Chapter Despairer to Destemper of D by Webster's Dictionary (1913 Edition)

Syn. — To strip; deprive; rob; bereave; rifle.

Despoil
(De*spoil"), n. Spoil. [Obs.] Wolsey.

Despoiler
(De*spoil"er) n. One who despoils.

Despoilment
(De*spoil"ment) n. Despoliation. [R.]

Despoliation
(De*spo`li*a"tion) n. [L. despoliatio. See Despoil.] A stripping or plundering; spoliation. Bailey.

Despond
(De*spond") v. i. [imp. & p. p. Desponded; p. pr. & vb. n. Desponding.] [L. despondere, desponsum, to promise away, promise in marriage, give up, to lose (courage); de- + spondere to promise solemnly. See Sponsor.] To give up the will, courage, or spirit; to be thoroughly disheartened; to lose all courage; to become dispirited or depressed; to take an unhopeful view.

I should despair, or at least despond.

Scott's Letters.

Others depress their own minds, [and] despond at the first difficulty.

Locke.

We wish that . . . desponding patriotism may turn its eyes hitherward, and be assured that the foundations of our national power still stand strong.

D. Webster.

Syn. — Despond, Dispair. Despair implies a total loss of hope, which despond does not, at least in every case; yet despondency is often more lasting than despair, or than desperation, which impels to violent action.

Despond
(De*spond") n. Despondency. [Obs.]

The slough of despond.

Bunyan.

Despondence
(De*spond"ence) n. Despondency.

The people, when once infected, lose their relish for happiness [and] saunter about with looks of despondence.

Goldsmith.

Despondency
(De*spond"en*cy) n. The state of desponding; loss of hope and cessation of effort; discouragement; depression or dejection of the mind.

The unhappy prince seemed, during some days, to be sunk in despondency.

Macaulay.

Despondent
(De*spond"ent) a. [L. despondens, -entis, p. pr. of despondre.] Marked by despondence; given to despondence; low-spirited; as, a despondent manner; a despondent prisoner. — De*spond"ent*ly, adv.

Desponder
(De*spond"er) n. One who desponds.

Despondingly
(De*spond"ing*ly), adv. In a desponding manner.

Desponsage
(De*spon"sage) n. [From L. desponsus, p. p. See Despond.] Betrothal. [Obs.]

Ethelbert . . . went peaceably to King Offa for desponsage of Athilrid, his daughter.

Foxe.

Desponsate
(De*spon"sate) v. t. [L. desponsatus, p. p. of desponsare, intens. of despondere to betroth. See Despond.] To betroth. [Obs.] Johnson.