Part 196

Derrick crane, a combination of the derrick and the crane, having facility for hoisting and also for swinging the load horizontally.

Der"ring, a. Daring or warlike. [Obs.]

Drad for his derring doe and bloody deed.

Spenser.

Der"rin*ger (?), n. [From the American inventor.] A kind of short-barreled pocket pistol, of very large caliber, often carrying a half-ounce ball.

Derth (?), n. Dearth; scarcity. [Obs.] Spenser.

||Der`tro*the"ca (?), n. [NL., fr. Gr. &?; beak + &?; box, case.] (Zoöl.) The horny covering of the end of the bill of birds.

{ Der"vish (?), Der"vise (?), Der"vis (?), } n. [Per. derwsch, fr. OPer. derew to beg, ask alms: cf. F. derviche.] A Turkish or Persian monk, especially one who professes extreme poverty and leads an austere life.

Der"worth (dr"wrth), a. [AS. deórwurþe, lit., dearworth.] Precious. [Obs.] Piers Plowman.

Des"cant (ds"knt), n. [OF. descant, deschant, F. déchant, discant, LL. discantus, fr. L. dis + cantus singing, melody, fr. canere to sing. See Chant, and cf. Descant, v. i., Discant.] 1. (Mus.) (a) Originally, a double song; a melody or counterpoint sung above the plain song of the tenor; a variation of an air; a variation by ornament of the main subject or plain song. (b) The upper voice in part music. (c) The canto, cantus, or soprano voice; the treble. Grove.

Twenty doctors expound one text twenty ways, as children make descant upon plain song.

Tyndale.

She [the nightingale] all night long her amorous descant sung.

Milton.

The term has also been used synonymously with counterpoint, or polyphony, which developed out of the French déchant, of the 12th century.

2. A discourse formed on its theme, like variations on a musical air; a comment or comments.

Upon that simplest of themes how magnificent a descant!

De Quincey.

Des*cant" (ds*knt"), v. i. [imp. & p. p. Descanted; p. pr. & vb. n. Descanting.] [From descant; n.; or directly fr. OF. descanter, deschanter; L. dis- + cantare to sing.] 1. To sing a variation or accomplishment.

2. To comment freely; to discourse with fullness and particularity; to discourse at large.

A virtuous man should be pleased to find people descanting on his actions.

Addison.

Des*cant"er (?), n. One who descants.

De*scend" (?), v. i. [imp. & p. p. Descended; p. pr. & vb. n. Descending.] [F. descendre, L. descendere, descensum; de- + scandere to climb. See Scan.] 1. To pass from a higher to a lower place; to move downwards; to come or go down in any way, as by falling, flowing, walking, etc.; to plunge; to fall; to incline downward; -- the opposite of ascend.

The rain descended, and the floods came.

Matt. vii. 25.

We will here descend to matters of later date.

Fuller.