Part 194

||Der*mop"te*ra (?), n. pl. [NL., fr. Gr. &?; skin + &?; wing.] 1. (Zoöl.) The division of insects which includes the earwigs (Forticulidæ).

2. (Zoöl.) A group of lemuroid mammals having a parachutelike web of skin between the fore and hind legs, of which the colugo (Galeopithecus) is the type. See Colugo.

3. (Zoöl.) An order of Mammalia; the Cheiroptera.

Der*mop"ter*an (?), n. (Zoöl.) An insect which has the anterior pair of wings coriaceous, and does not use them in flight, as the earwig.

||Der*mop"te*ri (?), n. pl. [NL.] (Zoöl.) Same as Dermopterygii.

||Der*mop`te*ryg"i*i (?), n. pl. [NL., fr. Gr. &?; skin + &?; wing, fin, dim. of &?; wing.] (Zoöl.) A group of fishlike animals including the Marsipobranchiata and Leptocardia.

Der`mo*skel"e*ton (?), n. [Derm + skeleton.] (Anat.) See Exoskeleton.

||Der`mos*to"sis (?), n. [NL., from Gr. &?; skin + &?; bone.] (Physiol.) Ossification of the dermis.

Dern (?), n. [Etymol. uncertain.] A gatepost or doorpost. [Local Eng.] C. Kingsley.

Dern, a. [See Dearn, a.] 1. Hidden; concealed; secret. [Obs.] "Ye must be full dern." Chaucer.

2. Solitary; sad. [Obs.] Dr. H. More.

Derne (?), v. t. & i. [AS. dyrnan to hide. See Dern, a., Dearn, a.] To hide; to skulk. [Scot.]

He at length escaped them by derning himself in a foxearth.

H. Miller.

Dern"ful (?), a. Secret; hence, lonely; sad; mournful. [Obs.] "Dernful noise." Spenser.

||Der`nier" (?), a. [F., from OF. darrein, derrain. See Darrein.] Last; final.

Dernier ressort (&?;) [F.], last resort or expedient.

Dern"ly (?), adv. Secretly; grievously; mournfully. [Obs.] Spenser.

Der"o*gant (?), a. [L. derogans, p. pr.] Derogatory. [R.] T. Adams.

Der"o*gate (?), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Derogated (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Derogating (?).] [L. derogatus, p. p. of derogare to derogate; de- + rogare to ask, to ask the people about a law. See Rogation.] 1. To annul in part; to repeal partly; to restrict; to limit the action of; -- said of a law.

By several contrary customs, . . . many of the civil and canon laws are controlled and derogated.

Sir M. Hale.

2. To lessen; to detract from; to disparage; to depreciate; -- said of a person or thing. [R.]

Anything . . . that should derogate, minish, or hurt his glory and his name.

Sir T. More.

Der"o*gate (?), v. i. 1. To take away; to detract; to withdraw; -- usually with from.

If we did derogate from them whom their industry hath made great.

Hooker.