Part 265

Di"dal (?), n. A kind of triangular spade. [Obs.]

Di"dap`per (?), n. [For divedapper. See Dive, Dap, Dip, and cf. Dabchick.] (Zoöl.) See Dabchick.

Di*das"ca*lar (?), a. Didascalic. [R.]

Di`das*cal"ic (?), a. [L. didascalius, Gr. &?;, fr. &?; to teach: cf. F. didascalique.] Didactic; preceptive. [R.] Prior.

Did"dle (?), v. i. [Cf. Daddle.] To totter, as a child in walking. [Obs.] Quarles.

Did"dle, v. t. [Perh. from AS. dyderian to deceive, the letter r being changed to l.] To cheat or overreach. [Colloq.] Beaconsfield.

Did"dler (?), n. A cheat. [Colloq.]

Jeremy Diddler, a character in a play by James Kenney, entitled "Raising the wind." The name is applied to any needy, tricky, constant borrower; a confidence man.

||Di*del"phi*a (?), n. pl. [NL., fr. Gr. &?; = &?; matrix, uterus.] (Zoöl.) The subclass of Mammalia which includes the marsupials. See Marsupialia.

Di*del"phi*an (?), a. (Zoöl.) Of or relating to the Didelphia. -- n. One of the Didelphia.

Di*del"phic (?), a. (Zoöl.) Having the uterus double; of or pertaining to the Didelphia.

Di*del"phid (?), a. (Zoöl.) Same as Didelphic.

Di*del"phid, n. (Zoöl.) A marsupial animal.

Di*del"phous (?), a. (Zoöl.) Didelphic.

Di*del"phyc (?), a. (Zoöl.) Same as Didelphic.

||Di*del"phys (?), n. [NL. See Didelphia.] (Zoöl.) Formerly, any marsupial; but the term is now restricted to an American genus which includes the opossums, of which there are many species. See Opossum. [Written also Didelphis.] See Illustration in Appendix. Cuvier.

Di"dine (?), a. (Zoöl.) Like or pertaining to the genus Didus, or the dodo.

Di"do (?), n.; pl. Didos (&?;). A shrewd trick; an antic; a caper.

To cut a dido, to play a trick; to cut a caper; -- perhaps so called from the trick of Dido, who having bought so much land as a hide would cover, is said to have cut it into thin strips long enough to inclose a spot for a citadel.

||Di*do"ni*a (?), n. [NL. So called in allusion to the classical story of Dido and the bull's hide.] (Geom.) The curve which on a given surface and with a given perimeter contains the greatest area. Tait.

{ Di"drachm (?), Di*drach"ma (?), } n. [Gr. &?;; di- = di`s- twice + &?; a drachm.] A two-drachma piece; an ancient Greek silver coin, worth nearly forty cents.

Didst (?), the 2d pers. sing. imp. of Do.

Di*duce"ment (?), n. Diduction; separation into distinct parts. Bacon.

Di*duc"tion (?), n. [L. diductio, fr. diducere, diductum, to draw apart; di- = dis- + ducere to lead, draw.] The act of drawing apart; separation.

Di"dym (?), n. (Chem.) See Didymium.

Di*dym"i*um (?), n. [NL., fr. Gr. &?; twin.] (Chem.) A rare metallic substance usually associated with the metal cerium; -- hence its name. It was formerly supposed to be an element, but has since been found to consist of two simpler elementary substances, neodymium and praseodymium. See Neodymium, and Praseodymium.

Did"y*mous (dd"*ms), a. [Gr. di`dymos twofold, twin.] (Bot.) Growing in pairs or twins.

||Did`y*na"mi*a (?), n. pl. [NL., fr. Gr. di- = di`s- twice + &?; power.] (Bot.) A Linnæan class of plants having four stamens disposed in pairs of unequal length.