks called her Artemis. <DD><B> 2. </B>(Poetic.) the moon. <DD><B> 3. </B>a young woman of fine physique and easy, graceful carriage. </DL>
<A NAME="dianamonkey">
<B>Diana monkey,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a monkey with a black back, white belly, and striking, long white beard, found near the coast of western Africa. </DL>
<A NAME="diandrous">
<B>diandrous, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> (Botany.) <DD><B> 1. </B>having two stamens. <BR> <I>Ex. diandrous flowers.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>having flowers with two stamens. <BR> <I>Ex. diandrous plants.</I> </DL>
<A NAME="dianoetic">
<B>dianoetic, </B>adjective, noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>adj. </I> of or having to do with thought or reasoning, especially discursive reasoning. <DD><I>noun </I> the part of logic that deals with discursive reasoning. </DL>
<A NAME="dianthus">
<B>dianthus, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> any one of various plants of the pink family, as the carnations and sweet williams; pink. </DL>
<A NAME="diapason">
<B>diapason, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>a swelling musical sound. <BR> <I>Ex. a glorious diapason of heavenly voices.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>the whole range of a voice or instrument. <DD><B> 3. </B>a fixed standard of musical pitch. <DD><B> 4. </B>a tuning fork or its pitch. <DD><B> 5. </B>either of two principal stops in an organ. Open diapason is a stop that gives full, majestic tones. Stopped diapason is a stop that gives powerful, flutelike tones. <DD><B> 6. </B>harmony of tones or parts. <BR> <I>Ex. Through all the compass of the Notes it ran, The diapason closing full in man (John Dryden).</I> <DD><B> 7. </B>a melody; strain. <DD><B> 8. </B>(Obsolete.) harmony; agreement. <DD><B> 9. </B>(Obsolete.) the interval of an octave. </DL>
<A NAME="diapasonal">
<B>diapasonal, </B>adjective. =diapasonic.</DL>
<A NAME="diapasonic">
<B>diapasonic, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> of or having to do with the diapason or melody. </DL>
<A NAME="diapause">
<B>diapause, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a period in the life cycle of insects and certain other animals during which their physiological activity is very low and they are highly resistant to unfavorable external conditions. <BR> <I>Ex. Many species survive unfavourable conditions by going into a state of diapause in which they roll themselves up into a tight ball in spherical earthen cells which are lined with mucus (Betty I. Roots).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="diapausing">
<B>diapausing, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> in diapause. <BR> <I>Ex. A diapausing silkworm pupa ... withstands 100 times as much X-ray radiation as a human being (Science News Letter).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="diapedesis">
<B>diapedesis, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> the movement or passage of blood cells, especially phagocytes, through the unruptured walls of the capillary blood vessels into the tissues. </DL>
<A NAME="diapente">
<B>diapente, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> the interval of the fifth in ancient and medieval music. </DL>
<A NAME="diaper">
<B>diaper, </B>noun, verb.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>noun </I> <B>1. </B>a piece of cloth or other soft, absorbent material folded and used as underpants for a baby. <DD><B> 2. </B>a pattern of small, constantly repeated, geometric figures. <DD><B> 3. </B>a white cotton or linen woven with such a pattern. <DD><B> 4. </B>a towel, napkin, or cloth of this material. <DD><I>v.t. </I> <B>1. </B>to put a diaper on. <BR> <I>Ex. to diaper the baby after his bath.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>to ornament with a diaper pattern. <BR> <I>Ex. ... many a floating fold ... diaper'd with inwrought flowers, or cloth of gold (Tennyson).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="diaperrash">
<B>diaper rash,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> an irritation in the form of a rash in the diaper area. <BR> <I>Ex. The booklet is part of a nationwide campaign to eliminate diaper rash, a skin ailment few infants escape (Science News Letter).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="diaphane">
<B>diaphane, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>a transparent resin solution used to cover microscopic slides. <DD><B> 2. </B>the transparent membrane that covers an organ or cell. </DL>
<A NAME="diaphaneity">
<B>diaphaneity, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> the power of transmitting light; transparency. </DL>
<A NAME="diaphanous">
<B>diaphanous, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>transparent; translucent. <BR> <I>Ex. Gauze is a diaphanous fabric. ... new leaves, delicate as butterflies' wings, and diaphanous as amber (Thomas Hardy).</I> (SYN) pellucid. <DD><B> 2. </B>(Figurative.) light; delicate; airy. <BR> <I>Ex. A diaphanous Juliet appeared on her balcony (Newsweek).</I> (SYN) ethereal. adv. <B>diaphanously.</B> noun <B>diaphanousness.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="diaphone">
<B>diaphone, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>(Phonetics.) any variation of the same allophone, as of the <I>e</I> in <I>merry.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>a fog signal with a two-tone blast used as an aid in navigation. </DL>
<A NAME="diaphorase">
<B>diaphorase, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a flavoprotein active in the transfer of electrons from the reduced form of diphosphopyridine nucleotide to molecular oxygen. </DL>
<A NAME="diaphoresis">
<B>diaphoresis, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> (Medicine.) perspiration, especially when artificially produced. </DL>
<B>diaphragm, </B>noun, verb.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>noun </I> <B>1. </B>a partition of muscles and tendons separating the cavity of the chest from the cavity of the abdomen; midriff. Contraction of the diaphragm causes the lungs to expand. <DD><B> 2. </B>a thin, dividing partition, such as that in a galvanic cell or in some shellfish. <DD><B> 3. </B>a thin disk or cone that moves rapidly to and fro when sounds are directed at it, used in telephone receivers, loudspeakers, earphones, microphones, and other instruments. <DD><B> 4. </B>a disk with a hole in the center for controlling the amount of light entering a camera, microscope, etc. <DD><B> 5. </B>a contraceptive pessary. <DD><B> 6. </B>a connecting stiffener between the webs of a girder in a bridge or other construction. <DD><I>v.t. </I> <B>1. </B>to furnish with a diaphragm. <DD><B> 2. </B>to act upon with a diaphragm. <BR><I>expr. <B>diaphragm down,</B> </I>to reduce the aperture of (a lens or objective) by means of a diaphragm. <BR> <I>Ex. ... both lenses are diaphragmed down to the same aperture (British Journal of Photography).</I> </DL>
