| demotic | adj. | of or related to common people; of or related to common language, vernacular; of or related to the simplified form of Egyptian cursive writing originating about the 7th Century BCE | ||
| demurrage | n. | remaining in port beyond the agreed upon time; payment for such delay | ||
| dene hole | n. | shaft dug into chalk hills, typically leading to chamber or caves, of unknown but ancient origin in parts of England, notably Kent and Essex | ||
| Deo volente | adv. | god willing (abbr. D.V.) | Latin | |
| deodand | n. | item or animal that caused a human death and that was then forfeited to the Crown for pious use; sum of money in lieu of such item or animal | ||
| deontology | n. | study of duty or moral obligation | ||
| depilate | v. | to remove hair from, “to make bare of hair” [OED] | ||
| deponent | n. | verb appearing only in passive form, but with active meaning; one who deposes, person making a deposition | ||
| deprecate | v. | to express disapproval of; to belittle; to cease support for | ||
| depreciate | v. | to lose value; to belittle | ||
| deracinate | v. | uproot | ||
| derogate | v. | to lessen in authority or esteem; to partially repeal or abrogate | ||
| derp | int. | expressing notice of foolish act | slang | |
| descant | v. | to comment or enlarge upon | ||
| descry | v. | to discern, to see, usu. from a distance; to discover | ||
| deshabille | n. | state of being only partially or carelessly clothed | ||
| desideratum | n. | need or want, needed or desired thing | ||
| despise | v. | to view with contempt or disgust, to scorn, to disdain | ||
| despond | v. | to lose hope, to become depressed by loss of confidence or courage | ||
| desquamate | v. | to come off in scales; to shed, to peel | ||
| Desterham | n. | Turkish minister of finance | ||
| destine | v. | set apart for particular purpose [usually in passive] | ||
| destrier | n. | war-horse, charger | ||
| desuetude | n. | disuse, discontinuance of practice | ||
| desultory | adj. | halfheartedly jumping from one subject to another, fitful, disconnected; lacking consistency, unmethodical, random | ||
| detrition | n. | abrading, wearing away by rubbing | ||
| deturgescence | n. | relative dehydration by which the cornea is maintained in a transparent condition | ||
| deus otiosus | n. | deity which no longer interacts at all with humans after once creating the world and starting it in motion | Latin | |
| devil’s hour | n. | witching hour, late hour of night at which supernatural happenings occur | idiom | |
| devilfish | n. | octopus; piranha; devil ray; giant squid; other marine animals with (supposedly) malevolent mien | ||
| devocate | v. | to call down | ||
| devoir | n. | duty of civility or respect (usu. pl.) | ||
| devolve | v. | to be passed from one to another | ||
| diapason | n. | full harmonious sound; one of several organ stops | ||
| diaphoretic | adj. | inducing perspiration | ||
| diathesis | n. | habitual tendency or predisposition, esp. towards morbidity | ||
| dibble | n. | tool for making holes in ground for seeds, bulbs, seedlings, etc. | ||
| dibble | v. | to make a hole with a dibble | ||
| dibs | n. | small amounts of money | ||
| dicrotic | adj. | of a pulse having two beats for every heartbeat | ||
| didact | n. | pedant, person inclined to teach others | ||
| didicoy | n. | gypsy, esp. non-Romani traveler | ||
| dido | n. | bauble, trifle | ||
| diegetic | adj. | of a narration or narrative, told by a narrator; of events or objects within the world of a story | ||
| diehard | n. | a person obstinately resistant to change; someone holding to a tenet with no single inclination to question that belief; person devoted entirely to a lost cause | ||
| diekplous | n. | ancient naval battle maneuver in which a line of galleys rows between ships in an opposing line so as to attack the enemy’s weaker stern and sides; sometimes thought to be a maneuver wherein a single war galley shipps oars on one side and turns at the l | ||
| dielectric | adj. | non-conductor, insulator; electrically non-conducting | ||
| diencephalon | n. | back of the forebrain | ||
| diener | n. | orderly in morgue charged with cleaning and moving corpses | ||
| dietrologia | n. | conspiracy theory, science of discerning hidden motives behind events |
