▪ I. deˈject, ppl. a. Obs. or arch.
Also 6 -gecte.
[ad. L. dēject-us, pa. pple. of dējicĕre (dēicĕre) to throw down, f. de- I. 1 + jacĕre to throw. (In OF. des-, degiet, -get, -git.)]
1. As pa. pple. Thrown down, cast down; † cast away, rejected: see deject v.
| 1430 Lydg. Chron. Troy ii. xvii, Thorowen and deiect in a pyt horryble. 1483 Caxton Gold. Leg. 37 b/1 Lucifer whiche was dejecte and caste out of heven. 1560 Rolland Crt. Venus iii. 510 He..was deiect with schame fra all honour. 1819 H. Busk Vestriad v. 513 Here on Patroclus' corse deject he lies. |
2. As ppl. a. Downcast, dispirited, dejected.
| 1528 Roy Rede me (Arb.) 43 They were so abasshed and deiecte That once to hisse they were nott able. 1555 J. Philpot in Coverdale Lett. Mart. (1564) 228 Dearling..Be not of a deiect mind for these temptations. 1602 Shakes. Ham. iii. i. 163 And I, of Ladies most deiect and wretched. 1639 G. Daniel Ecclus. xi. 59 Be not deiect in Miserie. 1863 W. Lancaster Præterita 87 Deject and doubtful thus I forge quaint fears. |
b. Cast down from one's position, lowered in fortunes; lowered in character, abject, abased.
| 1510–20 Everyman in Hazl. Dodsley I. 101 Like traitors deject. 1605 Play Stucley in Simpson Sch. Shaks. (1878) I. 234 Is't possible that Stukly, so deject In England, lives in Spain in such respect. a 1625 Fletcher Love's Cure ii. i, What can be a more deject spirit in man, than to lay his hands under every one's horse's feet? 1820 T. L. Peacock Wks. (1875) III. 324 The beggar being, for the most part, a king deject. |
† c. Astrol. (See quot.) Obs.
| 1594 Blundevil Exerc. iv. xxxvi. (ed. 7) 494 Such houses as have no familiarity with the Horoscope or Ascendent..are said to be slow and deject. |
▪ II. deject, v.
(dɪˈdʒɛkt)
(In Sc., 6 deiekk, 6– dejeck.)
[f. L. dēject-, ppl. stem of dējicĕre to throw or cast down: see prec.]
1. trans. To throw or cast down; to cause to fall down, overthrow. arch. or Obs.
| c 1420 Pallad. on Husb. ii. 423 Take of the laures bayes..in sething water hem dejecte. 1536 Bellenden Cron. Scot. (1821) I. 110 Scho hes dejeckit me at thy feit. 1550 Nicolls Thucyd. 125 Their people..whiche were deiected and dryuen downe from the sayd rocke. 1627 Speed England xli. §7 This Citie..by the furious outrages of the Scots and Picts was deiected. a 1638 Mede Paraphr. 2 Pet. iii. Wks. (1672) III. 615 To be exiled and dejected from those high mansions. 1881 [see dejected 1]. |
b. To bend down.
| 1601 Holland Pliny xvii. xxii. I. 531 What part soeuer of it [the vine] is dejected and driuen downward, or els bound and tied fast, the same ordinarily beareth fruit. 1605 Heywood If you know not me Wks. 1874 I. 206 It becomes not You being a Princess, to deiect your knee. 1625 Modell of Wit 62 b, Deiecting her head into her bosome. 1809 [see dejected 1 b]. |
c. To cast down (the eyes).
| 1612 Drayton Poly-olb. xii. (T.), One, having climb'd some roof..From thence upon the earth dejects his humble eye. 1727–46 Thomson Summer 1066 Princely wisdom then Dejects his watchful eye. 1768 Woman of Honor III. 264 Fixing his eyes on Clara, who modestly dejected her's. |
† 2. To cast away, dismiss, reject. Obs.
| 1530 Palsgr. 510/1, I dejecte, I caste a waye, je dejecte. 1549 Compl. Scot. Prol. 17 Gyf sic vordis suld be disusit or deiekkit. 1579 Fenton Guicciard. iii. (1599) 118 These perswasions..he vtterly deiected. 1633 Bp. Hall Hard Texts 544 Whether your humiliation may not yet..cause him to deject and take off his judgements? |
† 3. fig. To cast down from high estate or dignity, depose; to lower in condition or character, to abase, humble. Obs.
| 1515 Barclay Egloges iv. (1570) C v/2 The coyne auaunceth, neede doth the name deject. 1549 Coverdale Erasm. Par. 1 Pet. II. 14 His delyght is in..suche as deiecte them selues. 1601 F. Godwin Bps. of Eng. 503 Being loath to deiect them whom he had once aduanced. 1660 Bond Scut. Reg. 165 Where the superior makes an Inferior officer, he may deject him at his pleasure. 1691 E. Taylor Behmen's Theos. Philos. 185 Faln Mans dejecting himself may be called Humiliation. |
† 4. To reduce the force or strength of, to weaken, lessen. Obs.
| 1580 Sidney Arcadia iii, Though in strength exceedingly dejected. 1599 Sandys Europæ Spec. (1632) 190 One disadvantage..impeacheth and dejecteth all other their forces. 1620 Venner Via Recta ii. 22 It doth very greatly deiect their appetite. 1684 tr. Bonet's Merc. Compit. i. 15 The Appetite..is often dejected in Consumptive Persons. |
5. To depress in spirits; to cast down, dispirit, dishearten. (The ordinary current sense.)
| 1581 [see dejected 3]. 1603 Florio Montaigne (1634) 491 Good Authours deject me too-too much, and quaile my courage. 1625 Meade in Ellis Orig. Lett. Ser. i. III. 204 The king was much dejected by a Lettre received from Denmark. 1761 Sterne Tr. Shandy iii. xx, To deject and contrist myself with so bad and melancholy an account. 1775 Johnson Tax. no Tyr. 8 Nothing dejects a trader like the interruption of his profits. 1862 Lytton Str. Story I. 68 The things which do not disturb her temper, may, perhaps, deject her spirits. |
† b. intr. (for refl.) To be dejected. Obs. rare.
| 1644 Quarles Barnabas & B. 226 Deject not, O my soul, nor let thy thoughts despair. |
6. intr. To bend downwards. nonce-use.
| 1825 Hone Every-day Bk. I. 323 It stands, or rather dejects, over..a pair of wooden gates. |
Hence deˈjecting ppl. a.
| 1818 Mrs. E. H. Iliff Poems (ed. 2) 20 The mien assuming of dejecting care. |