DECIPHER • DICTIONARY ONE.COM • Definition of Decipher

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/dɪsˈaɪfər/ Listen

verb

Decipher v. t. (past & past part. deciphered; pres. part. deciphering)

To translate from secret characters or ciphers into intelligible terms; as, to decipher a letter written in secret characters.

To find out, so as to be able to make known the meaning of; to make out or read, as words badly written or partly obliterated; to detect; to reveal; to unfold.

To stamp; to detect; to discover. (R.) "You are both deciphered,... For villains."

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Etymology of 'Decipher'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Decipher" Quotes from Famous Books

... frankly, girls, on your word of honor, was there ever more than one man in ten went through your hands who didn't turn out soft somewhere before you were through with him? Mawking about your 'sweet eyes' while you're wrecking your optic nerves trying to decipher the dose on a poison bottle! Mooning over your wonderful likeness to the lovely young sister they—never had! Trying to kiss your finger tips when you're struggling to brush their teeth! Teasin' ...

— The White Linen Nurse • Eleanor Hallowell Abbott

... the jackal roams among the ruins in vain; there is not a bone left for him to gnaw of the multitudes which have passed away. There is their handwriting upon the temple wall, upon the granite slab which has mocked at Time; but there is no man to decipher it. There are the gigantic idols before whom millions have bowed; there is the same vacant stare upon their features of rock which gazed upon the multitudes of yore; but they no longer stare upon the pomp of the ...

— Eight Years' Wandering in Ceylon • Samuel White Baker

... like a paper-lantern, that turns with the smoke of a candle. He wears his clothes as the ancient laws of the land have provided, according to his quality, that he may be known what he is by them; and it is as easy to decipher him by his habit as a pudding. He is rigged with ribbon, and his garniture is his tackle; all the rest of him is hull. He is sure to be the earliest in the fashion, and lays out for it like the first peas and cherries. He is as proud of ...

— Character Writings of the 17th Century • Various

... "yet if it will serve to divert your mind from your own misfortune, I shall be honoured to confide it to you. Stay, the tenth invitation, which an accident prevented my dispatching, would explain the circumstances tersely: but I much fear that the room is too dark for you to decipher all the subtleties. Have I your permission to turn up ...

— A Chair on The Boulevard • Leonard Merrick

... it became a matter of doubt; at last everywhere they replied by a discouraging no. At one point of our journey we passed a dilapidated sign-post with a rude, black figure of the Virgin hanging below it. I could just decipher upon one finger of the post, in half-obliterated letters, "Ville-en-bois." It recurred to me that this was the place where fever was ...

— The Doctor's Dilemma • Hesba Stretton

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