<B>Dickensian, </B>adjective, noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>adj. </I> having to do with or like the style of Charles Dickens or his writings. <BR> <I>Ex. Another officer awaited, writing at a high Dickensian dais (Punch).</I> <DD><I>noun </I> an admirer or student of the works of Dickens. <BR> <I>Ex. He may regard himself as an inveterate Dickensian (New York Times).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="dicker">
<B>dicker</B> (1), verb, noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>v.i., v.t. </I> to trade by barter or by petty bargaining; haggle. <BR> <I>Ex. She dickered with the butcher over the price of steaks.</I> <DD><I>noun </I> <B>1. </B>a petty bargain. <BR> <I>Ex. I made a dicker with him to take care of my hens during my absence in return for the eggs the hens laid.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>the act or practice of dickering; barter; petty bargaining. </DL>
<A NAME="dicker">
<B>dicker</B> (2), noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>the number or quantity ten. <DD><B> 2. </B>a lot of ten hides or skins. </DL>
<A NAME="dickey">
<B>dickey</B> (1), noun, pl. <B>-eys.</B><DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>a shirt front that can be detached. <DD><B> 2. </B>an insert worn at the neck opening of a blouse, jacket, etc.. <BR> <I>Ex. Buttoned-in dickeys can also make cocktail necklines prim (New Yorker).</I> <DD><B> 3. </B><B>=vestee.</B> <DD><B> 4. </B>a high collar on a shirt. <DD><B> 5. </B>a child's bib or pinafore. <DD><B> 6. </B>Also, <B>dickey box.</B> the driver's seat on the outside of a carriage. <DD><B> 7. </B>a seat at the back of a carriage, for servants. <DD><B> 8. </B>(British.) an automobile rumble seat. <DD><B> 9. </B>a small bird. <DD><B> 10. </B>a donkey. Also, <B>dickie,</B> <B>dicky.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="dickey">
<B>dickey</B> (2), adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> (Informal.) poor in quality or condition: unsound; shaky. Also, <B>dicky.</B> </DL>
<B>dickie, </B>noun, pl. <B>dickies.</B> <B>=dickey</B> (1).</DL>
<A NAME="dickite">
<B>dickite, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a crystalline silicate of aluminum identical in chemical composition to kaolinite, found in hydrothermal veins. </DL>
<A NAME="dicktest">
<B>Dick test,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> (Medicine.) a test for susceptibility to scarlet fever, in which a reaction to the injection into the skin of the scarlet fever toxin indicates a lack of immunity. </DL>
<B>dicky</B> (1), noun, pl. <B>dickies.</B> <B>=dickey</B> (1).</DL>
<A NAME="dicky">
<B>dicky</B> (2), adjective, <B>dickier,</B> <B>dickiest.</B><DL COMPACT><DD> (Informal.) dickey; shaky. <BR> <I>Ex. Things were rather dicky in the markets just then (New Yorker).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="dickybird">
<B>dickybird, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a small bird. <BR> <I>Ex. Dickybird, dickybird fly away home ... (nursery rhyme).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="diclinism">
<B>diclinism, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> (Botany.) the condition of being diclinous. </DL>
<A NAME="diclinous">
<B>diclinous, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> (Botany.) <DD><B> 1. </B>having the stamens and pistils in separate flowers either on the same plant (monoecious), or on separate plants of the same species (dioecious). <DD><B> 2. </B>(of a flower) having only stamens or only pistils; unisexual. </DL>
<A NAME="dicot">
<B>dicot, </B>noun. =dicotyledon.</DL>
<A NAME="dicotyl">
<B>dicotyl, </B>noun. =dicotyledon.</DL>
<A NAME="dicotyledon">
<B>dicotyledon, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> (Botany.) a flowering plant that has two cotyledons or seed leaves in the embryo. The dicotyledons, which include many trees and most cultivated plants, are angiosperms, one of the two large subclasses of plants that have the seeds enclosed in an ovary. Dicotyledons have leaves with a network of veins and flower parts in fours or fives. </DL>
<A NAME="dicotyledonous">
<B>dicotyledonous, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> having two cotyledons or seed leaves; belonging to the dicotyledons. </DL>
<A NAME="dicoumarin">
<B>dicoumarin, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a white, crystalline compound obtained from spoiled clover or made synthetically, used to prevent blood coagulation. </DL>
<A NAME="dicoumarol">
<B>dicoumarol, </B>noun. =dicoumarin.</DL>
<A NAME="dicrotic">
<B>dicrotic, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> (Medicine.) <DD><B> 1. </B>(of the pulse) having two arterial beats for each beat of the heart. <DD><B> 2. </B>of or having to do with such a pulse. </DL>
<B>dicta, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> dictums; a plural of <B>dictum.</B> <BR> <I>Ex. He did not expect his dicta to be taken with such seriousness by so many (Atlantic).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="dictabelt">
<B>dictabelt, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a plastic belt on which dictation is recorded in a dictating machine. <BR> <I>Ex. My secretaries in New York, Los Angeles, Washington, and San Francisco ... get dictabelts from me every day (New Statesman).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="dictagraph">
<B>dictagraph, </B>noun. =Dictograph.</DL>
<A NAME="dictaphone">
<B>Dictaphone, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> (Trademark.) an instrument that records and subsequently reproduces for transcription words that are spoken into it. </DL>
<A NAME="dictate">
<B>dictate, </B>verb, <B>-tated,</B> <B>-tating,</B> noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>v.t. </I> <B>1. </B>to say or read (something) aloud for another person or persons to write down. <BR> <I>Ex. The teacher dictated a spelling list. A businessman often dictates letters to his secretary.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>to command with authority; order in clear and definite terms. <BR> <I>Ex. The country that won the war dictated the terms of peace to the country that lost.</I> (SYN) decree. <DD><I>v.i. </I> <B>1. </B>to say or read something to be written down. <BR> <I>Ex. The businessman dictated to his secretary.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>to speak with authority; make others do what one says; lay down the law; give orders. <BR> <I>Ex. Big nations sometimes dictate to little ones.</I> <DD><I>noun </I> a direction or order that is to be carried out or obeyed. <BR> <I>Ex. the dictates of a ruler, the dictates of common sense. An honest man follows the dictates of his conscience.</I> (SYN) command. </DL>
<A NAME="dictatingmachine">
<B>dictating machine,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a machine for taking dictation. </DL>
<A NAME="dictation">
<B>dictation, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>the act of saying or reading (something) aloud for another person or persons who writes them down. <BR> <I>Ex. The pupils wrote down the spelling words at the teacher's dictation. The ransom note was scribbled at the kidnaper's dictation.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>words said or read aloud to be written down. <BR> <I>Ex. The secretary took the dictation in shorthand and typed it out later. We have dictation during the first five minutes of our French class.</I> <DD><B> 3. </B>the act of giving orders that must be obeyed; making rules. <BR> <I>Ex. The boy was tired of his sister's constant dictation and refused to obey her.</I> </DL>
<A NAME="dictational">
<B>dictational, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> of or belonging to dictation. </DL>
<A NAME="dictator">
<B>dictator, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>a person who uses absolute authority, especially a person who, without having any claim through inheritance or free popular election, seizes control of a government. <BR> <I>Ex. Dictators, almost by definition, distrust their people and are afraid to allow a free play of public opinion (New York Times). (Figurative.) French dress designers have long been the dictators in the world of fashion.</I> (SYN) autocrat, despot. <DD><B> 2. </B>(in Roman history) an official given absolute authority over the state in times of emergency. (Abbr:) dict. <DD><B> 3. </B>a person who says or reads words aloud to another who writes them down. <BR> <I>Ex. Who was the dictator of this letter?</I> </DL>
<A NAME="dictatorial">
<B>dictatorial, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>of or like that of a dictator; absolute. <BR> <I>Ex. That country has a dictatorial government.</I> (SYN) autocratic. <DD><B> 2. </B>fond of commanding and giving orders; domineering; overbearing. <BR> <I>Ex. The younger children disliked the dictatorial manner of their older brother.</I> (SYN) arbitrary, imperious. adv. <B>dictatorially.</B> noun <B>dictatorialness.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="dictatorship">
<B>dictatorship, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>the position or rank of a dictator. <BR> <I>Ex. The dictatorship of almost every country that has one is filled by a military tyrant.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>the period of time a dictator rules. <BR> <I>Ex. The dictatorship of the tyrant was an unhappy time for teachers, students, and writers.</I> <DD><B> 3. </B>power to give orders that must be obeyed. <BR> <I>Ex. The majority were the more radical, and took charge, establishing a dictatorship of the proletariat (Emory S. Bogardus).</I> <DD><B> 4. </B>a country under the rule of a dictator. <BR> <I>Ex. The little dictatorship was rocked by a revolution.</I> </DL>
<A NAME="dictatory">
<B>dictatory, </B>adjective. =dictatorial.</DL>
<A NAME="dictatress">
<B>dictatress, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a woman dictator. </DL>
<A NAME="dictature">
<B>dictature, </B>noun. =dictatorship.</DL>
<A NAME="diction">
<B>diction, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>the manner of expressing ideas in words; style of speaking or writing. Good diction implies a skillful choice of words accurately used to express clearly the speaker's or writer's ideas. <BR> <I>Ex. He has a clearly understood diction that challenges, moves, and convinces.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>the manner of pronouncing words; enunciation; articulation. <BR> <I>Ex. The radio announcer is very easy to understand because he has very clear diction.</I> </DL>
