over to the civil power for
execution.

DEGREE. A degree of longitude is the 1-360th part of the great
equatorial circle, or any circle parallel to it. A degree of latitude is
the 90th part of the quadrant, or quarter of a great meridional circle.
Each degree is divided into 60 minutes, and each minute into 60 seconds,
according to the sexagesimal division of the circle. Also, rank or
condition.

DEKOYTS, OR DACOITS. Robbers in India, and also pirates who infested the
rivers between Calcutta and Burhampore, but now suppressed by the
improved system of river police, and the establishment of fast rowing
boats of light draught.

DEL. Saxon for part.--_Del a bit_, not a bit, a phrase much altered for
the worse by those not aware of its antiquity.

DEL CREDERE. A percentage on a cargo, under particular circumstances of
trust. Also, the commission under which brokers sometimes guarantee to
the insured the solvency of the underwriters.

DELEGATES. Not heard of in the navy since the mutiny at the Nore.

DELFYN. The old form of spelling _dolphin_.

DELICTUM. To be actual, must unite intention and act.

DELIVER. To yield, to rescue, to deliver battle, to deliver a broadside,
a shot, or a blow. Also, to take goods from the ship to the shore. To
discharge a cargo from a vessel into the keeping of its consignees.

DELIVERED. The state of the harpoon when imbedded in the body of a fish,
so that the barbs hold fast.

DELIVERERS. Particular artificers employed in our early ships of war, in
constructing the castles.

DELL. A narrow valley, ravine, or small dale.

DELTA. A name given by the Greeks to the alluvial tract inclosed between
the bifurcating branches of the Nile and the sea-line. It is well known
that rivers which deposit great quantities of matter, do also very often
separate into two or more branches, previous to their discharge into the
sea; thus forming triangular spaces, aptly called _deltas_ from their
resemblance to the Greek letter {D}.

All deltas appear by their section to be formed of matter totally
different from that of the adjacent country. They are the creation of
the rivers themselves, which, having brought down with their floods vast
quantities of mud and sand from the upper lands, deposit them in the
lowest place, the sea; at whose margin, the current which has hitherto
impelled them ceasing, they are deposited by the mere action of gravity.
This is particularly illustrated on the western coast