dim

a. [ Compar. Dimmer superl. Dimmest ] [ AS. dim; akin to OFries. dim, Icel. dimmr: cf. MHG. timmer, timber; of uncertain origin. ] 1. Not bright or distinct; wanting luminousness or clearness; obscure in luster or sound; dusky; darkish; obscure; indistinct; overcast; tarnished. [ 1913 Webster ]

The dim magnificence of poetry. Whewell. [ 1913 Webster ]

How is the gold become dim! Lam. iv. 1. [ 1913 Webster ]

I never saw
The heavens so dim by day. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

Three sleepless nights I passed in sounding on,
Through words and things, a dim and perilous way. Wordsworth. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Of obscure vision; not seeing clearly; hence, dull of apprehension; of weak perception; obtuse. [ 1913 Webster ]

Mine eye also is dim by reason of sorrow. Job xvii. 7. [ 1913 Webster ]

The understanding is dim. Rogers. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ Obvious compounds: dim-eyed; dim-sighted, etc.

Syn. -- Obscure; dusky; dark; mysterious; imperfect; dull; sullied; tarnished. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. To grow dim. J. C. Shairp. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Prob. orig., a cavity, and the same word as dimple. See Dimple. ] A bower; a dingle. [ Obs. ] Drayton. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ F. dîme tithe, OF. disme, fr. L. decimus the tenth, fr. decem ten. See Decimal. ] A silver coin of the United States, of the value of ten cents; the tenth of a dollar. [ 1913 Webster ]

Dime novel, a novel, commonly sensational and trashy, which is sold for a dime, or ten cents; -- they were popular from ca. 1850 to ca. 1920. Sometimes the term is still applied to any novel of the type, though the price has greatly increased. [ 1913 Webster +PJC ]

n. [ L. dimensio, fr. dimensus, p. p. of dimetiri to measure out; di- = dis- + metiri to measure: cf. F. dimension. See Measure. ] 1. Measure in a single line, as length, breadth, height, thickness, or circumference; extension; measurement; -- usually, in the plural, measure in length and breadth, or in length, breadth, and thickness; extent; size; as, the dimensions of a room, or of a ship; the dimensions of a farm, of a kingdom. [ 1913 Webster ]

Gentlemen of more than ordinary dimensions. W. Irving. [ 1913 Webster ]

Space of dimension, extension that has length but no breadth or thickness; a straight or curved line. --
Space of two dimensions, extension which has length and breadth, but no thickness; a plane or curved surface. --
Space of three dimensions, extension which has length, breadth, and thickness; a solid. --
Space of four dimensions, as imaginary kind of extension, which is assumed to have length, breadth, thickness, and also a fourth imaginary dimension. Space of five or six, or more dimensions is also sometimes assumed in mathematics. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Extent; reach; scope; importance; as, a project of large dimensions. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Math.) The degree of manifoldness of a quantity; as, time is quantity having one dimension; volume has three dimensions, relative to extension. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. (Alg.) A literal factor, as numbered in characterizing a term. The term dimensions forms with the cardinal numbers a phrase equivalent to degree with the ordinal; thus, a2b2c is a term of five dimensions, or of the fifth degree. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. pl. (Phys.) The manifoldness with which the fundamental units of time, length, and mass are involved in determining the units of other physical quantities. Thus, since the unit of velocity varies directly as the unit of length and inversely as the unit of time, the dimensions of velocity are said to be length ÷ time; the dimensions of work are mass × (length)2 ÷ (time)2; the dimensions of density are mass ÷ (length)3.

Dimensional lumber,
Dimension lumber,
Dimension scantling, or
Dimension stock (Carp.), lumber for building, etc., cut to the sizes usually in demand, or to special sizes as ordered. --
Dimension stone, stone delivered from the quarry rough, but brought to such sizes as are requisite for cutting to dimensions given. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Pertaining to dimension. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Having dimensions. [ R. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Without dimensions; having no appreciable or noteworthy extent. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]