2. Doubleness of heart or speech; insincerity; a sustained form of deception which consists in entertaining or pretending to entertain one set of feelings, and acting as if influenced by another; bad faith.
Far from the duplicity wickedly charged on him, he acted his part with alacrity and resolution.
Burke.
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3. (Law) (a) The use of two or more distinct allegations or answers, where one is sufficient. Blackstone. (b) In indictments, the union of two incompatible offenses. Wharton.
Syn. -- Double dealing; dissimulation; deceit; guile; deception; falsehood.
Dup"per (?), n. See 2d Dubber.
||Dur (?), a. [G., fr. L. durus hard, firm, vigorous.] (Mus.) Major; in the major mode; as, C dur, that is, C major.
||Du"ra (?), n. Short form for Dura mater.
Du`ra*bil"i*ty, n. [L. durabilitas.] The state or quality of being durable; the power of uninterrupted or long continuance in any condition; the power of resisting agents or influences which tend to cause changes, decay, or dissolution; lastingness.
A Gothic cathedral raises ideas of grandeur in our minds by the size, its height, . . . its antiquity, and its durability.
Blair.
Du"ra*ble (?), a. [L. durabilis, fr. durare to last: cf. F. durable. See Dure.] Able to endure or continue in a particular condition; lasting; not perishable or changeable; not wearing out or decaying soon; enduring; as, durable cloth; durable happiness.
Riches and honor are with me; yea, durable riches and righteousness.
Prov. viii. 18.
An interest which from its object and grounds must be so durable.
De Quincey.
Syn. -- Lasting; permanent; enduring; firm; stable; continuing; constant; persistent. See Lasting.
Du"ra*ble*ness, n. Power of lasting, enduring, or resisting; durability.
The durableness of the metal that supports it.
Addison.
Du"ra*bly, adv. In a lasting manner; with long continuance.
Du"ral (?), a. (Anat.) Pertaining to the dura, or dura mater.
||Du"ra ma"ter (?). [L., lit., hard mother. The membrane was called mater, or mother, because it was formerly thought to give rise to every membrane of the body.] (Anat.) The tough, fibrous membrane, which lines the cavity of the skull and spinal column, and surrounds the brain and spinal cord; -- frequently abbreviated to dura.
||Du*ra"men (?), n. [L., hardness, a hardened, i. e., ligneous, vine branch, fr. durare to harden. See Dure.] (Bot.) The heartwood of an exogenous tree.
Dur"ance (?), n. [OF. durance duration, fr. L. durans, -antis, p. pr. durare to endure, last. See Dure, and cf. Durant.] 1. Continuance; duration. See Endurance. [Archaic]
Of how short durance was this new-made state!
Dryden.
2. Imprisonment; restraint of the person; custody by a jailer; duress. Shak. "Durance vile." Burns.
In durance, exile, Bedlam or the mint.
Pope.
3. (a) A stout cloth stuff, formerly made in imitation of buff leather and used for garments; a sort of tammy or everlasting.
Where didst thou buy this buff? let me not live but I will give thee a good suit of durance.
J. Webster.
(b) In modern manufacture, a worsted of one color used for window blinds and similar purposes.
Dur"an*cy (?), n. Duration. [Obs.] Dr. H. More.
Dur"ant (?), n. [F. durant, p. pr. of durer to last. Cf. Durance.] See Durance, 3.
||Du*ran"te (?), prep. [L., abl. case of the p. pr. of durare to last.] (Law) During; as, durante vita, during life; durante bene placito, during pleasure.
Du*ra"tion (?), n. [OF. duration. See Dure.] The state or quality of lasting; continuance in time; the portion of time during which anything exists.
It was proposed that the duration of Parliament should be limited.
Macaulay.
Soon shall have passed our own human duration.