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Demerit

has reversed its original meaning (Latin, demereo, to merit, to deserve). Hence Plautus, Demerĭtas dare laudas (to accord due praise); Ovid, Numĭna culta demeruisse; Livy, demerēri beneficio civitatem. The de- is intensive, as in “de-mand,” “describe,” “de-claim,” etc.; not the privative deorsum, as in the word “de-fame.”        

“My demerits [deserts]


May speak unbonneted.”

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Entry taken from Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.

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Delight
Delirium
Della Cruscans or Della Cruscan School
Delmonico
Delos
Delphi or Delphos
Delphin Classics
Delta
Deluge
Deluges
Demerit
Demijohn (A)
Demi-monde
Demi-rep
Demiurge
Demobilisation of troops
Democracy
Democritos
Demodocos
Demogorgon
Demon of Matrimonial Unhappiness