cry-out: E 61 ‘a general cry-out upon her extreme good luck’.
dash: P 135 amidst the dash of other carriages.
deedily: E 240 most deedily occupied about her spectacles.
deep: P 232 in a deep tone.
degree: in, to, a degree in modern English seems normally to mean in a high degree; in Miss Austen it may mean in some degree: P 12 She consulted, and in a degree was influenced by her; 242 ‘To a degree, I could contradict this’.
dependence absol.: N A 162 The windows, to which she looked with peculiar dependence. E 136 he had fancied her in love with him; that evidently must have been his dependence/
descry is used in familiar settings in which it could now be used only with some jocular intention: N A 49 Mrs. Thorpe … had descried them from above.
deserving absol.: M P 471 no doubts of her deserving, no fears from opposition of taste.
adj.: P 16 turning from the society of so deserving a sister (now hardly used except with some implication of social inferiority).
determinate: M P 21 old enough for a determinate pursuit.
develope and developement seem always to have a personal subject and are like discover, disclosure, &c. The Oxford Dictionary quotes Hermit of Caucasus (1796) ‘Here’, said Ismael, ‘is a recess which I hope is impossible to be develop’d. Cf. Dr. Johnson’s Table Talk (1785), Advertisement: ‘Hitherto this great writer has been … described by others … here he developes himself.’
Some places in Miss Austen are liable to be misunderstood by a modern reader; in some the meaning is possibly open to doubt. P P 213 the development of Wickham’s character (his character had not changed; it had become better known); 5 the experience of three and twenty years had been insufficient to make his wife understand his (Mr. Bennet’s) character. Her mind was less difficult to develope. M P 176 (Fanny) was nearly fainting: all her former habitual dread of her uncle was returning, and with it compassion for him and for almost every one of the party on the development before them. E 134 It was a wretched business, indeed!—Such an overthrow of every thing she had been wishing for!—Such a development of every thing most unwelcome!
devise: M P 311 why it was not done already, she could not devise. E 135 she could hardly devise any set of expressions … less allied with real love (than were Mr. Elton’s).
direction of a letter: P P 273 Jane had written the direction remarkably ill. address is also used, S S 209 ‘ignorant of his address’. In P P 286 ‘He wrote me a few lines … to give me his directions’, it is clear that directions does not mean instructions, and it is unlikely that Mr. Bennet had more than one hotel or lodging in London; possibly we should read direction.
discontent now indicates a state of feeling more or less permanent, and is always used with some degree of disapproval; it is used by Miss Austen in wider and more neutral senses: S S 291 sat down … to endeavour to comprehend all the feelings of Edward; and, of course, to reflect on her own with discontent (dissatisfaction). M P 277 Fanny was confused, but it was the confusion of discontent. S S 323 ‘discontented with the very little attention … that I had bestowed on her, in my present visit’ (displeased). N A 177 put on her bonnet in patient discontent.
discourse is the regular word for conversation (which is seldom found): P P 316 There was no want of discourse. The bride and her mother could neither of them talk fast enough.